even investigated for any crime and that he can totally ignore any apiece but proceeding of which he disapproves these. hello i'm elizabeth pradhan and with extended coverage of the impeachment against the us president donald trump it is $22.00 g.m.t. that's 5 pm in washington d.c. and we are now 5 hours and to the final debate of whether to impeach the president of the united states so democrats and republicans in the house of representatives are making their case about whether donald trump violated the constitution trump is facing 2 articles of impeachment he's accused of withholding aid to ukraine to pressure it and to investigating his political rival he's also charged with stonewalling the investigation by congress the democrat controlled house is expected to make trump the 3rd president to be impeached in u.s.

history. but let's have a listen now to some of the arguments made from both sides those who voted against impeachment and not just endorsing president trump's past actions but his future ones as well democrats have delivered 2 week articles of impeachment abuse of power not according to the ukraine president selenski confirm many times that there was no quid pro quo no action taken and significant military aid was delivered without anything in return this vote this day is about one thing and one thing only they hate this president they hate those of us who voted for him they think we're stupid they think we made a mistake they think hillary clinton should be the president and they want to fix that speaker i would you mind the gentlemen that if the president is president trump is impeached and removed the new president will be mike pence not hillary clinton. now republican senator and staunch trump ally lindsey graham said he would

want to see a quick impeachment trial in the senate without any new witnesses presented i think this exercise in the house is beginning to weaponize impeachment the intel committee could did the fact finding elements of it which is unusual the process they use i think is dangerous to the presidency is an institution when it gets here my goal is to have a short trial as possible or does that translate to when 51 people are ready to vote this one will vote the most likely outcome is to use the trial record. what they used in the house to impeach president trump will be the trial record for the senate so in a moment we'll speak to all cost want and cost or she'll be life or life for us on capitol hill where the vote will take place but 1st let's bring in our white house correspondent kimberly hellcat and can leave we can start with what lindsey graham

was saying about wanting a quick trial echoing what other senior republicans in the senate have said. yeah that's the big question if this senate trial will be short or long and i can tell you kellyanne conway advisor to president trump has been speaking to reporters in the last couple hours she has just returned from the senate where she says she was briefing the senators and they were discussing strategy and messaging but she was really vague when asked directly about the length of the trial the big question mark so many in washington want to know with regard to what the president is thinking at one point he was saying he wanted to call adam schiff the chair of the house intelligence committee even the former vice president's son hunter biden to ask why he was sitting on the board of the ukraine energy company even there was it for a brief moment to suggest of the president he may even testify himself most people

think that's probably not the best idea but the question mark remains and so in the last hour the president did leave the white house he's headed to battle creek michigan where he will be holding a rally later this evening and we wanted to find out from the president whether or not he was thinking of a long trial or a short trial as many of the republicans in the senate have advocated in fact the president didn't answer and that's really notable in fact he didn't speak to reporters at all 7 which is the headline often when the president leaves for marine one on the south lawn of the white house he goes off on rants about the various issues of the day this time he spoke to reporters then ignore the television cameras went straight to the helicopter company maybe he got it out of his system but that a 6 page letter to the house because that's palosi loss of life. yeah it's really cool but i doubt it what i think is happening is that he's saving it for the rally and you know the president has been tweeting all morning we did confirm that

the president was watching these proceedings officially press secretary stephanie grisham telling us that it is in between his meetings but the president at one point tweeting in all caps he also one point to maintain what he has since the beginning of this impeachment inquiry i did nothing wrong this should never happen to another president again say a prayer well certainly someone who does pray a lot the vice president mike pence who is a devout christian he has been in battle creek michigan where the president is heading for his rally and he gave us a sense or a preview of what the president might say essentially defending the president and maintaining the president is the victim of partisan politics what's happening on capitol hill to do so a disgrace you know the truth is they're trying to impeach this president because they know they can't defeat this president. they're trying to run down this president because they know they can't run against our record they can't run

against our results they're pushing this partisan impeachment because they know they can't stop you from giving president donald trump 4 more years in the white house. so as i mentioned it is notable that the president has he boards air force rather marine one which is what the helicopter is called he often is very vocal and in fact i'm checking the twitter feed of donald trump as we speak simply because often when he's airborne he starts tweeting if he doesn't speak to the cameras so far i'm not seeing anything except that all caps tweets where he's basically accused the democrats of atrocious lies against him and assault on america an assault on the republican party i think the fact that it's in all caps and 4 exclamation points at the end of that tweet gives a sense that the president has a lot to say when he takes the stage in battle creek michigan fittingly to speak to his reporters her his supporters and one thing i should point out battle creek

michigan michigan the state's pretty important too it's a battleground state it helped donald trump win the election in 2016 he'll need it again to win in 2020 company hank you very much for that for now that's committee how can live in washington d.c. and i believe we're looking at pictures of the plane that president trump will be getting on in maryland to make his way to battle creek michigan and there he is donald trump on his way from maryland to battle creek michigan. so again as i've corresponded committee health that was saying we haven't heard much from the president and the last few hours on usually for him the last time we heard from him was 4 hours ago when he tweeted such atrocious lies on the right

when they do nothing democrats this is an assault on america and an assault on the republican party. now the democratic representative john lewis has made an impassioned plea calling on all in the house to make what he calls the morning of right choice but today dearest day we didn't ask for this this is a sad day it is not a day a drawer a nation is founded on a person. that we do not have kings we have presidents and the constitution is compas when you see something that is not right

not just not fair you have a moral obligation to assess something to do something our children and their children when asked what did you do. what do you stand. for. this vote may be heart we have a mission and a mandate to be on the right side of history. well let's bring in our correspondent on capitol hill koster is joining us live from there and some 5 hours into these 6 alice set aside for the debate before the voters heidi but from what i've seen it's been less of a debate and basically just representatives reading statements ahead of the vote. that's right because they are keenly aware elizabeth the this is they're really final chance in the house of representatives at least to get their opinions on the record in what is expected to be a historic vote in just

a few short hours democrats have the numbers to pass these articles of impeachment against president trump which would formally impeach him only the 3rd time that will have happened in u.s. history who you just heard from john lewis the congressman he is considered to be the moral conscience of congress he marched with martin luther king he is a civil rights legend to many and he was calling on his colleagues as you heard to say even if this is a difficult vote to approve the impeachment of trump that it is still the right thing to do and that history is watching we've seen other democrats holding copies of the constitution others standing in front of a blown up photo of a child at the border all talking about this coming vote in terms of a moral obligations to hold this president accountable now on the republican side

there have also been some very colorful arguments given as we've stretched now into what i believe it's the 4th hour of this debate we've had some republican members compare the infamy of this stage to that of the infamy of the attack on pearl harbor we had another republican member a say that this trial a coming trial against trump is a kinship to the trial of jesus before conscious pilot so certainly there is a lot of. the tricks that work as well as these congress people make their statements before this historic vote at issue of course are these 2 articles of impeachment abuse of power and obstruction of congress both related to the claim that trump use the power of his presidency to try to solicit election interference from ukraine house speaker nancy pelosi has said that trump remains an ongoing threat to national security while republicans in the chamber have said that this

impeachment is a sham and it is illegitimate and an attempt to undo the 26 to no action there's very little though that republicans can do to stop what's unfolding right now because democrats have the majority in the house of representatives and around 7 o'clock local time here in washington is when we expect for that vote to pass to formally impeach the president which would then move this impeachment process to the senate where trump will be young trial to be judged by members of the senate which is already dominated by republicans his own party and they will be determining whether or not trump remains in office and heidi democrats do have the majority in the house of representatives but are we expecting all the democrats to vote for impeachment still expecting to see those you know one or 2 and that won't make a difference he will still be impeached but it will be interesting to see won't at

the number of democrats who go against the policy and vote against impeachment. that's right we're expecting this vote to be nearly straight partisan however there is at least one democratic congressman who represents new jersey who has said he is going to vote against the impeachment but he won't be a democrat for much longer he has said that he's actually going to switch to become a republican namely over this vote there are a couple of other democrats who we're watching but most of these democrats who represent conservatives just swear trump is still very popular among the constituents they have come off the fence on deciding whether or not to impeach and they have said that they will vote yes on this in the coming hours to impeach the president they have said they're doing this because it is their constitutional obligation to make this difficult vote to hold the president accountable even if it means cutting them their seats in congress among their constituents. heidi thank

you very much for that for now that is heidi show castro live in washington d.c. . you're watching al-jazeera and we're going to take a quick look now at other news from across the world lebanon's former prime minister has announced for the 2nd time that he doesn't want to lead a new government saadi resigned in october after weeks of anti-government demonstrations on monday the president planned to hold call consultations with the political parties to decide on a new prime minister but that's been postponed until thursday where people have been voicing their anger against corruption and sectarian politics governing the country for decades. and they are protesters have rallied again in new delhi after india's top court post foreign hearings on a controversial new citizenship law until january it says it needs more details

from the government the law makes it easier for non muslims from of ghana stand bangladesh and pakistan to gain indian citizenship at least $23.00 civilians have been killed in the latest round of russian attacks on rebel held areas of northwestern syria shelling and airstrikes and the problems have escalated in recent weeks president bashar al assad's government appears to be preparing for a ground offensive to secure the main highway linking the capital damascus with the northern city of aleppo. now a major merges been announced in the car industry to create the world's 4th largest manufacturer feared chrysler and p.s.a. owners of persia and france have agreed to a $34000000000.00 tie up both companies have assured production line workers that no factory closures are planned a stranger has experienced its hottest day on record the average temperature across the country on tuesday was nearly 41 degrees celsius and that record could be

broken on wednesday as it is only the start of the southern hemisphere summer while the searing temperatures have made things worse for crews dealing with more than 100 bushfires in the eastern state of new south wales. ship owners are proposing a $5000000000.00 fund to research low emission fuels and cleaner engine designs the industry is under pressure from the u.n. to have it c o 2 emissions from so-called dirty fuel or shipping associations are calling for a mandatory contribution of $2.00 per tonne on fuel burn to help develop clean a technology. i disabled palestinian man has watched israeli demolition crews destroy his home for the 4th time in 20 years has them. to rebuild again saying the land in the occupied east jerusalem is his or rights groups say israeli demolitions increase this year the estimate

a couple of months ago was more than 200 palestinians had they harms destroyed. this is my land i have the right to live in it and i will rebuild it whether they agree or not i will keep building my home on my land for as long as i live. we are now into the last hour of the debate over whether to impeach the president of the united states and the man at the center of it or has left the white house on route to rally supporters in michigan or donald trump as heading to battle creek that's a city which one should comfortably and has favor during the 2016 election or president trump has been relatively quiet during the past few hours of the debate after previously tweeting saying democrats had launched an assault on america

but let's go back now to the house of representatives and listen in to those last few moments of the debate higher executive branch not to participate in the inquiry and directed it to defy lawful subpoenas from congress as chairwoman of the committee on oversight reform i find this obstruction particularly offensive. even even president nixon accepted congress's impeachment authority and allowed his aides and advisers to produce the documents to congress and president nixon allowed current and former staff to testify in both the house impeachment and the senate watergate investigations including his chief of staff and white house counsel by contrast president trump without any legal basis directed current and former officials not to cooperate with the house's inquiry which resulted in 9 of mrs stray should officials defying

subpoenas for testimony and in response to the house's inquiry president trump refused to turn over even one single not one single document to congress and response to lawful subpoenas put simply president trump's actions are even worse than nixon's let me repeat president trump's actions are even worse than nixon's our founding fathers established a system of checks and balances that spread out power between the branches of government they decided that no one would be a king that no one is above the law including the president and they gave the responsibility of impeachment soley to the people's house when president trump defies our of subpoenas and obstructs our him pietschmann inquiry he seeks to place

him self above the constitution and above the law. we cannot let that stand and if we do then that's the end of congress as a co-equal branch of government and we've allowed president trump to elevate himself above the law it is our solemn duty under the constitution to impeach president trump for his blatant abuse of power and his obstruction of congress i have back gentleman from new york yields gentleman from california reserves gentleman from georgia is recognizing a speaker you know one minute to the gentleman from arkansas almost all math coming from arkansas has recognized i think the gentleman for giving me this moment that him or mr speaker years from now history books will tell of this day it will tell of a purely partisan effort to remove the president of the united states an effort not

built on a high crime or misdemeanor not on a process in keeping with a high american standard of due process and equal treatment this effort is rooted only in the governing parties hatred of a man elected president of the united states members on the other side of the aisle have been in pursuit of this moment since 2016 they are consumed by it earlier in this debate one of our colleagues referred to our president as a domestic enemy our founders warned us about this day that is why our nation has entrusted the future of the country with the outcome of elections not the will of a party filled with contempt for a duly elected president my hope is that when the historians write about this day it is not written in the context of nation that lost its way because it's elected members chose hateful partisanship over the sacred oath that is protected this

great republic since its founding you know you'll back jalen far as our years gentleman from georgia reserved gentleman from california is recognize. speaker and i'm proud to recognize the gem of new jersey mr mellon ascii for one minute joe i'm from new jersey is recognized mr speaker in america when we call the fire department or enroll our children in school we do not expect a government official to say to us i need you to do us a favor though why would we tolerate a president using his awesome power to make foreign policy when the safety of our country is at stake not for the people but for himself i will vote to impeach today because president trump did just that when he shut down a foreign country to criminally investigate his political rival if we fail to say that this was wrong than any president so we have been listening there to members

of the u.s. house of representatives some 5 hours into the 6 hour debate that's going to go before the vote on impeaching the u.s. president and the house of representatives members talking about giving statements on why they do or don't support the president and why they do or don't support impeaching him well let's just remind you of the whole process now once the charges are approved by the house the president has a page but that doesn't mean that he's automatically forced from office next to a trial is held in the senate and that could be as soon as january it's over same by the chief justice of the supreme court and senators act as jurors while members of the house of representatives of the prosecutions at least 2 thirds of the 67 senate is need to vote guilty on at least one article of impeachment to have donald trump removed from office and if this happens when the vice president becomes president. well let's bring in 2 experts now to help us break down what's happening

in washington d.c. brenda one apple is the author of the end peaches the trial of andrew johnson and the dream of a just nation she's live for us in new york but 1st let's cross over to allan barron he's joining us live from washington d.c. and he's a former special impeachment counsel to the house of representatives a very warm welcome to both of you so mr baron i'll ask you the same question that i will put to miss one apple as well which is you know when the vote is pretty much a foregone conclusion the democratic controlled house of representatives is of course voted expected to vote in favor of all the impeachment you know what do you look out for when something is a foregone conclusion. well is it done on the basis of facts that make even the foregone conclusion legitimate. i think in this instance the democrats have a very strong case that in fact what the president did does rise to

the level of impeachment impeachable conduct i heard one of the members say earlier that his conduct is far more serious and damaging than the conduct of richard nixon which led to his resignation and if he hadn't resigned he would have been impeached. i think that's right the do what the richard nixon. impeachment effort turned on a purely domestic effort by the republican and sort of an outlaw element in the republican party to. engage in some inappropriate conduct to invade the democratic party headquarters but the ultimate thing is it was a domestic issue and more tawdry than anything else but when we have the president of the united states holding up desperately needed foreign aid to an ally who is at

war with the russians so that they will bring it one of his. rivals for the presidency in 2020 into disrepute i mean that ups the ante to a level that the watergate didn't even remotely approach. and this one after do you agree with mr baron that you know one every impeachment is different they are hard to compare what donald trump has done you know according to mr barron is as serious especially give it volves a foreign country and also being a foreign country to essentially interfere in the domestic political process that that is in fact an impeachable offense. i have thoroughly agree. he said it very well i mean what donald trump has done allegedly will see a more i hope in the senate trial more more is revealed but the evidence shows that what he has done is actually invited

a foreign power to meddle in elections that legs as alan said that makes nixon and certainly clinton their impeachment possible impeachment look tawdry by comparison and that's why i think so many democrats are standing up and talking about the same to the not only of the constitution but of our democratic elections and that's why they've become so important and whether or not to go back to your question everything in the senate is a foregone conclusion it is my whole that that to completely and fully air this evidence as much as we can get will also make the public stand up and take notice particularly in an election year but do you think that the public will stand up and take notice in a senate trial in a way that they haven't with the you know once the impeachment hearings went public

in mid november i mean there's been a lot of talk now about possible impeachment fatigue in america and that donald trump's approval ratings have actually gone up. well they've gone up in the republican party i don't know i don't know exactly what different polls say about overall but i think that. it's impossible to really know and i think that if this was probably democratic consideration if one just thought about the election and thought about the consequences of possibly making donald trump more popular then they wouldn't be voting for impeachment and i think that that's where principle really does take hold and the fact of the matter is that there was such an outrageous. so-called transcript you know so-called evidence evidence coming into view that the democrats

really had to act they had no choice because that particular call that we've all been talking about occurred right after the mall report which seemed to in bolton president trump to further metal have foreign countries meddle in our elections mr baron do you think that a senate trial is also a foregone conclusion that the house of representatives will vote to put the articles to a trial in the senate and if so what can we expect from it well i think that i've discussed in some earlier appearances. when we were discussing this these problems that it might not go immediately to a trial in the senate and that there's nothing in the constitution that requires the they house having voted articles to walk down that long corridor from one end

of the capitol to the other and present them to the senate so that's one possibility if it goes to if they do that and they bring it to trial in the senate the definition of trial can be very very flexible i mean we have a notion of a trial in a courtroom it could be very difficult indeed in the clinton impeachment there were no live witnesses well that's not a trial that many trial lawyers would recognize as such so still remains to see if it gets to the senate just what sort of trial we're talking about my impression is that the mcconnell will want to have something so compressed and so quick. it'll be done in a couple of days you have had senior republicans say that they want a quick trial including senator lindsey graham just in the last few hours but who is it that sets the rules for the trial and whether you know senate minority leader chuck schumer will get. the witnesses for key witnesses who he's asking for

including the former national security adviser john bolton the white house acting chief of staff mick mulvaney whether they do testify who's who is that up to. it's going to be up to the majority it will be up specifically to mcconnell and oh i'm sorry i didn't mean to cut you off it will be up to the majority none and the person of mitch mcconnell and i think that if he decides they're not going to get those witnesses we won't see them miss one apple please go ahead. no what i was going to add them i'm sorry if i interrupted what i was going and it seemed very cagey of senator schumer to release to the public and not just to mitch mcconnell his his. suggestion urge urging

that then witnesses such as john bolton or mcmahon while they may be called because what that does is influence public opinion and put some pressure. mcconnell i don't know whether he'll feel that pressure directly or not but it becomes i think part of you know what you and i and all of us talk about what's in the newspapers the fact that john bolton mick mulvaney and others and documents have not been released and that really you know that really speaks to this 2nd article of pietschmann which is obstruction of congress congress is not allowed to do its due diligence basically in oversight and i think people will stand up and take notice or they say you know. or at least i hope so right when you say people will stand up and take notice which people are talking about because again you know the polls show is that we have this incredibly divided nation when it comes to impeachment where democrats

support impeachment republicans don't support impeachment. well polls change as we know from the election in 2016 and it's very early at an election so when i say people take notice i think there's a long ways to go i mean it may be true that it may be a jiffy trial and maybe it may be a show trial in that sense but it's also true that whether it is or not there is an election coming up and there are quite a number of democratic candidates who are themselves going to be talking about this quite a bit and you can be sure that they're going to refer to not just the trial in the senate.