this is al jazeera. hello i'm sam he's a than this is the news hour live from coming up in the next 60 minutes decision time if u.s. senators reach a pivotal moment president thompson trial live in the u.s. capital. evacuees make it out of china travel restrictions in need of close help. hello i'm maryanne demasi in london with the top story from here at the u.k. gets ready to big farewell to the european union tonight the country will formally end nearly half a century as a member of the e.u.

. now the u.s. senate is set to vote in a few hours on whether to call witnesses in the impeachment trial of president donald trump a u.s. republican senator who democrats hoped would support that move says you'll now vote against it democratic senators want to hear from trump's former national security adviser john bolton as well as all of us however they'll need the support of 4 republicans to do so. let's go now live to heidi jo castros standing by on council hill in washington d.c. and hi b. unless you believe in last minute miracles i guess hope is running out for the democrats who will get those 4 publicans. right it's looking very unlikely that they will get 4 republicans votes but they may get 3 votes from republicans we know

there's 2 senators or republicans that have committed to voting for witnesses there is a 3rd lisa murkowski who we are waiting to hear from now if all 3 indeed end of voting and yes to witnesses that really sets up an interesting scenario because we would have a dead even tie at that point $5050.00 on this question of whether or not to call witnesses and it would be up to the chief supreme court justice john roberts to break that tie course roberts has been serving as presiding officer during this trial and is always the role of the presiding officer to break any ties in a legislative stalemate like that however it's unclear whether or not he would assert that authority there in the last impeachment trial of president bill clinton the question of tie breaking never came up under that chief justice so we'd have to go back that all the way to the 1800 with impeachment of andrew johnson when

indeed there is a precedent that the chief justice broke ties in johnson's impeachment trial and there's no telling whether or not roberts would make that move though he has always signaled that he wants to take a backseat role to these proceedings he's really there to keep the process moving along not to make any real pivotal decisions but this certainly would be a very pivotal decision or he to weigh in if it's roberts were to break a tie and include witnesses in this trial then we could see this thing extend for weeks on with implications that may look like the situation faced by president try . it is more damning or if roberts does not break the tie or if republicans do not turn out at least 3 republicans in voting yes to witnesses we could see that answer to witnesses be you know by the end of today and acquittal as early as this evening or perhaps sometime mid next week. or in terms of the process though heidi

even if the democrats don't get the votes they need to bring witnesses like john bolton before the senate impeachment hearings there is a possibility bolton could and his testimony could pop up again either in the house of representatives or in the media right. that's right he's really a wild card in the media almost a certainty that eventually the public will find out what bolton's revelations are we know he has this book that's in the work with more leaks appearing in the press every day and that's part of the argument that the democratic impeachment managers are making saying to these senators why not include that evidence now when it matters on this question of whether or not to convict or remove president trump from office and really hang over the heads of these senators say what will the public think if those republicans vote no on witnesses deciding not to call john bolton and eventually the information comes out anyway then how will the voters

respond and of course holing in the u.s. shows that 75 percent of people have said they do want this trial to include witnesses they do want to hear what bolton has to say. and hide the let's take the scenario in which if even if this comes to an end sooner rather than later. this issue doesn't go away right. well certainly you know this is a long game here we are staring in the face of the us elections in just 9 months time in november and if trump is acquitted which in all likelihood he will be it's just a matter of when but if he is acquitted then he still has to face the american voters in the upcoming u.s. elections and certainly democrats are using this opportunity to bring out some of

this negative information about president trump so he is not judged by the jurors here in the senate who likely because they are the majority of whom are republicans members of the president's own party very unlikely to cross party lines and remove him from office while the final jurors in at the end of the day here will be the american people who will decide whether trump deserves a 2nd term all right let's thank you joe castro on capitol hill for the coverage there is more to talk about this with kimberly halkett she's our white house correspondent and obviously no doubt kimberly a lot of. interest if not pressure from the white house on those sentences to vote in the way the white house would call the right way. yeah sorry i was a little distracted because i'm straying across a couple of stories that are happening right now to talk to you about the next one and a 2nd couple of things that are happening moving at the same time sammy as we watch

and wait for this trial to get underway let me tell you the 1st one near times is reporting and this plays into this whole issue of witnesses and the question of that vote about witnesses if there's going to deal with witness testimony john bolton the national security adviser former national security advisor many democrats very keen to hear his testimony the new york times now reporting that in fact donald trump u.s. president told john bolton the former national security adviser to help him in his ukraine pressure campaign that's the crux of this impeachment trial of course the articles of impeachment one of them views of power essential that the president leverage his political or presidential powers in order to try and gain dirt on his political rival former vice president joe biden so this new reporting coming from the manuscript that has been in the hands of the white house for some time

apparently another leak coming from it that in fact donald trump in this book according to john bolton was very clear that he wanted his former national security advisor to help him set up a meeting with his personal attorney rudolph giuliani and the ukrainian leader of the lenski this apparently happening in the oval office last may and was spoken in front of advisers now the new york times also reporting that the president has responded to this saying i never instructed john bolton to set up a meeting with rudolph giuliani to meet president solecki that meeting never happened so a very interesting revelation a new detail coming out as the president maintains no wrongdoing he has a very there is testimony that exists out there that so far the senate has not heard. and the democrats would like to have heard 1st hand evidence that the president did allegedly abuses presidential power so again a lot of interest coming down on that vote following the 4 hours of debate on

whether those witnesses will be heard as how to jocasta report it is looking unlikely but certainly again a new revelation now that 2nd piece of information as we continue to watch whether that senate trial begins as it is expected to do any moment is reports that there was a bit of an incident that occurred down in mar-a lago down in florida this is the president's residence that he goes to in fact he said to go to in the coming hours this weekend a couple of vehicles apparently breaching 2 security points at that residence apparently the police officers chased the sport utility vehicle that breached 2 checkpoints there were shots fired what we're hearing is that the vehicle has been located and 2 people have been taken into custody what i can tell you is they did check the white house to see if they had any update on this and they did not but we're also watching this very carefully to see if this was random if this was intentional we certainly don't know about that this incident but again high

interest given the fact that we expect the president to leave in a few hours from here at the white house to go to his mar-a lago residence in florida given the fact that this security concern has occurred notes of questions those specially those last minute revelations that raise will come back to kimberley how could you joe castro later you're looking at live pictures we're just waiting for what could turn out to be rather dramatic day to unfold in the u.s. congress will come back to the story when things become. evacuations from the epicenter of the corona virus outbreak a being stepped up and more restrictions placed on travel to china the world health organization has now officially declared it a global health emergency the death toll stands at 213 nearly 10000 confirmed cases of planeload of citizens from the united kingdom and the

european union has now returned to the u.k. they were evacuated from war in china 2 cases of corona virus have already been confirmed in the u.k. a taxi driver has become the 1st person in thailand to catch the virus through human to human transmission now health authorities are worried the driver may have come into contact with chinese tourists and further afield a 3rd plane load of japanese nationals arrived back in tokyo earlier friday evacuated from war harm 3 people flown out on earlier flights have been confirmed with the virus a turkish plane has also left or han and the u.s. has upped its travel alert to the highest level the same as war zones vising americans not to go to china some communities in taking matters into their own hands more on this from scott heiler in beijing. the lockdown of will haunt city origin of the corona virus and the surrounding province is now in its 2nd week so

how are the more than 50000000 people there coping we spoke with a few through video chat to get an idea john and his wife live in their 2 sons postpone their trip from hong kong for the lunar new year because of the virus the dates keep getting pushed back and their biggest concern is the uncertainty the obvious stress of concern about being infected with the current virus but what is it like just the other stress about supplies about your daily life i think. that's just the long trip. this is going. to become the greatest chance. he says he gets his information from friends outside china and contacts at the local hospitals. city is next to will hon like its neighbor it is sealed off and its streets empty this video was shot by one shin he has a supply of mass and food in the fridge his parents are with him but his wife and

young daughter are with her parents outside who pay province. i feel more relaxed because who by province is now seriously hit by the epidemic the place where they are at now has far fewer cases so i feel a bit relieved that they're not with me this cipher at the moment at biggest concern is when will we have medication for the virus this is what we care about most all those people who have problems are under a forced lockdown there are some communities across china who are self imposing a lockdown like this one on the outskirts of beijing they're not letting anyone into this community from the outside they're worried someone might carry the virus inside no matter the type of lock down government forced or self imposed with the spread of the virus accelerating no one knows how long these communities can remain safe it's got al-jazeera beijing. sunday i've got to go is in oxford share with more on those arrivals in the u.k. from. they've managed to get every one of the british nationals who were onboard

flight that landed a little while ago and now they are making that 275 kilometer journey to the northwest of england to a facility in a hospital. facility which they have managed to make out of a school bus stops accommodation. that will be the quarantine location where they will have to spend the next 2 weeks now around this area has been fenced in to allow basically no one who has any will to rise ation to go in you know anyone who goes out so they will be monitored there for the next 14 days in the meantime you know and activation in the floor other health. facilities around the country to which are in london one in liverpool and one in the northeastern city of new casillas as well which is where anyone who comes up

with the symptoms of corona virus will be taken to already in the new causal facility people have been taken who were confirmed today to have been tested positive for corona virus they took their what they fell ill with the symptoms while they were staying at a hotel. in just south of the area itself so that's where they're being that's where they're getting their treatment from. thousands of people are returning to hong kong from mainland china after the lunar new year when haiti has more on how the government there is handling the crisis. there is big demand for protective facemasks in hong kong as concern grows that we could be about to see a significant increase in the number of confirmed coronavirus cases here because so many people are returning from mainland china following the end of the lunar new year holiday there is a shortage of protective facemasks here now some shops do have them but the price

is high in some cases $3.00 times higher than what it normally would be criticism of the government has been growing too there are many people in hong kong who feel they haven't been doing enough to protect this city from the more confirmed cases of the virus they have reduced significantly the number of transport options between here and the mainland but many people want the border crossings to be closed completely something hong kong's chief executive kerry lamb says they won't do we should not contemplate sort of restrictions of international travel or trade and we should not adopt a discriminatory approach in dealing with people flowing between different countries and places in trying to contain the spread of the d.c.s. there are other measures which will help us to achieve that in fact kerry also said that they will ask all civil servants to continue working from home next week and

all schools in most universities will remain closed until march the seconds. are let's take you now back to capitol hill where they're just wrapping up a prayer session before they kickoff today's hearings in the impeachment trial in the senate for the u.s. president donald trump we're expecting this to be one of the pivotal and important moments in the impeachment process. today's the day that they're expected to vote on a key question of whether to bring in more witnesses and to hear witness testimony in the pietschmann trial now that's become a key issue. because they could because of revelations recently from the former national security adviser john bolton. which were leaks from an unpublished book he's penned. which suggests that there's more to be told about the u.s. president's interest in pursuing his democratic party political rivals by pressuring

the leaders of the ukraine to dig up what's being framed in the media as an adult against and if there is no objection the journal of proceedings of the trial are approved to date the deputy sergeant at arms will make the proclamation. hear ye hear ye hear ye all persons are commanded to keep silent i'm pain of imprisonment while the senate of the united states is sitting for the trials trial of articles of impeachment exhibited by the house of representatives against donald john president of the united states the majority leader is recognized or information of all colleagues will take a break about 2 hours out pursuant to the provisions of senate resolution $483.00 the senate has provided up to 4 hours of argument by the parties equally

divided on the question of whether or not it shall be in order to consider and debate under the impeachment rules any motion to subpoena witnesses or documents mr manager schiff are you a pro ponens or opponent mr cipel loney are you a proponent or opponent if you then mr shift you may proceed. before i begin mr chief justice the house managers will be reserving the balance of our time to respond to the argument of counsel for the president mr chief justice senators for the house managers and counsel for the president i know i speak for my fellow managers as well as counsel for the president in thanking you for your careful attention to the arguments that we have made over the course of many long

days today we were greeted to yet another development in the case when the new york times reported with a headline that says trump told bolton to help his ukraine pressure campaign book says the president asked his national security adviser last spring in front of other senior advisors to pave the way for a meeting between rudolph giuliani and ukraine's new leader according to new york times more than 2 months before he asked ukraine's president to investigate his political opponents president trump directed john r. bolton then his national security advisor to help with his pressure campaign to extract damaging information on democrats from ukraine in officials according to an unpublished manuscript by mr bolton mr trump gave the instruction mr bolton wrote during an oval office conversation in early may that included the acting white

house chief of staff mick mulvaney the president's personal lawyer rudy giuliani and the white house counsel. who is now leading the president's impeachment defense. now you'll see in a few moments and you will recall mr simple loney suggesting that the house managers were concealing facts from this body he said all the facts should come out well there's a new fact which indicates that mr sapelo nie was among those who were in the loop . yet another reason why we ought to hear from witnesses just as we predicted and it didn't require any great act of clairvoyance the facts will come out they will continue to come out and the question before you today is whether they will come out in time for you to make

a complete and informed judgment as to the guilt or innocence of the president now the times article goes on to say that mr trump told mr bolton to call let me or is alinsky would recently won election as president of ukraine to ensure mr selenski would meet with mr giuliani who was planning a trip to crane to discuss the investigations that the president sought in mr bolton's account mr bolton never made the call he wrote never made the call mr bolton understood that this was wrong he understood that this was not policy understood that this was a domestic political errand and refused to make the call the count mr bones manuscript or trays the most senior white house advisers as early witnesses in the effort that they have sought to distance the president from including the white house counsel over several pages according to the times mr bolton

laid out mr trump's fixation on ukraine and the president's belief based on a mix of scattershot events assertions and outright conspiracy theories that ukraine tried to undermine his chances of winning the presidency in 2016 as he began to realize the extent and aims of the pressure campaign mr bolton began to object he wrote in the book affirming the testimony of a former national security council aide fiona hill who had said that mr bolton warned that mr giuliani was a hand grenade was going to blow everybody up now as you might imagine the president denies this. president said today i never instructor john bolton to set up a meeting for rudy giuliani one of america's one of the greatest corruption fighters in america. so here you have the president saying

john bolton is not telling the truth let's find out let's put john bolton under oath let's find out who's telling the truth trial is supposed to be a quest for the truth. let's not fear what we will learn as mr simple only said let's make sure that all the facts come out. mr chief justice senators counsel for the president last tuesday at the onset 'd of this trial we milled for leader mcconnell's resolution to be amended to subpoena documents and witnesses from the audience that from the outset this body decided to

hold the question over you have now heard opening arguments from both sides you have seen the evidence that the house was able to collect you have heard about the documents and witnesses president trump blot from the houses in peach men inquiry we have vigorously question both sides the president's counsel has urged you to decide this case ever enter your verdict upon the record assemble by the house the evidence in the record is sufficient it is sufficient to convict the president on both articles of impeachment more than sufficient but that's simply not how trials work. as any prosecutor our defense lawyer would tell you when a case goes to trial both sides call witnesses and subpoena documents to bring before the jury that happens every day and court rooms all across america

there is no reason why this impeachment trial should be any different the commonsense practice is borne out of precedents there has never been and never before been a full senate and preachment trial without a single witness and fat you can see in the slot and every one of the 15 prior impeachment trials the senate has called multiple witnesses today we asked you to follow this body's uniform precedents and your commonsense we urge you to vote in favor of subpoenaing witnesses and documents now i'd like to address one question at the offset

there has been much back and forth about whether if the house believes it in its it as sufficient evidence to convict which we do why do we need more witnesses and documents so i'd like to be clear the evidence presented over the past we can have strongly supports a vote to convict the president the evidence is overwhelming we have a mounting of evidence it's direct his corroborated by multiple sources and it proves that the president committed grave and peach a bowl of chances to cheat. in the next election the evidence confirms that if left in office president trump will continue to arm our america's national security he will continue to

seek to corrupt the upcoming election and he will undermine he will undermine our democracy all to further his own personal game but this is a fundamental question that must be addressed is this a fair trial is this a fair trial is this a fair trial without the ability to call witnesses and produce documents the answer is clearly and unequivocally no it was the presidents decision to contest the facts and that is his right but because he has chosen to confess the fat a contest the facts he shall not be heard to complain he shall not be heard to complain that the house wishes to further prove his guilt to answer the questions

he would raise he complains that few witnesses directly to the president about his misconduct beyond his damning conversations with sandline and mulvaney ok let's hear from others then the witnesses the house wishes to call directly to the president all known words his own admissions of guilt his own confessions of responsibility if they did not all the president's men would be on their witness list. not ours these witnesses and the documents that there are agencies produce tell the full story and i believe that we are interested in hearing the full story you should want to hear it more than that the american people we know they want to hear

it the house republicans own expert witness in the als professor turley said if you could prove the president use our military aid to pressure ukraine to investigate a political rival that interfere in our elections it would be an end each of all abuse of power and senator graham to recognize that if such evidence existed it could potentially change his mind on impeachment well we now have another witness a fact witness who would report at least say exactly that ambassador bolton new manuscript which we will discuss in more detail in a moment reportedly confirms that the president told him and no uncertain terms we're talking about the former national security adviser saying the president told

him and no uncertain terms no 8 until investigations including the bidens for a week and a half the president has said no said evidence exist they are wrong but if you have any doubt about the evidence if you have any doubt about the evidence the evidence is at your fingertips the question is will you let all of us. including the american people here simply hear the evidence and make up their own minds and you can make up your own minds but will we let the american people hear all of the evidence you recall that ambassador bolton the president's former national security adviser is one of the witnesses we asked for last tuesday we did not know at the time what he'd say

we don't know what kind of witness that he would be but embassador bolton made clear that he was willing to testify and that he had relevant 1st hand knowledge that did hadn't yet been heard we heard we argue that we all deserve to hear that evidence but the president opposed him now we know why because john bolton could corroborate the rest of our evidence and confirm the president's guilt so today today senators we come before you and we urge we argue again that you let this witness and the other key witnesses we have identified come forward so you have all of the information available to you when you make this consequential decision

if witnesses are not called here these proceedings will be a trial in name only and the american people clearly know a fair trial when they see one large majorities of the american people want to hear from witnesses in this trial and they have a right to hear from witnesses and this trial. let's hear from them let's look them in the eye ok to their credibility and hear what they have to say about the presidents actions for the same reasons this body should grant our requests to subpoena documents the documents that the president also bought the house from obtaining documents from the white house the state department d.o.t.

and o.m.b. that will complete the story and provide the whole truth whatever they may be we ask that you subpoena these documents so that you can decide for yourself if you have any doubt as to what occurred less look at this additional evidence to be clear we are not asking you to track down every single document or to call every possible witness we have carefully identified only 4 key witnesses with direct knowledge who can speak to the specific issues that the president has disputed and we target key documents which we understand have already been collected for example at the state department they've already been collected that this will not call a substantial delay. as i made clear last night these matters can be addressed

in a single week as we made clear last night these matters can be addressed in a single we know that from president clinton's case there the senate voted to approve a motion but witnesses on january 27th the next day it is status for seizures for those depositions and adjourned as the court of impeachment until february for in that brief period the parties to 3 depositions the senate didn't then resume is for seedings by voting to accept the deposition testimony into the record in this trial to less do the same we should take a brief one week break for witness testimony and document collection during which time the senate can return to its normal business the trial should not be allowed to be different from each from every other impeachment trial or any other kind of

trial simply because the president doesn't want us to know the truth the american people the american people that we all. deserve to know the truth and a fair trial we criers that this is too important of a decision to be made without all of the relevant evidence before turning to the specific need for these witnesses and documents i want to make clear we are not asking you again to break new ground. we're asking quite the opposite we are asking you to simply follow the senate's unbroken precedents and to do so in

a manner that allows you to continue the senate's ordinary business the senate sitting as a court of and for each one has heard witness testimony and every other as we've said earlier in every other 15 and preachment trials in the history of the republic and in fact these trials have had an average of $33.00 witnesses and the senate has repeatedly subpoenaed and received new documents while adjudicating cases of and preachment that make sense under our constitution the senate does not just vote on impeachments it does not just debate them instead the senate is commanded by the constitution to try all cases of impeachment while the trial requires witnesses a tryout requires documents this is the american way and

this is the american story if the senate denies our emotions it would be the only time in history it has rendered a judgment on articles of impeachment without hearing from a single witness or receiving a single relevant document from the president whose conduct is on trial and why why can we justify how can we justify this break from precedents how would we justify for what reason would we break precedents in these proceedings. there are many compelling reasons beyond president that demand subpoenas for witnesses and cases and documents in this case and this and i yield to manager garcia to

. follow common sense and vote in favor of subpoenaing witnesses and documents a call there by val demings the democratic impeachment manager we've been hearing from democrats we have the opening of this hearing that will ultimately lead to a vote on the question of whether or not to allow additional witness testimony to be heard before the senate. before val demings made her presentation we heard from adam schiff the democratic leader. who said let's find out who's telling the truth let's put bolton under oath let's not fear the truth. let's go to heidi joe castro she's standing by on capitol hill in washington d.c. and heidi the new revelations in the new york times already being brought up

in this hearing today how much impact is it possible is a very hard thing but is it possible to kind of gauge a tour how much impact this is going to have in a very crucial moment where the numbers here the numbers are quite delicate now right. right sammy and i think i may actually have an answer for you because that one key swing voter lisa murkowski the republican has just announced to reporters that she will be a no vote on witnesses so it really makes you wonder if this new bolton revelation was simply too late in fact those 2 developments happening almost simultaneously with reporting from the new york times discussing how this bolten has now more evidence as revealed in his upcoming book that president trump wanted to recruit him to be part of this pressure campaign against ukraine and as you said we heard

adam schiff the lead in peter manager trying to that development of the 1st thing he brought up in today's arguments as part of this impeachment trial but ashton was walking into that chamber of lisa murkowski that pivotal republican senator considered to be a moderate who would be the swing vote on whether or not bolton and other witnesses are called she announced and she also put this in writing in his statement received biologist zira as she intends to be a no on this question of witnesses. and she explained her thinking a little further she says that she is she says she it is sad for me she writes chametz that as an institution the congress has failed those are the words of the senator saying that she doesn't believe that continuation of this process will change anything so certainly she will be addressed to explain further that ration now she a republican member now siding with her republican colleagues in not wanting to get

more information into the trial record while on the same hand on the same breath saying that this is a part of the failing of congress so even as these democratic impeach managers continue their arguments today sammy i'm sure they will continue to pitch away until the last moment but we do expect that vote at the end of the evening on whether or not to call witnesses to fail or that's quite a significant development thanks for bringing us up to date with it heidi joe castro there's a lot here to unpack no doubt let's bring in julie grace because she's a congressional reporter for the hill joins us now from washington d.c. so as i'm sure you're aware the news the lisa murkowski is is going to be a no vote on this question of whether to bring witnesses is that basically me now it's impossible for the democrats to win this photo if everybody of course sticks to the positions they've committed to and when it's time to vote. as my colleagues

at the capitol reported that there were huge cheers coming out of the g.o.p. lunch today which had signaled the kind of the precursor to. announcing that she was against she's going to vote against witnesses that's a huge win for mitch mcconnell her statement. these kind of got this lockdown at this point i don't think this is going to be an issue the democrats like go it specially with the bombshell new york times report and i think the house will definitely be trying to subpoena john bolton and other witnesses given the new developments. is it likely is it possible to toll early realm of the imagination that perhaps some senators could still change their minds in light of this new revelation that's come out about paul. and i think murkowski was kind of their best hope to have chief justice roberts kind of break that tie which was also an unlikely scenario lamar alexander he was in outgoing retiring. senator he

ultimately also chose to vote against witnesses so it looks like it's just going to be mitt romney and susan collins which was kind of to be expected they're kind of the 2 most moderate. republicans in the upper chamber or and so in the bigger picture of things what does this mean then if the vote to bring in witnesses fails this mean that the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell will probably move immediately for a vote on articles of impeachment to try and get it out the way before any of this any other republican support for the president now it sounds like the vote is going to happen tonight on witnesses now whether to vote for acquittal happens tomorrow or there is talk of potentially after the state a union early next week. the exact timing on when that's going to take place hasn't been announced yet but i would imagine that he's going to want to get this done sooner rather than later. now even if that goes ahead as you know things are looking pretty certain promising shall we say for the u.s.

president at this point terms of getting the impeachment process out the way this issue doesn't get out of the way though necessarily especially if the house of talk to us a little bit about the process of the house of representatives could still take on bringing witness testimony. now the house majority leader said he where has kind of reserved the he said they have not ruled out tension to bring in additional witnesses despite the outcome of whatever happens on that final vote there now john bolton's book hasn't even been fully released yet there could be additional huge developments in that that come out and i'm sure that the democrat controlled house is going to want more information on on that but in a sense i can very much these committees that kind of right now go ahead than. the committees the kind of led the charge on the impeachment inquiry i would imagine they would take the lead in calling in subpoenaing these witnesses but what

difference would that make you feel the senate has already acquitted the u.s. president is it all about focusing on damaging his chances in the elections well there's the election coming up i mean that information could be pivotal to the democratic candidate i think it's specially with swing voters. more damning information comes out that it could be a huge issue for president trump. this clearly is an issue that's going to continue to. unfold itself let's thank our guests very much thank you for your analysis and thoughtful manner of thank you for having me. i. now in just a matter of hours britain will officially leave the european union more on this let's cross over to marian a muslim in london merriam. thanks very much big

political developments here as well as in washington tonight after nearly 4 years of better debate the u.k. will officially leave the e.u. at 11 pm g.m.t. it's the end of a 47 year relationship and then that's celebrated and mourned or a challenge reports now on how britain's final day in a block played out. of britain prepared to leave the e.u. a small party thrown in central london by a handful of bricks its most ardent supporters really gray. smiling ahead of them like that all we can do now is you know be here if this country will be possible though. 'd much of the country is more muted go yes this is a moments of huge national significance but little actually changes until the transition period finishes at the end of the year and it's not yet clear where the country is heading this is the man currently in the u.k.

is driving seats before he got the job many thought it was a natural fit to. do it in december boris johnson won a crushing landslide election victory on the promise that he'd finally get bricks it done through. the rest of britain seem to have voted to put 3 years of being in political paralysis behind them but plenty see the argument as something titanic has been achieved much hot air. mike in northern ireland for example which is more exposed to bricks it sounds certainties than anywhere else in the u.k. it completely recasts reshapes the political and economic conversation across the island between the island of ireland and britain right across the continent so this isn't an end point this is very much a beginning certainly the heavy lifting sorting out the u.k.'s trade relationship with europe everything from fish. financial services is still to come all the

political signs in the u.k. of the u.k. want to sit diverged from the not to be part of the sort of spear of influence of the european union but all the sort of dynamics of the negotiations point to a quick and a quick deal means trying to come up with alignment in key areas that are going to be in the ears interests of europe the message is clear proof. the more the u.k. will diverged from e.u. standards the less access to the single market they will have. the e.u. will be looking to its own priorities and trying to solve its challenges the u.k. is already receding in importance we want to have the best possible relationship with the united kingdom but it will never be as good as membership of the e.u. wants to show you there is little to be gained from the door. to 0 in london the. whole joins us live now from lambeth bridge in london and that was definitely times

where it felt as though it might never happen now comes a formal end to what has been a difficult relationship over the years between the u.k. and the what is the feeling where you are tonight. well just across the bridge to the river behind me there in parliament square there are celebrations going on is not a lot happening here but over there celebrations of pro briggs its supporters waving union jacks their numbers and the substantial now they'll grow of course in the next couple of hours leading to $2300.00 g.m.t. 11 pm this evening when the u.k. will officially cease to be a member of the european union after 47 years as rory was pointing out there though officially the celebrations are quite muted they're talking about a light show outside downing street and government offices in whitehall the prime minster boris johnson will release a pre recorded address to the nation at about 10 pm he'll talk about this country's post prospects unleashing the great potential potential of this country the sort of

slogans that we heard quite a lot of during the election campaign from polish johnson back in december of course he will know that his victory and the fact of breaks that have come it not inconsiderable cost to this country in terms of divided communities people who will be feeling a sense of great sadness and hurt this evening at having their european union citizenship taken away from them also the damage that has been done in the last tumultuous 3 and a half years to bedrock institutions like parliament itself like the judiciary the civil service much of it at the hands of boris johnson himself and of course the very fabric of this country is in the balance with support for independence in scotland for instance reaching its highest point this week in 5 years the government aware of all of that of course apparently keen to tone down any sense of triumphalism in all of this is not to deepen those wounds and what all adds up to if you like is that while the talk now is of

a focus in the coming months and years on trade and the economy i think an equal challenge for this country will be building bonds unifying this country and great deal still to be resolved. u.k. now begins what has been called a transition payer and tell us more about what this means and what changes in the relationship between the u.k. and the e.u. or fundamentally not very much changes as of midnight or 11 pm this evening that's because there is a withdrawal agreement in place to go she added between the e.u. and boris johnson it deals with the money that the u.k. will have to pay it deals with border arrangements to some extent citizens' rights but crucially there's a transition period in that arrangement up until the 31st of december 2020 jury in which freedom of movement goes on people will travel much as they did before business will operate much as it did before the crucial difference is largely behind the scenes britain will no longer have a seat at the table of any of the e.u. institutions where rules will be made that it will have to obey during the transition period which is why boris johnson doesn't want it to go on any longer

than it has to he's vowed there will be no extension that they will be a trade deal by the end of the year the problem with that is that is a very short period to come to any sort of comprehensive trade arrangement so in sum to answer your question we really don't know what the picture will look like beyond 11 months or so from now all right thank you very much joanna hall in london natasha butler is in brussels for us joins us now so the e.u. has said that it hopes to maintain a positive relationship with the u.k. coming forward but also they've made it clear that they're it's going to be a tough 11 months of trade negotiations ahead. yes that's right some of the use making it very clear that what happens after the u.k. leaves the european union will be tough negotiations on both sides are and the commission in fact said today look each side is going to try and look after its own interests

it's interesting to be here this evening because it is of course a very historic occasion it's a momentous moment the u.k. leaving the after nearly half a century but i have to say here in brussels which is of course the symbolic capital of europe it's incredibly low key and that's very deliberate on behalf of the european union because what officials are saying is this is this is a sad day they certainly regret the fact that person is leaving the european union and it's also a difficult day for them in many respects because it sends a message that the e.u. was perhaps an able to keep person they've been the block has been trying to expand over the past few years expand its membership and here we have a member turning its back on everything that the e.u. stands for so the only thing we're actually going to see this evening in brussels is just behind me might have to see it the british flag it will be lowered at midnight a symbol of it of course leaving european union or be then folded up and we told

you officials will be a whisking it's a way putting it in a museum will become a relic if you like for visitors to see for well for as long as it stays there all right thank you very much about with the latest from brussels and we will continue our coverage very shortly more from london coming up at 980 just a couple minutes from now back to family in doha. thanks so much money and now there have been scuffles near the al aqsa mosque compound where palestinians were holding a protest against u.s. president donald trump's middle east peace plan palestinians gathered in the early hours after morning prayers israeli police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse them how to force it has been in the old city by these jerusalem he says israel in stepping up security just after dawn prayers this morning there were those confrontations between israeli put security forces and palestinian worshippers dozens of them in or around the mosque compound and we had already

heard from israeli security forces that they were beefing up their presence in the old city because of the current political tensions of to the release of the trump peace plan and just before those present underway we did hear that in the immediate area around the locks the mosque compound and as the temple mount to jews in that area the security presence was a good deal more visible and had been increased the real question is how things pan out a few minutes from now once the pres out break up rather and people come out into the streets of the old city around the mosque the the that the general security presence of say here has been increased as it has in the occupied west bank as well all of this coming after tuesday's release of the trunk plan and the apparent green light that it gave to israel to start enacting annexation in israeli settlements and indeed the jordan valley the israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu had

indicated he wanted to move almost immediately this sunday to vote in cabinet to start that process but the brakes have been put on by the americans it seems in the last couple of days so we wait to see whether that reality the fact that there isn't going to be an immediate change whether that has any influence on how things pan out today in terms of protests. a state of emergency has been declared in australia's capital as bushfires threaten cambra in the surrounding region many fear hot weather and strong winds this weekend will spread the blaze south of the city out of control it's the worst fire threat cambra has seen in 2 decades that's it. for this news hour my colleague mary mozzie in london will be back in just a couple of minutes with more of the day's news so stay with us here on out just.

the latest news as it breaks while this is all the whys and hows pave the way for a wave of less than there is so joins us live with details coverage and feel this journalism anti-riot police have been using it for fear of the earth the crowd from around the world called very low key areas. by. what they have seen so far they say i think that anybody. gives you a deal dead and did you get the peace prize too soon. is this going to hurt or help

donald trump's reelection chances it is very true one thing you could shoot somebody on 5th avenue and not have any consequence this is not a muslim issue this is a human colony issue join me as i put it up from questions to my special guests and challenge them to some straight talking political debate here on al-jazeera. in russia many cuddy's migrant workers and grazing. 6 echoing an increasingly familiar global trend. carious labor force left vulnerable to exploitation and xenophobia. people in power investigate. little pakistan. on al-jazeera. understand the differences and similarities of cultures across the world is another matter when you will be in the news and current affairs that matter to you.

this country is headed towards the greatest cover up since watergate republicans poised to acquit president trump on what could be the final day of his impeachment trial. hello i'm maryanne demasi in london you're watching al-jazeera also coming up on the program evacuations from china stepped up and more travel restrictions come into force as almost 10000 coronavirus cases a confirmed countdown to breaks it.