election campaigns the u.s. is set to inaugurate its 6. january on al-jazeera. the u.s. is always open for the people all right the world people pay attention to what we call here and i do there is very good at bringing the news to the world from here. i use one of what i. 11780 loans. recordings of a phone call revealed u.s. president donald trump pressured officials in georgia to find enough folks to overturn his election defeats in the states. you know what they did and you're not reporting it that you know that criminal. and you know you can't let that happen.

or that i am or how he did this is al jazeera life from doha with full reaction to the trump recordings all the other views of our by the president of the united states has added to outrage over trump's attempts to discredit the election as his allies plan a long shot attempts to stop congress and certifying joe biden's victory. as all 10 living former u.s. defense secretaries warn there must be a norm role for the military and trumps efforts to contest the election. but what was so already shaping up as a fiery week in washington has been further inflame. by recording of u.s.

president donald trump in clips published by media outlets trump can be heard pressuring georgia's secretary of state to find enough votes to overturn his election defeat there georgia was one of the battleground states that flips in favor of president elect joe biden trump refuses to concede that he's lost the piecing unfounded claims of widespread 4 to frauds alan fischer begins our coverage from atlanta georgia. from a president who insists with evidence the election was stolen from him pressure on a tough election official to find votes to help form overturn a result the audio of the hour long call from the oval office to georgia's secretary of state was 1st obtained by the washington post and captures donald trump even warming of big legal consequences if you didn't do something i here's one of. $11780.00

loves which is one more that we have because we want to say. it's a move that may create legal problems for the president he's pressuring an elected official to change the result of an election already certified by the state president trump claimed again without evidence he'd won georgia by hundreds of thousands of votes he didn't the state went for biden and he raised other conspiracy theories all dismissed by brad raffensperger well mr president the challenge that you have is the data you have is wrong donald trump refused to accept he lost the 2020 presidential election congress meets on wednesday to confirm the result although a number of republican senators plan to object he summoned election officials from various states to the white house and field in almost every legal effort to contest results one longtime washington observer says even for donald trump this call is remarkable it's an outrage it's the president of the united states putting pressure on a public official to lie to cheat possibly to steal votes so that he can win the state

of georgia vice president elect harris has been in georgia for an election rally ahead of tuesday's senate runoff but the president's call was there hanging over her comments was yes certainly the more i see desperation. most certainly than. and it was a. bold face bold abuse of power by the president and the united states even if donald trump did manage to flip georgia it doesn't matter joe biden won more than enough electoral college votes to secure the presidential election donald trump will actually be in georgia later on monday he's here supporting 2 republican senators whose fate in a runoff election will decide the balance of power in washington a race which is no been overshadowed by the most controversial oval office tapes

since nixon in the 1970 s. . alan fischer al jazeera atlanta georgia. hi stem across and chair of the highest intelligence committee adam schiff to see this about the recording trumps contempt for democracy is laid bare once again on tape pressuring an election official to find the vote so he can win is potentially criminal he added it's another flagrant abuse of power by a corrupt man who would be a despots we will not allow him let's get more from gabriel elizondo who's in washington d.c. for as. far reaction there from adam schiff. one of others been saying about this. yeah the reaction has been far and wide here in washington as you probably can imagine go through ist of a few top lawmakers that have. said something about trump's comments jerry

nadler the chairman of the house judiciary committee a democrat said that trump might have subjective himself to criminal liability based on what he said in those tapes amy clover sure a senator from minnesota has said that trump's actions were his words in those tapes could be could have potentially be breaking the law that we heard from bernie sanders and he said that no donald trump there are no more votes for you to find on january 20th you will no longer be president of the united states now we heard from hank johnson he's a representative from the state of georgia he said the trump should resign in his words now and said that on monday he will be putting forth a resolution in congress to censor donald trump this is essentially a slap on the wrist but it's a way for congress to publicly and formally voice displeasure and

disagreement at something that the president says or does so there's definitely more to this story in the coming hours and days but democrats across the board and even some republicans really shocked with these comments by donald trump in these in this tape ok gabriel stay with us gave him i'd like to be part of an open lesson from all 10 living former u.s. defense secretaries who warning against the use of the military in election disputes the lesser reads our elections of occurrence recounts in order it's been conducted it's appropriate challenges have been addressed by the courts the time for questioning the results has passed they write efforts to involve the u.s. on. armed forces in resolving election disputes would take us into dangerous unlawful and on constitutional territory. this is

a staggering intervention in many respects which begs the question why did they feel the need to pen this open letter. well clearly they feel that they're they're worried and they needed to send a message. not only to the united states but to the world really and to the white house that they all believe all of these 10 living former secretaries of defense all feel that they needed to make this statement and just take a step back for one second here and just think how remarkable this is that they even felt the need to have to do this right now in the united states it gives you an idea of how worried they are and how the state of how fragile the situation is potentially in the u.s. right now in this interim period and the transition of power period here now this

letter is remarkable on several levels but number one is these 10 former secretaries of defense are all from different political persuasions donald rumsfeld dick cheney both stanch republicans signed this letter as well as robert gates william cohen leon panetta all former secretaries of states who worked secretary of defense excuse me that worked for democratic presidents and also jim mattis 5 star general signed on to this letter as well so it's remarkable that you get this. unity in a letter such as this and simply remark what they felt that they even needed to put it out i will also say they also said in their letter this and it's very important they said acting defense secretary christopher miller and his subordinates are bound by oath law and precedent to facilitate the entry into office of the incoming administration and to do so wholeheartedly as they wrote there this is

a direct response to criticism from the. vice president elect joe biden and his advisors who have said that the trump administration has not been helping in the transition period and saying that a lot of the. officials have been making it more difficult for this transition to happen these 10 living it defense ministers former defense ministers are all signed on to this clearly sending a message to the current leader of the pentagon saying. americans have voted they voted for joe biden to be the next president and you they say you need to help make a clean transition his presidency in 18 days ok gabriel i was on life from washington d.c. thank you very much in deeds well let's stay with this lawrence korb is a former u.s. assistant secretary of defense and senior fellow at the center for american progress schizo have you with us here on al-jazeera let me start by asking you this

what do you think prompted this unprecedented intervention. lawrence korb are you able to are you hearing us i believe i hear you know you we do. have very pleased a year that. i was i was just asking what you think prompted this unprecedented intervention. former secretaries of defense don't just get together and write letters do you think there was an event or a discussion that was how that prompted them to speak out. well i think they're concerned about what's happening to our country and the potential for the military to get involved in dealing with this crisis i mean to the jarvey of the

people who signed that letter are republicans and they're saying you know truck last year well actually we need to get on they're also concerned about the fact that they transition is not going well because they know where you get into the pentagon you've got to hit the ground running dealing with the crisis we have in afghanistan or iraq maybe a rand what's up and what's happening for example with the russians using cyber attacks on our secure. our secure priscilla basin and programs and the whole concern about what china is doing in the pacific at the walkway it's hadn't been they've had these concerns for a while this isn't a do you think concerns about i don't trump is running his administration do you think that's a real risk of a for example martial law being declared and that's why people came together

because one of the former secretaries of defense was on television in the united states talking about he said as a way to say it's a free vote get in the army to be run these elections t.-t. think that's a big risk at this stage. well there are very definitely yes because if trump should declare martial law and order the military to get involved in domestic politics with the military that obey the orders of the commander in chief or would they not obey him and that would create another crisis so the last thing they want is to have more szell law to add would be if we can get this election behind us and swear in president elect biden on the 20th of january and what would happen if a truck refuses to leave. the white house will they try and use the military to get him this is something that general not only the chairman of the joint chiefs

of staff so they won't do but again what do you do if you get an order to do something you're in a no win position. you talk about some of the things the transition team really should be be working on and once again attention is being distracted to something else what impact do you think these. discussions that this record saying that been released is having on the transition of power in the united states and given previous events are you fearful that this could lead to a real national security crisis in the united states right now. well very definitely because the acting secretary of defense mr miller basically is a trump acolyte let me put it that way he just does whatever trump our trump wants and he stopped the transition for 2 weeks claiming it was the holidays that he

couldn't do it we now have we're in january we have a new president coming in about a little over 2 weeks and if his transition team has not got near job that is going to be hard for them to basically as we would say hit the ground running and deal with the problem i can tell you from my own experience when i came to work with president reagan on january 20th you're in georgia you've got to make these decisions and if you haven't been here and you don't have all the information you could make a wrong decision. very alarming situation indeed great to get your thoughts and lawrence korb former u.s. assistant secretary of defense thank you so much for joining us here on al-jazeera thank you very much for having me take care we've got the rest of the day's news and head including record upon record if you corona virus infections from britain's

prime minister to warn of even tougher measures to come. and wiki leaks founder julian assange is prepares to learn his fate in a u.s. extradition case. it's time for the perfect gentleman the winter sponsored player qatar airways hello be got more snow in the forecast for japan we've got colder air tucking in across the north of china through the korean peninsula little system of the process of pulling away. also quite widely spicy the winds not too strong but still strong enough to feed in some of that sea effect snow the the cold air rolling across the relatively warm waters of the sea of japan coing condensing form in the cloud and the snow which gets dumped across the northern half of honshu and on into hokkaido

more the same as we go on into tuesday notice the temperatures subzero in so with minus 4 celsius subzero that say for basing for cold air really cold weather a little bit saw top temperature and heat of the day minus 26 degrees shall us continue a little further south joining up with the raaf the showers that we have across much of southeast asia snow just a nasty little circulation making its way into southern parts of vietnam over the next day stays very unsettled across the peninsula and northern parts of somalia to follow that same area of cloud across the by i have been go more showers rolling into shore lanka heavier rain there just talking into the fall south of india and. into kerala further north we have warnings in force as wet and wintry weather moves across northern parts of pakistan. qatar airways take the worst possible material you radiate divine leading into dust comparable to ours and make

a reliable and put it into place where people live because the cause colossal event id is valid for many people absolutely it has been very frightening people but does it make you feel nice you feel like a murder we have created an enormous amount of mental disaster. and investigation south africa toxic city on al-jazeera. this is al-jazeera quit right out of the top stories this hour u.s. media outlets have attained recordings of an extraordinary hour long phone call between president donald trump and the georgia secretary of state but preference for trump can be heard appearing to pressure him to recalculate the election

results in that state which was won by president elect joe biden. vice president so it's come what harris to scrape what could be heard in the recordings as an act of desperation speaking in georgia harris called trump's conversation a bolder piece of power by the president of the united states. and all of the 10 living former u.s. defense secretaries of warned against the use of the military in an election to speeds in an open letter they wrote that such a move would push the u.s. into dangerous territory. it's very small the usenet explosion in a warehouse on the syria lebanon border has injured at least 10 people the red cross says it happened in a warehouse where gas canisters stored near the lebanese village of us are local media are recording the blast was caused by an electrical problem.

thousands of people have turned out in iraq to repeat their calls for u.s. troops to leave they were brought into this brought to the streets rather on the 1st anniversary of the assassination or any general custom soleimani he was killed by a u.s. drone strike in baghdad from their child structured reports. thousands of people filled to tahrir square in central baghdad. we will not stop until we have all revenge they chant revenge for the killing of iranian revolutionary guard chief qassam solomonic and the deputy head of iraq's popular mobilization forces mahadeo mohandas like us drone strike near baghdad airport one year ago them assure that i made had the blood of the martyrs will not be wasted on the principle of a mom hussein this is a message for the world off the american spread language of sectarianism and killings our project will never end its an islamic while we are here to remember the martyrs who were killed in the u.s. drone strikes and we demand that u.s.

forces leave this country wherever they go they cause destruction. on january the 5th last year 2 days off the saleman his assassination iraq's parliament passed a non-binding resolution calling for the approximately 3200 american military personnel to leave prime minister mustafa khan to me who took office in may promised a timetable for the withdrawal but many iraqis accuse him of dragging his feet * and kowtow to u.s. demands the iraqi prime minister mostafa called him a agrees with the thousands of people that have gathered here today that there must be a withdrawal of u.s. troops from iraq but many people here accuse him of listening too much to washington and not acting fast enough to assure that all american troops. are going to be here i mean if the iraqi government is the same as the american government they are just working for american interests. parliament voted to expel

us forces but nothing is happening that americans don't leave on their own accord we will force them to leave with our blood the outgoing trumpet ministration has promised to withdraw all $500.00 u.s. military personnel from iraq by mid january that would leave around $2500.00 still in the country it is unclear how the next u.s. president joe biden will respond to the situation in iraq the country analysts say is being politically militarily and economically dominated by neighboring iran. but the message from these iraqis is clear. that al-jazeera backed out. of the. hospitals in britain are preparing to start rolling out the oxford astra zeneca vaccine as soon as monday that a vaccine on the run from fines or have both been approved in the u.k. for now though prime minister boris johnson is warning all of tougher restrictions

as infections keep searching ever near the 55000 cases can see it on saturday alone and this graph shows you how bad the situation is has been tweeted out by mike's rules are for university researcher and founder of our world in data and it shows the extraordinary rise in the coded u.k. infections especially since the end of last year. well the prime minister is under growing pressure for pushing ahead with the reopening of schools schools a safe very very important to stress that the threats to the risk to kids to young people is really very very very small indeed as the scientists continually attest risk to start is is very smooth. meanwhile another single day record across the atlantic the us as announced 270000 new coronavirus infections so far and

4200000 people that have received their 1st vaccine doses but that falls well behind the 20000000 that president trump's administration promised by the end of last year more than 350000 people have died from corona virus in the united states brazil's health regulator has agreed to imports 2000000 doses of the oxford astra zeneca vaccine even though it hasn't yet still approved for use the countries trying to control the 2nd deadliest outbreak in the world in the 200000 brazilians have died so far and there have been more than 7000000 recorded infections the number of people killed in attacks on 2 villages in western the share has risen to around 100 the prime minister visited the area where it happened region neighboring mali became a facile and in the in the heart and reports. villagers in western asia gather to

pray in the wake of one of the deadliest days in their nation's recent history these graves are just 2 days old the prime minister of malaysia air flew in to see the devastation for himself don't come to new it up we came to provide moral support and present a condolences of the president of the republic the government and the entire nation of. ours interior minister says the villages were attacked on saturday after locals killed 2 fighters from an unknown group but no one has claimed responsibility for these attacks and you feel a desire to better secure some critics on the situation is simply horrible committed by an identified individuals but the investigations will be conducted so that this crime does not go unpunished. can you share has endured a series of attacks by groups including nigeria based boko haram eisel an al qaeda with thousands of people have been killed and hundreds of thousands displaced

despite the presence of thousands of regional and international troops. while extremists in the region pose a growing threat the west african country is expected to see its 1st democratic transition of power since 1960 following last month's elections according to results announced on saturday a 2nd round would be needed after none of the $28.00 candidates won a majority whoever the winner is will likely be dealing with more attacks like this we are hard in al-jazeera. and u.k. course is expected to rule on monday whether wiki leaks founder julian assange she be extradited from britain to the united states is once his own espionage charges that could see him spend the rest of his life in prison or a chalons reports from london. i told 2010 and what wiki leaks revealed to the world caused a sensation on. u.s.

military video kept classified for 3 years and a helicopter gunship attack in baghdad at least 12 iraqis were killed including a rewards his patrol car and his driver. the u.s. military said it was engage in what it calls insurgents armed groups a claim that's contested to this day i believe that if those killings were lawful under the rules of engagement when the rules of engagement are wrong. deeply wrong . it was this another such showpiece revelations that put judy innocent in the spotlight and through the intense hostility of the u.s. government later in 2010 percent his legal battles began after swedish prosecutors opened a rape and sexual assault investigation against him he was arrested in london some observers found wiki leaks increasingly problematic after the. rape allegations where songs should have gold. the site became more and more reckless and the songs

became more and more reckless and latterly you know didn't actually you know hasn't been very careful with documents large amounts of data was put into the public domain which would have been done by rest would you most asians facing imminent extradition in 2012 he took refuge in london's ecuadorian embassy he didn't leave it for 7 years even after sweden temporarily abandoned its investigation in 2017 a much more serious threat emerged a sealed indictment in the us when ecuador finally let british police in to take a stand out of the embassy in 2019 the charges in the us were revealed. for publishing hundreds of thousands of classified documents he faces a maximum jail sentence of 175 years under the espionage act he's already spent 21 months in a u.k. prison it's a prosecution the concerns many who value a free press. be able. to investigate to reveal the truth

without being threatened with going to spend the rest of one's life in a high security prison in the united states jeanne assam still have many backers who say he's been victimized by the publication of e-mails stolen from the democratic party in the us just before the 2016 presidential election cost him support from the left in his report special counsel robert mirka. pleated the documents came from russian state hackers that has cost the sams more friends a sexual predator a narcissistic self publicist a stooge of foreign intelligence a tireless campaigner for journalism and transparency these are just some of the views of julian assange on monday a judge at london's old bailey will decide whether he can be extradited to the united states but both sides can appear a decision that goes against them so either way to leave us and is legal struggles

are set to continue for each other and al-jazeera london. and finally jerry maurice and lead singer of the 1960 s. british group gerry and the pacemakers has died sage 78. it is of course you'll never walk alone one of their classic hits which became the anthem of liverpool football club well in april marston we recorded the song tributes to britain's national health service and died after a short illness related still heart infection. this is al jazeera and these are the headlines u.s. media outlets have attained recordings of an extraordinary our long phone call to president donald trump and the georgia secretary of state broad raffensperger drum

can be heard appearing to pressure him to recalculate the election results in the states which was won by.