small matter of a looming election join me steve clemons in conversation with leading voices on the bottom line your weekly take on u.s. politics and society on al-jazeera. hey i'm fully back to bill in doha with a look at our top stories on al-jazeera brazil's president has said positive for corona virus after months of dismissing the illness as a little slow about so narrow has repeatedly downplayed the threat from the virus defying social distancing measures and opposing lockdown even as resilience deal with the region's was up break a latin america at its embassy in yemen has us report. you world leaders have defied a cold in 1000 like brazil's jade. for months the president tempted fate and turned to doctors his school and calls to respect social distancing he seemed to relish

defying even his own advisors always pressing the flesh and rarely using a face mask many members of his cabinet had become infected even his wife's grandmother some joked he'd made a pact with the devil until what was probably the inevitable happened. everybody knew that sooner or later current of our sort of reach an important part of population a lot of people like me for example if i would not have done the test i would not know about a result that was positive yes it was positive. so far bosso not has admitted to having a fever and body aches but continues to brush off the severity of an illness he once described as a little flu even taking off his face mask after testing positive. for the 3rd book so you can see my face who wants to see my face i'm fine calm thank god all in peace thanks to those that prayed for me were supporting me i'm fine

thank god. it's not just boss i'm not his health but his political reputation that's at stake he's waged war against lockdowns saying they're more harmful than the illness. he's clashed with governors who ordered businesses closed and the supreme court which recently felt compelled. to order the president to wear a face mask or pay a steep fine thank you for taking his cue from donald trump also not who has threatened to withdraw from the w.h.o. and has ordered the brazil's health system distribute the anti-malaria drug drugs at chloroquine despite warnings that it's not safe or proven to be effective through treating coronavirus he's in fact using it now himself. the w.h.o. nevertheless wishes him well i'm a speedy full recovery. from this disease leaders around the world have have had

similar experiences and i think it brings home. the reality of this virus that will likely depend on how president bush or not a fair on whether he'll become seriously ill as was a british prime minister boris johnson or whether he'll be back at work in a week or 2 telling everyone i told him so. all this despite the more than 65000 brazilians who've lost their lives so far to the so-called little flu. you see in human al-jazeera thousands have been protesting the parliament after the announcement of a return to tough coronavirus restorations. have called for the resignation of president alexander who church has put a weekend curfew back in place after the worst day yet of the pandemic with 13 deaths in the u.s. a champ administration has begun the formal process of withdrawing from the world

health organization the president has been critical of the w.h.o. over its handling of the corona virus outbreak. and hospitals in several u.s. states say their intensive care units are reaching maximum capacity as coronavirus cases continue to jump infections have been surging in states which push to reopen early including texas and florida in other news the u.k. says it will resume setting weapons to saudi arabia more than a year after it was forced to stop because of alleged war crimes in yemen saudi forces accuse of deliberately targeting civilians in its campaign against the rebels this comes just one day after the british government announced economic sanctions against 49 individuals accused of human rights abuses 20 were saudis involved in the murder of journalists. those are the headlines coming up next from 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 the authors of 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. to help a guy dressed like. my.

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 in. a battle for. the truth about the president of the united states 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 brief 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. role is immediately raised in congress which calls the chiefs of the intelligence community to testify. on.

their question by democratic party sen i just 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. no no. 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 public 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 it had been seen in prior actions so i really think. you know what has intelligence community you know for sure is blaming bush president vladimir putin who were again i think. russia tried everything possible to lose the election so it hi paula the intelligence and there are. only 3 days after the intelligence report a new classified document makes the headlines 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 secret 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 elect president since you were trying to decision and you're with the still dossier made

public news trucks battle with the press intensifies ricer. pointless reason along the way you say categorically why should the president like can you give us are going to be reading us can you give us are going to be you know not getting into 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 it term elections 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 pollard 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 had set the 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 he is grilled over the involvement of truong in camp komi 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 for us. i just worry i don't want to answer that that that's seems to me unfair speculation that we will follow the evidence we'll 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 lester 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 cooley fired by president we 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. the surprise here. 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 komi 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 former f.b.i. director james comey in any way shape or form to close or to back down the investigation into michael flynn and also as you well know 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 rush and 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 he pointed me as his number 2 person in the f.b.i. as a 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 to be told that. robert muller was 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 adventure or accident the buildings 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 mahler and the president of the united states. so we have mr miller who is 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 mail. 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 incredible there are not 2 more different people on earth than bob mahler and president trump and very early on in the 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 wave rig which the witch hunt i would call it the rigged to which on to . what you're saying if only to when she was a democrat gets fired when you don't add something that is not for the phony which

you truly. 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 claim. citroen 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 a case of saying it was over and over weeks that we learned more and more about the meeting and the fact is that 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 and mahler is looking at that meeting the meeting is organized via emails between a 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 son his son in law his campaign director paul manna for intermediary and for russian nationals the news spread like wildfire according to the new york times the right to new 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 the 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 brushwood to 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. but we're told he was a lot of very positive things that russia is for the united states and for everybody. an honor to be with you. immediately after this hand shake 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 him 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 is called fake news people back there you know those very dishonest people back there.

the. words have meaning and power and a lot of people myself included good republicans were going to go for pete's go to stone do they call us 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. join the global community because the crisis is just slapped isn't the place the blessing upon latin upon less human capital equals global health keeping you up to date who wants a war situation where we have a human rights prices that persist beyond the help or assist on your questions

instead of just nothing we are now approaching across route this is an opportunity that we must give all the stream on al-jazeera. the latest news as it breaks this crowd of hundreds of people didn't come with invitations they came to pay their respects to george ford with details coverage the government needs to balance the needs of the economy with a trace of the virus returning. from around the world organized crime is now beginning to try to play the role of robbing the boy by giving away food to win over the loyalty of people in desperate. art is resistance. in akra people are grabbing social and political issues by the horns.

and time to sing creativity parody and protest to challenge and change ideas. gun a controversial a witness documentary on al-jazeera. you know again i'm fairly bad in doha the headlines on al-jazeera brazil's president has said positive fickle one of ours after months of dismissing the severity of the illness jailable scenario insists he feels in good health despite having a fever at goodwood so. everybody knew that sooner or later a significant part of the population would get it it happened i'm an example myself if i hadn't taken the test i wouldn't have known the result and it turned out positive i just got a positive result yes it's positive so it all began on sunday when i started feeling slightly ill and it worsened on monday i felt tired with muscle pain and

had a fever that reached 38 degrees. thousands of been protesting near sebi as parliament after the announcement of a return to tough coronavirus restrictions have called for the resignation of president alexander votes each has put a weekend curfew back in place after the worst day yet of the pandemic with 13 dead . they trumpet ministration has begun the formal process of withdrawing from the world health organization is officially notified the united nations and congress but it will take a year to complete the process president trump has been critical of the w.h.o. over its handling of the corona virus outbreak. in other news security forces have been deployed to the border between 2 australian states to enforce a law down in victoria drivers without a permit can now be fined or face jail time it follows a recent surge in covert 1000 cases which has seen the 5000000 people in melbourne ordered back into lockdown for another 6 weeks. a new report from the united

nations has found that a u.s. drone strike that killed top iranian general kasim silliman in january was illegal agnes column on the un special rapporteur torn extrajudicial killing says the attack went against the u.n. charter the u.k. says it will resume selling weapons to sandy arabia more than a year after u.s. forces sought because of alleged war crimes in yemen saudi forces are accused of deliberately targeting civilians in its campaign against who the rebels this comes one day after the british government announced economic sanctions against $49.00 individuals accused of whites abuses 20 were saudis involved in the murder of sound each and miss. news for you in under 30 minutes time battlefield washington continues next year on al-jazeera.

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. did 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 festive occasion and 0 d. and on his 1st targets to the. right here by the. french a string is a foreign agent. joining the topless line about his contacts with foreign nationals in a series of people in d.c. suddenly in 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 if 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 be key figure in the mole investigation removed from this job one of my trusted aides is discredited it's a long time efficiently shows name is peter strong to the f.b.i. agent peter struck and struck the alleged mistress and f.b.i. and we're named lisa page.

the press publishes the text messages of peter strong and lisa page. was a trusted adviser a bomb all or transcripts of his messages show that he was for family 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 virus of severe bias the pro trunk media escalates the attack it denounces it as a conspiracy theory definition 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 trumped 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 minute you for watching 'd. the idea of the 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 dry. 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'd be through well no 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 that you just asked only one name robert mueller. did on the 9th of april 2018. new york attorney becomes the latest target of a moment michael home with donald trump's personal point michael cohen is donald trump's long time criminal lawyer and fixer is the city present a sewer and he has the ball as the keys to the kingdom even though all the secrets about donald trump. far from. the f.b.i. searched 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 to all. to a level of unfair that. cohen is someone who might know about alleged real estate dealings in russia but it was fairly common knowledge in the real estate community and the finance community in the political community the russians were funding in various ways many major trump real estate projects cohen my also know the president why months earlier he denied having anything to do with russia i 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 i haven't made a phone call to russia in years i don't speak to people from russia not that i wouldn't

i just have nobody to speak to did putin help from 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 counsel strategy 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 muller has done here the pressure on cohen builds investigators are digging into his life the f.b.i. and also see these communications between michael couple again to president truman

. even more who comes in life and cost. when donald trump's life the question to all trump is asking himself at the white house tonight is will michael cohen cracker crumbs lawyer is faced with a choice remain silent go to jail or reveal his client's secrets and their 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 trump keep his lawyer loyal. he enjoys an extraordinary constitutional power the right to pardon he says me makes an expeditious use of the. president started to do with our far right how would you know you're not just hearing president donald trump has officially departed for america how confident sensation is considering a pardon now president of the century which is one terminally very very good to

hear especially given her part that. the pardons are a 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 profile pardons and i think by doing that i think he was sending a message to some of the people who might flip 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 is basically a deal if you will an informal deal that if you keep your mouth shut then i'll take care of you. 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 a 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. if it was time to try to fire. corrupted no. no no honest man tradition new army and it appears to be brought under control we just got to are we to be or should be 3 2nd. as the attacks on mom are intensifying

a 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. on assuming but steady he has been shielding color 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 have 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 sara lee independent and a law enforcement person 1st and congressman is from somalia are you hire at will and i was astonished and i'm not keeping any information from conyers thought you

hide it in their minds and we allow those who does not call you why didn't you have to present it is 1st find mr good fundraiser here on tell you where we've come and 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. then you shoot the hell up 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 when 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 if i have. and i want rod rosenstein he does non-earning direct and 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 take that oath the 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 then once capitol hosts the 1st summit between donald trump and blind america who. was. 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 20th 16 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 28 in was a kind of turning point in the election interference is now a fact 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 words when you go to the new usually easy berates and when you show that americans give neutering you do look we've got me but it's. 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 him. it is a hell of a place in washington. november 2010 the midterm elections are approaching fast. urns on the campaign trail. if this party keeps control over congress his legal troubles might fade away. by. 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 and to 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 going to turn about anything with you may have a joint 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 u.s. department of justice releases the redacted version of special counsel robert mueller support 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 muller testifies before 2 congressional committees concludes there was insufficient evidence to charge any trump campaign member with conspiracy but he cannot exonerate president trump on obstruction of justice and what has totally exonerated you actually totally exonerate the president so. there was no defense for this ridiculous hoax just what chuck has been 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 as ours. by legislating withholding aid to the brain to pressure president vladimir selenski to investigate wonder mice president joe biden at the democratic front runner and this year's 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 in his past

and will be held accountable that no one is above the law. we the senate today has ordered the beach stay and she joined the navy. and.

the 5th named storm of the hurricane season has disappeared now but we have potential of something else this massive cloud he may not look very much for is full of color and he's got a propensity to circulate so i might just come up to something as he goes off the coast of south carolina or wraps the rain back into georgia some to watch won't be significant but it might be yet another wet event the sudden sites all looking for . big sun storms unfortunately further west it's still drawing dry enough for the red flag warnings and that was fire danger once more big showers are running through the plains so as the midwest on a frontal system and still potentially quite sundry in the central plains or prairie's of canada notice here in lawrence just north of raleigh as a potential circulation we'll keep an eye on it just for fun i think more than anything else in the caribbean a mass of showers are running through the smaller islands but equally those thunderstorms everywhere in the immediate future of b. of puerto rico and i think the dominican republic will get some fairly heavy

weather then it go into haiti then moves further west course cuba generates some storms every day this whole system is quite an interesting one is moving slowly west woods making a crack you're quite wet. as protests rage over police brutality and coronavirus grips the nation campaigning on the election trail has been forced to take a back seat will the presidential candidates ever hit the road and sell their brand of politics to americans before the vote follow the u.s. elections on a just. al-jazeera explores prominent figures of the 20th century and how rivalries influenced the course of history steve jobs a much better marketeers than bill gates was apple like real bad stuff 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. he refused masks and played down the risks but now brazil's president has tested positive for corona virus. player watching al-jazeera live my world headquarters in doha for the back to also ahead. angry protests in serbia as capital as a curfew and knock downs are announced.