it is 200 hours g.m.t. on al-jazeera on come all santa maria and these are the top stories the 1st day of testimony has wrapped up in the trial of 20 saudi nationals accused of killing the journalist jamal khashoggi a saudi consulate employee has been giving his testimony in istanbul i think he was murdered and then dismembered at the saudi consulate in istanbul back in 2018 the un special rapporteur has spoken to the media outside the court room reasserting that saudi crown prince mohammed bin salman should be indicted i've always said to ease responsible for something personally i did not time the evidence demonstrating

whether. altered the crime whether it had insight to the crime wave there yet failed to prevent a crime but he was somewhere in the picture and that's enough for criminal responsibility and certainly for his liability but the head she also said that more countries need to be present for these proceedings. i call on them to ensure that the last next session in november that they are far greater international presence so that we continue to deliver that message to saudi arabia and to the rest of the world that you cannot get away with killing a journalist and let's not forget these is a state exit q of course we are focusing on individual respect this is a state executive this is why the presence of other state of other members of the international community is important. headlines now in france has

a new prime minister the palace has announced that it will take over from edward felipe a move that paves the way for a cabinet reshuffle step down which automatically triggers the resignation of the entire cabinet earlier this week he was elected as the mayor of a port city in northern france india's prime minister's made an unannounced visit to the border region at the center of a tense dispute with china the regiment he was accompanied by defense officials during the trip where he spoke to members of the army tensions led to violence last month with the killing of 20 indian soldiers during fighting with chinese troops in the remote go one valley england is dropping coronavirus travel restrictions for people coming in from more than 50 countries from july 10th passengers arriving from places viewed as low risk will now not need to self isolate for 14 days that rule was brought in last month and has been fiercely opposed by the travel industry a full list of exempt countries has not yet been released. unicef and 2 health

organizations have struck a deal to buy and inexpensive steroids to treat critically ill coronavirus patients in poor countries researches found dexamethasone significantly reduced mortality among those worst affected by the virus it is cheap it is widely available and is known for its anti inflammatory effects. hundreds of nurses in southern california one demanding more personal protection equipment p.p.a. and also better working conditions they protested in front of a hospital in riverside outside of los angeles as part of a 10 day strike nurses say the influx of coronavirus patients means they have to work longer shifts without breaks and so they want the union and the hospitals to agree on better working terms there's been a large explosion at a fireworks factory in northwest turkey the complex province had between 150 and 200 people inside when the explosion went off it's not yet known how many people

have been either killed or injured. the recovery efforts in may and more are underway for a 2nd day after a landslide at a jade mine 162 people are known to have died so far and emergency workers are still searching for more bodies the landslide was triggered when a pile of waste collapsed into a lake causing a wave of muddy water and anti-government protesters in mali have held a rally in the capital bamako to mark the $100.00 days since an opposition leader was kidnapped. say disappeared days before a parliamentary election in march this family is accused the government of not moving quickly enough to rescue him demonstrators a calling for president ibrahim. to step down and up to date with the headlines next on al-jazeera battlefield washington.

ah donald trump do solemnly swear donald trump do solemnly swear that i will faithfully execute i will faithfully execute the office of president of the united states he also has the president of the united states the day trump this morning and the 2016 election that secured his victory is already under investigation did russia help him get the presidency. so help me god directly.

as he walks on pennsylvania avenue from where he took the oath of office towards the white house he steps onto a political battlefield. pennsylvania avenue is the heart of washington that connects major political players congress the f.b.i. the department of justice. the press. the white house. this is the story set at one of the most powerful capitals in the world a political and judicial conflict. a battle that has pitted tromp against those who believe he was an accomplice and russia's interference. a battle for the truth. about the president of the united states and for the principles of american democracy.

according to top u.s. intelligence chiefs the russians interfered in the 2016 presidential election putin they say developed a clear preference for trump over clinton so russia's intelligence services stole and leaked thousands of clinton's e-mails to discredit her. 2 weeks before his inauguration they briefed trump. trump rejects their conclusions he does not want his victory to be questioned. the intelligence agencies maintain their findings and partially release them to the public they say putin ordered an influence campaign to help trump win the election. putin's role is immediately raised in congress which calls the chiefs of the intelligence community to testify. in.

their question by democratic party senator like you go down the line in. any of your careers have you ever seen this level of russian interference in our political process and start would recommend just going on the lord no. no you know. i think very few documents that i can remember would have had the political weight and the political influence of this particular document. the purpose of making that report was to make sure the american people were aware

of some of the dynamics going on behind the scenes this was the 1st time that a major covert action major clandestine action against the united states at the very heart of our democratic process had been tempted because of the sophistication of the attempts and then the pervasiveness of those attempts to have a widespread impact it was broader than anything that had been seen in prior actions so really. you know has intelligence community you know for sure is blaming russian president vladimir putin's who were in the game are going to russia tried everything possible to get to the november election the only type intelligence and there are multiple sources. only 3 days after the intelligence reports a new classified document makes the headlines i want to be very precise here multiple u.s. officials with direct knowledge of the briefings tell c.n.n.

that classified documents included allegations that russian operatives claimed to have compromising personal and financial information about mr trump this is a confidential report written by an ex british spy christopher steele on secretly links between trump his businesses and the russians. it claims moscow has been helping trump all along with the regular flow of intelligence and that the russians have compromising material on. the main point of the steel dossier that there was an ongoing attempt by the russians to get close to the trump campaign is undisputed at this point he doesn't like the fact that the press said it but it is out there is no mr president like president since you were trying to decision and you're with the still dossier made

public news trucks battle with the press intensifies rice are going to do it mr president you say categorically why should the president like can you give us are going to be reuniting us can you give us are going to be you know yesterday or today during his 1st weeks at the white house trump is on the defensive the man who just appointed national security adviser general michael flynn is caught in the eye of the storm. he lied about his contacts with moscow and the russian embassy and washington. the press reveals it and trump has to retreat mike flynn is a fine person and i asked for his resignation he respectfully gave it flynn is the 1st victim of the battle of washington but firing flint is not enough the question remains what are the relations between trump and moscow did she knowingly

cooperate with a hostile foreign power to take over the leadership of the united states. for many months to come finding the truth will test the pillars of the american political system the independence of justice of the freedom of the press and the rule of law. under pressure from the press and from the democrats congress gets involved. in congress before the 2018 determine lections the republicans trumps party are the majority and the democrats are the opposition but on some crucial issues it's a tradition for the 2 parties to work together this is the spirit of bipartisanship . it's just. since keeping the american people safe and maintaining a such a strong homeland of national security is so important to this country it is the

issue that demands the most bipartisan support and so democrats and republicans demanded that there be a bipartisan investigation demanded that there be bipartisan hearings and i was hopeful that this would lead to bipartisan action congressional committees have power and they can summon whomever they want as witnesses and lying to them is a crime their public hearings are followed by millions of americans and so high ranking high level government officials came to the congress the united states in front of the american people under oath and gave their assessment about russia's interference in our election a key figure and they see hearings as james combing the director of the f.b.i. who heads up a staff of more than 35000 men and women. i have been authorized by the department of justice to confirm that the f.b.i. as part of our counterintelligence mission is investigating the russian government's efforts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election and that

includes investigating the nature of any links between individuals associated with the trump campaign and the russian government and whether there was any coordination between the campaign and russia's efforts. and early may 2017 if he is grilled over the involvement of truong in camp himself us gets into a minefield and have you ruled out the president out of state i don't know what people over interpret his answer i'm not going to comment on anyone in particular so potentially the president ited states could be a target of your ongoing investigation. i just worry i don't want to answer that that that's seems to me unfair speculation that we will follow the evidence will try and find as much as we can we'll follow the evidence wherever it leads by refusing to say publicly that trump is not under investigation komi is just put himself on a collision course with the president. this is an n.b.c.

news special report here's mr holmes and good day everyone we learned a short time ago that president trump has fired f.b.i. director james couldn't we a less than a week after coleman's hearing in congress trump fires him an attack against the f.b.i. and explosive news. bombshell from the white house wait to be i director james cool we fired my president we came we don't know this is something that caught all the law enforcement community by surprise and it caught the intelligence community in washington d.c. and surprise you. and the dismissal came in harsh terms in a letter signed by the president you are terminated immediately.

i was stunned i think most of the american public was stunned i didn't even realize the president could fire the f.b.i. director the f.b.i. director serves by law for a 10 year period and so it came as a shock i talked to a number of friends colleagues after that happened who are still in the f.b.i. and it was this essence of i can't believe the president did this but i think he was just exercising what he believed was his authority just as if he was the c.e.o. of trump enterprises. and congress one question needs to be addressed by the investigative committee why did trump fire james komi. why do you believe you were fired. so i don't know for sure i believe the prick think the president at his word that i was fired because of the russian versification something about the way i was conducting it the president felt

created pressure on him they wanted to relieve he was asking for something and i was refusing to give it. and fact early in his term trump asked to speak to call me in private. there was a meeting at the white house a one on one meeting between trump and call me call me must have had his antenna up because he felt like something was wrong because as soon as he was done that meeting he wrote up these memos. after meeting with trump call me sat in his car and wrote down what was discussed the meeting was about general fled the advisor who had lied about his contacts with russia trump said he hoped komi coming let the matter go. i hope you can let this go now those are his exact words is that correct correct and you wrote them here and you put them in quotes correct ok he did not order you to let it go it is a present united states with me alone saying i hope this i took it as this is what

he wants me to do now i mean i didn't obey that but that's why it took. colin's account is correct if if the president calls in the director the f.b.i. and says can you can you drop the case you guys have against this person for political reasons i think that absolutely is obstruction of justice. american law says anybody from an average citizen all the way up to the president who tries to block and a criminal investigation for the wrong reasons with what we call corrupt intent a bad motive. is guilty of obstruction of justice did you at any time of the urge former f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form to close sort of back down the investigation into michael flynn and also as you know no next question next

question. soon after firing the f.b.i. director trump is about to face a new challenge. will be a feature breaking news right now tonight i'm sure this would probably be just disappointing the special counsel to counsel robert. bobb holder to now oversee the pressure probe and look at the possible connections between top campaign associates and russia this is. only 8 days after the firing of james combing the justice department appoints robert muller to take over the russian probe. for this mission robert mueller was called out of retirement he had been director of the f.b.i. for 12 years and in 2013 he had left the law enforcement agency with full honors and his farewell speech he proclaimed his unshakable faith in the rule of law. have

always been proud to say that i work for the department of justice because of that for which it stands which is an unyielding commitment to the rule of law and to the safety and security of the citizens we serve a know. quite well. i worked with him for about 4 years when i was the cia deputy director and he was the director of the f.b.i. . he's not a self promoting individual and he has a very high standard for what is true and what is not true administrator pistole the point of me is number 2 person in the f.b.i. as the deputy director and so i had the chance to get to know him and then. work with him so let me say a few words about director ball or politics or just don't play any role in his calculations so he is all about finding the truth and doing it under the rule of

law so yeah he's a man of integrity. robert muller has placed under the authority of the department of justice and it's deputy attorney general rod rosenstein. his new orders give him far reaching powers. moller can investigate moscow's relations with the trump campaign and any other matters. most are waste no time immediately orders the preservation of millions of official documents forbidding the destruction of records that could be useful in the russia probe e-mails phone records audio recordings metadata and storage devices recordings eventually or exit of the building's video surveillance. once a person or a company or or a bureaucracy knows that there's

a criminal investigation to destroy evidence after that becomes a federal crime and so i think mahler's 1st move was a smart one but the order also shows that there is a concern that these documents might be destroyed by a white house that is trying to hide the truth from investigators. this was only the beginning of the bitter struggle between muller and the president of the united states. so we have mr miller who's known as a tough cop he's a big impose in 6 foot something experienced justice department official he's a tough cop the press was saying he's a tough cop he always gets his man. and he will press and squeeze and he will find what is truth and what is fiction he is careful he is by the book he does not speak publicly other than his court filings

he is incredibly hard working and focused mr trump on the other hand is a bulldog and he is impulsive where i could stand in the middle if if they have a new and shoot somebody and i wouldn't lose any voters ok it's like incredibly there are not 2 more different people on earth than bob mahler and president trump and very early on in that in this whole process i think the trunk people realize that the best defense would be a political one and not a legal one legally they really don't have a lot to stand on trump and his people made a determination very early on we're going to claim that this whole thing is politically motivated is a witch hunt that a whole new way if they really were the witch hunt i would call it the rig to which i don't. know what you're saying if so when she was a democrat gets fired when you don't add something. on the phone to you which she

really was. is washington celebrates the 4th of july. and dependence to a major offensive against the president is about to be launched. the surprise attack comes from the center of washington from the press. the new york times claims the trump campaign was in secret contact with russian officials 5 months before the 2016 election a major scoop. this was the work of our washington best against the saying it was over and over weeks that we learned more and more about the meeting and the fact is it occurred. so yes it was very exciting to have that scoop again we didn't know

that much about the meeting we didn't learn it all at once but we've built on it since then you know and mahler is looking in that meeting the meeting is organized via emails between the son of the president and an intermediary who offered quote information that would incriminate hillary and would be very useful to donald trump ultra sensitive stuff he adds don jr answers if it's what you say i love it the meeting takes place on the 9th of june 2016 in new york at trump tower around the table donald trump's on his son in law his campaign director paul man a for intermediary and for russian nationals the news spread like wildfire according to the new york times the red york times report on to the new york times reports the president's son donald trump jr was promised damaging information about hillary clinton for agreeing to meet last summer with a russian lawyer a russian lawyer in question has been actions with from. when donald trump jr

responded enthusiastically to the idea of receiving information that would be harmful to hillary clinton i think that was a gift to russia it represented an attempt by brush of truth have a base of influence. if you will. the news comes at a time when trump was in hamburg for an international summit where he had a meeting with vladimir putin and. what we may call you a lot of very positive things happening for russia for the united states and for everybody. going on or to be with you thank you thank you. immediately after this handshake the trunk camp has to do damage control over the new york times story they put out a statement saying the story was wrong. you know from air force one they were very very alarmed by it on the plane ride back to the united states is when the

president and his team come cox this story about how the trump tower meeting was about adoptions. flying back with his father trump jr sends an explanation to the press. at the meeting he says was merely about the adoption of russian children in the united states. so the $1000000.00 question with the trump tower meeting is what did the president know about it and when did his son tell and about the meeting at a time junior called his father and said hey we have this meeting coming up with some russian people that are offering us information and the president said great go for it let me know he's part of a conspiracy that is a not to bring someone into a conspiracy. back. i came up with the term fake news it's a lot of fake news this is fake news put out by the media schooled fake news people back there you know those very dishonest people back there but these guys are

crooked press they. say. right. back the words have meaning and power and a lot of people myself included. good republicans were going to offer pizza don't do that you just don't do that kahless the enemy of the people is just going too far the press is trying to report the facts as they see them and the president has decided that he would like to shoot the messenger. there is no channel that covers world news like we do as a roaming correspondent i am constantly on the go covering topics from politics to conflict is stuff to change our mental issues of scale of this town is like nothing you've ever seen i think own parents don't know we want to know how do these things

affect people we revisit places and stay even when they're no international headlines. and really invest in them and that's a privilege as a journalist. on counting the cost of pandemic decimates jobs pushing many into the stream publishing could have green recovery save the global economy senegal flagpoles from chinese crews accused of overfishing us meat processing plants make or for next pandemic counting the cost on al-jazeera. al-jazeera explores prominent figures of the 20th century and how rivalries influenced the course of history steve jobs a much better market share than bill gates was apple was going to reinvent the phone bill made software what it is today will change the world to high tech visionaries whose breakthroughs inspired a digital revolution jobs and gates face to face on al-jazeera.

be the hero the world needs right. washing. battlefield washington is coming up in a moment but 1st a check on the headlines in the 1st day of testimony has now wrapped up in the trial of 20 saudi nationals accused of killing the journalist jamal khashoggi a saudi consulate employee has been giving his testimony in assemble hotshot j. was noted and dismembered at the saudi consulate in istanbul back in 2018 that un special rapporteur spoke to the media outside the courtroom reasserting that saudi crown prince mohammed bin solomon should be indicted. i've always said e's responsible for something personally i did not time the evidence demonstrating

where they're. all good crimes where there is insight to it crime wave there yet failed to prevent a crime but she was somewhere in the picture and that's enough for criminal responsibility and certainly for you liability there headlines france has a new prime minister. confirmed will take over from edward philip remove that paves the way for a cabinet reshuffle step down which automatically triggers the resignation of his entire cabinet earlier this week he was elected the mayor of the of a port city in northern france india's prime minister's made an unannounced visit to the border region at the center of a tense dispute with china and around remote he was accompanied by defense officials during the trip where he spoke to army members tension led to to violence last month with the killing of 20 indian soldiers during fighting with chinese troops in the remote valley england is dropping coronavirus travel restrictions for

people coming in from more than 50 countries in july and 10 passengers arriving from places viewed as low risk will not need to self isolate for 14 days anymore that rule was brought in last month has been fiercely opposed by the travel industry unicef and to health organizations have struck a deal to buy an inexpensive steroid to treat critically ill coronavirus patients in poor countries british researchers found dexamethasone significantly reduced mortality among those worst affected by the virus and recovery efforts in may and mar are underway for a 2nd day after a landslide at a jade mime 162 people are known to have died so far and emergency workers are still searching for more bodies also for the news hour in about 25 minutes time here on al-jazeera now part 2 of battlefield washington.

this is the story set in one of the most powerful capitals in the world a political and judicial conflict. a battle that has pitted donald trump against those who believe he was an accomplice and brushes interference. to flood knowing. cooperate with a hostile foreign power to take over the leadership of the state. this was the 1st time a major covert action of major clandestine action against the united states at the very heart of our democratic process at the text of. an october 2017 special counsel robert muller issues his 1st indictments against people close to the president. made up for trump's campaign director and gates deputy director of the campaign are both charged for breaking

a series of laws papadopoulos foreign affairs advisor to the campaign is charged for having lied to the f.b.i. . motion for us to be patient and 0 d. and on his 1st targets to the. right here by the. french a string is a for each. enjoy. about his contacts with foreign nationals in a series of people in d.c. suddenly in deep deep trouble those charged by muller become fair game for the press even if they're not directly linked to the russian and or for. in the 2016 election. when the initial indictments were issued by

mueller people rightfully said wait a minute this is supposed to be about russia so what's going on and a lot of people have said none of this is collusion who cares why is moller charging these crimes if it's not pollution no collusion there's no collusion and it just seems to be the focus don't collude you know up front you know nothing there's no police no good whatsoever present trumps reactions or that any time one of his colleagues or friends has been indicted or even pled guilty for him the litmus test of the bottom line is did they stab us that there was collusion between president trump and his inner circle and the russians and thus far that has not been charged publicly so that's what he is. claiming as a victory one thing that people i think really misunderstand about the american federal criminal justice system is just how much we rely on cooperating witnesses the defendants the people of being charged the people who have done something wrong have the option of cooperating why then would incriminate characters cooperate with

the investigators it's all about leverage you have to charge someone with a crime that you have the evidence on and then hope that that person is unwilling to take the risk of going to jail for a long time and instead decides to come in and cooperate in this drama between miller and the white house there's there's a lot of behind the scenes negotiation and strategy play it's very much a game as muller builds up his case his investigation suddenly faces a setback. we start with a new explosive information piccy secure in the mole investigation removed from his job one of my trusted aides is discredited it's a long time efficiently people strong shoulders name is peter strong going to be i agent peter struck and struck so alleged mistress an f.b.i. and we're named lisa page.

the press publishes the text messages of peter struck and lisa page. struck with a trusted advisor obama lawyer transcripts of his messages show that he was for him an anti trump. oh my god he's an idiot says struck. he's awful says page. i have no idea how destabilizing his presidency would be. struck was dismissed but the damage was done and congress presidents can't can now use trucks opinion to claim that the f.b.i. and the special counsel are politically tanta now the investigations into donald trump have been infected. with the fire a subsidy or bias the pro try to media escalates the attack it denounces it as a conspiracy theory investigation was weaponized to destroy his presidency who is underway right here some sort of subversion campaign for trump diehards the

investigations that are closing in on the president are weapons in the hands of an anti trump top deep state we've been hijacked by a deep state it is so addition. father we pray for president trump yes lord give him extra calcium in his backbone yes god made his enemies confound his enemies alou not fall into their traps this we pray in the name of jesus hey man and the mickey for watching 'd. the idea of a deep state is one of the dumbest ideas i've ever heard. there is no such thing as a deep state i have not seen that the state this is another made up conspiracy theory that there is a deep state out to get trump he's always looking for ways to blame his own

problems on other people and this is another one totally false. but a deep state notion brides. and congress well the consensus over investigating the russian meddling withstand the pressure. there was a hope an expectation that congress as a bipartisan institution could get to the bottom of all this and we've been through it well enough at that and. the leader of the democrats in the house intelligence committee has to admit that there will be no consensus on the issue. last night the majority on the intelligence committee made the decision to prematurely shut down the russian best occasion the only authorized investigation in the house of representatives that was a terrible disservice to the country and the american people this is no way to run investigation it is only a way to go through the motions to give the pretense of trying to find the truth

the truth that the congress' failure to uncover the whole truth you just asked only one name robert mueller. did on the 9th of april 2018. new york attorney becomes the latest target of bob marley michael cole and donald trump's personal point michael cohen is donald trump's longtime personal lawyer and fixer is the city president's lawyer and he has the ball as the keys to the kingdom he knows all the secrets about donald trump. card from. the f.b.i. search cohen's office at the request of a local prosecutor on charges of financial fraud. the move initiated by paul miller as a direct challenge to the president himself. so i just heard that they broke into the office 'd of one of my personal attorneys

a good man i said that it's really valid a whole. new level of unfair that. cohen is someone who might know about alleged real estate dealings in russia that was fairly common knowledge in the real estate community and the international finance community in the political community the russians were funding in various ways many major trunk real estate projects cohen my also know the president why months earlier he denied having anything to do with russia you know nothing in russia i have no loans in russia i don't have any deals in russian the lack of financial transparency of the trump organization and the extent to which they have received financing from russian oligarchs or russian interests is unknown to the american people even to this day i have nothing to do with russia haven't made a phone call to russia in years don't speak to people from russia not that i

wouldn't and i just have nobody to speak to did putin help trump in the election is there a secret pact between the 2 men if so cohen could be a key witness a major element of the special council. i immediately recognize the strategy that muller was following because my own background as a federal prosecutor was doing organized crime mafia cases it is incredibly rare that you're able to right off the bat make a case against the top guys usually the way you have to build these cases is you have to do it brick by brick and you have to start on the outside and work your way in start at the bottom and work your way up and so in the mafia cases we would start with the low ranking guys and if we could get one to flip and cooperate he would then give us information about these 2 guys higher up the chain and you have to build up and it seems that that's what robert mueller has done here the pressure on cohen builds investigators are digging into his life the f.b.i. also sees communications between michael couple again to president truman.

even more who comes in life and possibly in donald trump's life the question is asking himself at the white house tonight is will michael cohen cracker crumbs lawyer is faced with a choice remain silent going to jail or reveal his client secrets and they are his wrath there is this notion of loyalty one of donald trump sort of defining beliefs is you're either loyal to me or you're dead to me and that's consistent with the way the mafia. operates if you are loyal to the boss and the family how can keep his lawyer loyal. he enjoys an extraordinary constitutional power the right to pardon he said he makes an expeditious use of the. president started to do with our far right commentary to we're not just hearing president donald trump has officially departed for america how confident foundation is considering a paladin our president especially which is one terminally very very good to hear

specially given her character. the pardons are very positive thing for a president i think you see the way i'm using now yes there will be more bar. trump issued some high. i profile pardons and i think by doing that i think he was sending a message to some of the people who might slip on him michael cullen paul metaphor and others of hey i'm using this this part of power and perhaps there could be one for you down the line if you stay quiet there's basically a deal if you will an informal deal that if you keep your mouth shut then i'll take care. if witnesses keep silent it weakens mahler and his investigation. no i'm not above the law but yes i do have an absolute right to pardon myself i have the absolute right i don't have to do it never did anything wrong or you know that better than anybody the idea that a u.s. president would even talk about or even consider pardon themselves is just

unprecedented and i think undermines the credibility of our whole way of governance and democracy in general so when you have president trump who seems to think that he is above the law it's antithetical not just to the american idea but to the idea of modern democracy here's one person who is in charge of the state on the have evolved us he has not seen. more than a year into his presidency comes actions are about to test the very hard hearing system of government. it was time to try to fire. up to the no. no no on issue on the plantations of new army and it has to be black under control we're just going to are we are carriers to be 3 sectors. as the attacks on mom are intensifying the man stands up to protect the special

counsel rod rosenstein the number 2 at the department of justice he appointed muller and that's the legal authority to oversee his operations and to fire him. unassuming but steady he has been shielding smaller for months. have you seen good cause to fire special counsel no thank you if you were ordered today to fire mr mohler what would you do if there were good cause i would act if there were no good cause i would not and you've seen no good cause so far correct rod rosa's that is has become a beacon for anger from donald trump and from congressional republicans and i think they're disappointed in him i think they hoped that he would be partisan because he is a long time republican but instead rosenstein has shown himself to be fairly independent and a law enforcement person 1st and congress and his friends and allies are at meal times and i'm not keeping any information from conyers thought you might hear me should

we allow those who did not call you why didn't you have to present it is for finding a good fundraiser all for your own just because you know we've come in hiding information that you can answer if you have evidence of wrongdoing by any member of the trunk campaign presented to the damn grand jury whatever you guy finish it to how. to attack someone like that is very damaging ultimately to the system and importantly to the confidence that americans have in their government when elected representatives politicize the judicial process in this is only the independence of justice. what is remarkable now is the white house and the justice department are at war that our justice department and our f.b.i. . have to start doing their job and doing it right and doing it. the

president's view seems to be and his lawyers have said this he's in charge of the executive branch he can do whatever he wants i want to stay out but at some point if it doesn't straighten out properly i want to do that job i will get involved and i'll get in there by half. and i won't rod rosenstein he does non-earning direct there are people who have been. making threats privately and publicly against me for quite some time and i think they should understand by now the department of justice is not going to be extorted we're going to do what's required by the rule of law and any kind of threats that anybody makes are not gonna affect the way we do our job we have a responsibility and we take an oath that's the whole yes everybody in the department takes that oath 115000 employees and if they violated they know they're going to be held accountable and i know those folks know that i'm not going to violate my oath.

and mid july 2018 months capital post the 1st summit between donald trump and vladimir putin. just 3 days before in washington rod rosenstein made a momentous announcement a new wave of indictments by bob. good afternoon indictment charges 12 russian military officers by name for conspiring to interfere with the 2016 presidential election according to the allegations in the indictment. the defendant's work for 2 units of the g.r.u. the g.r.u. russia's military intelligence service is accused of conspiracy against the united states units and gauged an active cyber operations to interfere in the 2016 presidential election. the russian agents targeted in particular the computers of

trump's adversaries the defendants covertly monitor the computers implanted hundreds of files containing malicious computer code and stole e-mails and other doctors. mahler's indictment of 12 russian military intelligence officers conspiring to interfere with the 2016 u.s. presidential election to benefit trump implicated russia at the highest level. the indictment of a dozen russian g.r.u. intelligence officers in july 28th in was a kind of turning point the election interference is now a sacked of law as far as the united states is concerned and it is not something that the president can dismiss it is in fact a state operation by a hostile foreign power. what i see is good because when you go to the new usually easy bit when you show that americans give neutering you do look to see if we could only put it says. at

a question just now president putin denied having anything to do with the election your parents are 2016 every u.s. intelligence agency has concluded that russia did my 1st question for you sir is who do you believe my people came to me they said they think it's russian i have president putin and he just said it's not russian i will say this i don't see any reason why it would be so i have great confidence in my intelligence people but i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial thank you. he basically took the side of food and over his own intelligence service and that was a really bad thing to do it was. the wrong thing to do the question then becomes what is it that the president owes to the russians and what is his

relationship with some suggest that he's an asset of putin's but we don't have evidence of that. i think what i would say is that this is someone putin can use pretty easily. perhaps even without trump realizing. september 2018 summerlin comes close aides have agreed to cooperate with investigators. his former campaign director paul man ford and his lawyer michael cohen have already signed agreements with robert mueller. they all agree to cooperate with the investigation if they do so foley prison sentences they are facing will be reduced apparently those close aides to trump caplets and are ready to share with bob muller the secrets of the president. president trump finds

himself in a corner the walls are closing in on him and he doesn't know where to run. him but the kick the yankees the impeach word impeach trump maxine waters we will impeach him but he didn't do anything wrong it doesn't matter we will impeach. it is a hell of a push in washington. november 2010 the midterm elections are approaching fast top earners on the campaign trail. if this party keeps control over congress his legal troubles might fade away. the results are

a blow to the president. the american voters give the house of representatives to the democrats. they now have the ability to proceed with intrusive congressional investigations into trump's conduct. the day after the vote the russian investigation comes back to haunt the president . thank you mr president going back to the russia investigation some say that you could stop all this by going i insist i could fire everybody right now but i don't want to stop it because it's a politically i don't like stopping it i don't want to do that but you're right i could end it right now i could say that investigation is over well on the russian vesta geisha are you concerned that that you may have not could i heard about anything with you may have a giant investigation because it's a hoax are you that's enough to put down the mike as president are you worried about indictments coming down. on april 18th

2900 the us department of justice releases the redacted version of special counsel robert melissa court it concludes there was no conspiracy between the trunk campaign in moscow. the democrats demand the underage acted report and from dollar to testified before congress on july 24th 2019 now former special counsel robert mueller testifies before 2 congressional committees muller concludes there was insufficient evidence to charge any trump campaign member with conspiracy but he cannot exonerate president trump on obstruction of justice and would have a total exoneration if you actually totally exonerate chris if. there was no defense to this ridiculous hoax just which on a street going on for. a long time. a month later however

pushed firmly into the background and a new twist in the tussle between the legislature and executive. evidence emerges from an unnamed state department whistleblower that attracts congressional attention to president trunks activities in ukraine. this triggers a house of representatives inquiry into whether trauma of lose his powers. by allegedly withholding aid to the brain to pressure president vladimir is a linsky to investigate former vice president joe biden was at the democratic front runner and the sure white house race was. a 2 month inquiry finds trump did solicit foreign interference and the 2020 presidential election and so on december 18th the house of representatives approved articles of impeachment against trump on charges of abuse of power and obstruction of congress they could be very clear that

this president will be held accountable that no one is above the law. but a. week. or 2 in each ministry and she joins. we

got some fighting quite weather now across the southeast of brazil falling on from a lively still in place volatile as we saw earlier in the wake of the clear skies here just pushing up towards the reality of want to see showers there just to the north of ribbon nothing too much to speak of so a lot of thought and dry weather plenty of showers that just around that western side of the amazon should be more widespread than they are but there we go something of a drought it's a part of the amazon at the moment in a similar picture as we go on into sas day by saturday we'll see some wetter weather some cooler weather pushing into santiago some heavy rain for a time but elsewhere it is more of the same lousy dry up towards the caribbean you notice northern parts of venezuela or that east the side of the caribbean lousy fondant dry over the next couple days that law says showers for the west have been driving their way from the west on as a steel way just pushing across the caribbean central america seen some heavy showers as we go on through the next couple of days similarly we could see some

showers just around the great around to this could catch a shower or 2 into make a kingston around 33 degrees plenty of showers into central parts of the u.s. a shadow is actually straight up into central areas of canada and the rumbling away right through the holiday weekend. in a 2 part series. observes the lives of 2 children. over 20 years. where insights into circumstances that shaped lives. in a rapidly changing world. 20 years of me continues with good morning group on how to 0. 20. every.

this is al-jazeera. 1300 hours g.m.t. here on al-jazeera i'm kemal santa maria in doha with the news hour and on the 1st day of the trial over the murder of journalist jamal khashoggi the un special rapporteur sends a strong message to the world about extrajudicial killings you cannot get away with killing.