when all that seems to matter is the headline when narratives and counter narratives obscure reality the listening post strips away the spin lays bare the bias and uncovers the uncomfortable truths the listing boasts on a. this is al-jazeera. hello i'm adrian forget this is the news hour live from doha coming up in the next 60 minutes u.s. vice president biden pence rejects the democrats' call to invoke the 25th amendments dismissed on trump from office for allegedly inciting the capitol riots . we have opened over $160.00 case files and that's just the tip of the iceberg the f.b.i. steps up the investigation against capitol why it has a bit online threats of more violence ahead of the presidential inauguration also.

that is centralize its leadership inside of tehran accusations without evidence. president trump's top diplomat alleges that iran is allowing the group to operate under its protection tehran dismisses the claims as lies. and the u.s. makes it mandatory for all international travelers to show proof of a negative coronavirus test as hospitals struggle with a surge in cases. it's a little after 200 hours g.m.t. 9 pm in washington vice president mike pence has ruled out invoking the 25th amendments to plant donald trump unfit to hold office the u.s. house of representatives is discussing a resolution urging pends to take action and hold trump accountable for last week's unprecedented assault on the capitol building but then says he doesn't quote believe that such

a course of action is in the best interest of our nation or consistent with the constitution here's how the debate has played out so far in the house. the rule is for the bill that says we should tell the vice president ited states to work to remove the president of the united states i've been here 14 years i've never seen anything like this and i do not know where this ins no president who invites thousands of his most devoted supporters to washington and urges them to fight his political enemies by committing a seditious act on our democracy should be allowed to remain in office we've heard president elect biden and other members of the democratic party call for unity a path forward for our nation full of mutual consideration and respect yet here we are today with democrats charging in the opposite direction a call on vice president pants and the cabinet to do the right thing and i call

upon our colleagues to do the right thing to put our country before the interests of the any one man and to join us in ending this failed presidency the incitement of politically motivated violence that we saw last week is intolerable words have consequences and yes the president could have done more the president when a duly announced election came about november 6th 2020 proceeded to declare that it had been stolen and continued to stoke the fires of his believers to begin to plan some kind of attack and his the president's in the eye of a political storm he was in texas on a visit to the mexico border war displaced efforts to impeach him for a 2nd time as quote another witch hunt. the 25th amendment is of 0 risk to

me but will come back to haunt joe biden in the biden administration as the expression goes be careful what you wish for the impeachment hoax is a continuation of the greatest and most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country and is causing tremendous anger in division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand which is very dangerous for the usa especially at this very tender time. life out of washington as soon as mike hanna is with us mike what's happening in the house now given mike pence is a letter to nancy pelosi saying that he's not going to go through with invoking article with amendment to the 25th amendment i mean even going to finish the debate . while it appears so they're continuing to play the rule under which the motion will be passed so all indications are is that despite mike pence

his letter the vote will go ahead although this may well prove to be a futile exercise given mike pence a statement mike pence said to lead to the speaker of the house nancy pelosi saying that invoking the 25th amendment would be a terrible precedent as he put it he argued as well that constitutionally the 25th amendment could not be used for such a purpose it cannot be used as a weapon of punishment he insisted that the force article of the 25th amendment is intended to replace a president to is incapacitated temporarily or not it was invoked when george bush went under and it's easier number of years ago. mike pence arguing on a constitutional basis as well as arguing that it is not a time to further disrupt the nation he said in his letter to nancy pelosi that he will continue in the next few days to work to get towards an orderly transition and this is where he wants his focus to be so although as i said perhaps an exercise in

futility it did give members of congress an opportunity to give a dress rehearsal as it were of the arguments that are likely to be advanced when the impeachment process gets underway and now it is definite that the impeachment process will get underway in the next 24 hours debate beginning possibly tomorrow morning wednesday morning of the speaker of the house nancy pelosi has now named 9 impeachment managers. who will lead at the impeachment process so now we've got a situation where it is absolutely certain that the impeachment is going to go ahead and given the democratic majority in the house it is likely very likely to succeed ok what about republicans though in the senate how many of them would support impeachment. well let me just start off with that with the house 1st of all in terms of the actual vote on impeachment now

it's very important to a number of democrats that there be an element of bipartisanship to this they want some republicans to support the impeachment process as a way to indicate to president trump and his supporters that this is not some kind of political witch hunt as the president would put it that it is in fact something that has the support across political parties so this would be an important element for moving to the senate that is where the president would go on trial should or when the impeachment be passed in the house now there's an indicator interesting developments where you do have a number of republican senators who have already indicated that they support impeachment including the number 3 ranked republican senator chaney the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell has not given any public indication either way but

sources are saying that he would be pleased to see the impeachment take place as a way of removing donald trump from the republican party there is an element of the very do a great difference from the previous time that president trump was impeached in which time the republicans were solid in terms of opposing it mcconnell absolutely rushed it through on the senate floor he refused to allow any witnesses he took a very very quick vote given the republican majority in the senate but this is very different because already you've had indications from some house republicans that they will vote for impeachment and you've got an indication that a number of senators republicans will vote for impeachment and this is why this is very very different from the previous time that president trump was impeached and was 0 as mike hanna reporting live from washington for a moment mike many thanks indeed bruce fein is a former u.s. associate deputy it. any general at all thought of constitutional power old the

life and death struggle of our constitution and the mock recy he joins us now live from washington via skype good to have you with us once again bruce do you agree with vice president pence that invoking the 25th amendment would set a terrible precedent. no i think it's the obvious that declining to invoke the 25th amendment would set a terrible precedent it's republicans and their judges who focus on the clear and plain meaning of the words of the document for its interpretation not hidden or covert meetings and the 25th amendment nowhere and language suggests that an inability to discharge the duties of the office are limited to physical disability perhaps the greatest disability is a complete inability to enforce the obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed rather than sabotaged and that the president defend and uphold and sustain the constitution rather than taking

a wrecking ball to destroy it so his interpretation of the 25th amendment i believe is clearly wrong headed it's true would be the 1st time that would be invoked in these circumstances but mr trump is 1st time for a whole lot of things with regard to destroying the constitution of the united states including making phone calls to georgia state officials urging them to falsify election returns at the threat of criminal prosecution to sabotage the presidential election of 2020 so i surely disagree with with mr pence in his interpretation of the 25th amendment i also believe that it is important that we move forward on this particular of impeachment and i would agree that it's kind of futile to run a dress rehearsal you know for impeachment because the 25th amendment cannot be invoked by the congress as something for the vice president's discretion alone. but what's different this time most graphically from the prior impeachment is the

evidence and the seriousness of the offenses just today we learned that president trump was fixated on the television watching his thugs storm the capital committing numerous crimes that he had incited well lindsey graham senator from south carolina . kevin mccarthy the republican minority leader and others were frantically trying to get to him to ask that he help and save them from the threats that his mob had craig they spoke to yvonne can trump his daughter to jared christers son in law they couldn't get through to him he simply was indifferent and those who say this doesn't constitute incitement with that kind of evidence are simply whistling in the dark and that's why this case is so different is because the evidence is so conclusive and the victims are not ukrainians or railing to get weapons the victims are the united states people their knighted states institutions and members of congress themselves that's why i am highly confident of this move forward mr trump

will indeed be convicted and i think it speaks volumes that mitch mcconnell who has been a very very strong supporter of mr trump from beginning to end no longer can be heard sounding a single syllable and his defense and his wife quit the administration if mitch mcconnell votes for impeachment that vote alone will carry enough republican senators to 67 that threshold required to remove mr trump from office and disqualify him from the 2024 campaign i was going to ask you about the about the senators and rip rip rip off republicans that in the end but it's mitch mcconnell it but it's keith reed in your opinion then if he votes for impeachment then other republicans enough republicans will follow suit. i believe that's correct he kind of gives them a shield because if the majority leader in the senate. takes that

stance. others will say well i was just following with bill leader he's knows more than others and remembers well that when mitch mcconnell came out against challenging the state certified electoral votes in the senate he only lost in one case 6 votes in the other case 7 votes from republicans he sustained all the other more than 40 other republicans voted with his ex or taishan to refrain from challenging those states certified those i think that's a clear indication of the sway he has with the other republican members of the senate really gets to give bruce for the moment many thanks indeed thank you u.s. federal prosecutors say that criminal charges have been placed on 170 people involved in last week's capitol attack but it expects that number to grow into the 100 staff b.-i says that it's already received more than 100000 videos and pictures to help

identify the perpetrators of the justice department says that it's considering sedition charges on some of the viruses that's punishable in the united states i have to 20 years in prison the f.b.i. receives enormous amounts of information intelligence and our job is to determine the credibility and viability of it under the laws and policies that govern f.b.i. investigations we have to separate the aspirational from the intentional and determine which of the individuals saying despicable things on the internet or just practicing keyboard bravado where they actually have the intent to do harm in the latter we work diligently to identify them and prevent them from doing so. the u.s. secretary of state says that al qaeda has published a new home has established rather a new home base in iran although he hasn't presented any hard evidence in a speech 8 days before leaving office might pompei or said the group was operating

under the protection of the iranian government to iran has dismissed the claims as war mongering alan fischer reports from the white house. might bumpy or has spent the dying days of the trumpet ministration trying to burnish its and his foreign policy credentials in a speech at washington's national press club he claimed an old enemy had phone support from another longtime u.s. adversary al-qaeda has a new home base it is the islamic republic of iran as a result dillard's wicked creation is poised to gain strength and capabilities we ignore this iran a qaeda nexus at our own peril. we need to acknowledge it we must confront it indeed we must defeat it president donald trump pulled out of the iran nuclear deal in $20000.00 finally fulfilling an election promise his administration then pursued a campaign it described as maximum pressure indeed forcing to iran back to the

negotiating table imposing tough sanctions but others who negotiated the deal refused to leave with the americans insists other countries must wake up to the danger the iranians though have dismissed american claims the foreign minister tweeting that pompey or was pathetically ending his disastrous career with more war mongering lies relations between washington and tehran have deteriorated even farther in the last 12 months. in january last year the u.s. carried out the targeted killing of kassam cilla money the head of iran's revolutionary guard force in baghdad and a u.s. aircraft carrier his company in the region responding to what the americans call threats from people has claimed links between iran and al qaeda in the past without providing any firm evidence one expert says this is more of the same if there were any whatsoever they would have rolled that out very quickly and very early in order

to further justify the maximum pressure campaign against you are they my pump has been cranking up the pressure on iran in recent weeks and is even unknownst fresh sanctions those close to joe biden believe that this is calculated the intention to make it more difficult for him to reengage with iran when he takes over on january the 20th alan fischer al-jazeera at the white house. still live now to washington d.c. house representatives are debating the democratic resolution calling on vice president mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment to dismiss donald trump let's listen in to the debate police officer brian sic nick and 4 other americans inflicted serious injuries on dozens of our police officers and other people including 15 officers who had to be hospitalized chanting stop the steel and hang mike pence they threaten the lives and safety of the 3 individuals in the line of succession to the

president united states they built a gallows right outside the capitol they screamed where is nancy they storm the speaker's office and they occupied it they stole government property they trashed the place they terrorized officers staff and members they brandished the confederate battle flag in the capitol the united states something that didn't even happen during the civil war they allowed hundreds or thousands of people to enter the capitol without metal detector or any kind of security screening at all not only to desecrate the temple of democracy and to spit in the face of congress but actually to interfere with the counting of electoral college votes in the 2020 presidential election they may have been looking for vice president pants and speaker pelosi but every person in this room could have died as a shaken senator lindsey graham said the mob could have blown the building up they could have killed us all mr speaker whether or not you believe the president's

course of conduct in encouraging buildings summoning assembling and inflaming the mob lighting the flame is congresswoman liz cheney put it in a very powerful and cogent statements this evening whether you believe that that was a high crime in misdemeanor an offense against the republic. that's a question for another time and to put my cards on the table i think it was a crime against the republic but leaving that aside i think every member in this body should be able to agree that this president is not meeting the most minimal duties of office he is not meeting the oath of that he swore to uphold and defend the constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic he is not protecting and defending the democracy itself the process of electing the president he is not respecting the peaceful transfer of power he is not taking care that the

laws are faithfully executed he is not protecting the republic against mob in surat action invasion and hostility he is not protecting the republican form of government for the people of the united states when he allows this to happen this resolution is simply asking vice president pence to exercise his powers under article 25 the 25th amendment by graham myself 30 seconds more and we are at 30 additional seconds you may proceed we are simply asking vice president pents to exercise his powers under the 25th amendment of the constitution section 4 to convene the cabinet and to mobilize the cabinet to state and articulate what is obvious to the american people this president is not meeting the duties of office and is clearly not capable of it and to transfer the powers to the vice president under the 25th amendment with that i will yield now for

a one minute time oh i reserve i will reserve the right gentlemen reserve if this time. the gentleman from ohio is recognized thank you mr speaker i would yield to the gentleman from the great state of california mr mcclintock for 2 and a half minutes gentlemen is recognized for 2 and a half minutes thank you mr speaker what a sad and ominous way to begin the 117th congress hasn't this body done enough in the last session to divide our country and abuse our constitution without carrying that damage into the new session the 25th amendment specifically addresses the end kept passer t. of the president to discharge the duties of his office it was never intended as a political weapon when congress doesn't like the way he discharges those duties not read that speech he never suggested rampaging the capitol and disrupting the

congress he urged them to and this is an exact quote peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard now many of us republicans joined a bipartisan vote to respect the electoral college votes despite our suspicions and our misgivings and our desires we did this because the constitution commanded it and our institutions depend on it now today those same principle should compel a bipartisan vote to oppose this grotesque abuse of the 25th amendment last week the majority argued that the president tried to misuse the constitution to overturn the votes of the electoral college well he asserted no direct power rather he urged the vice president and congress to do so many of us declined his bad advice yet this week the majority directly is asserting power to misuse the

25th amendment in a manner that does overturn the votes of the previous electoral college. don't they see that they are committing directly the same offense they accuse the president of committing indirectly every act we take builds a precedent for future acts once congress asserts this new role as arm chair psychiatry wrists and a new power to equate intemperate speech with functional disability the most important pillars of our government stability the rule of law and the separation of powers will fracture it won't affect this president but it will start future presidents from this day forward for their sake please don't do this you'll back. as

a gentleman reserve. the gentleman from maryland is recognized by now you had one minute to speaker nancy pelosi as speaker of the house ms pelosi of california is recognized thank you very much mr speaker i thank the gentleman for yielding and applaud him and salute him as a constitutional scholar an intellectual resource in the force of justice that he has been as he has crafted an advance of this resolution and i thank the entire house democratic caucus the love of country determination to protect our democracy and the loyalty to our oath that had been so beautifully manifested in this dark past week as speaker at a dark week it has been indeed on wednesday the president of the united states incited a dental a insurrection against america that targeted the very heart of our democracy this temple of democracy the united states capitol defiling the genius of the

constitution separate but equal attacking the 1st branch of government. try to prevent us from ascertaining our constitutional duty to ascertain that joe biden and pamela harris will be president and vice president of the united states. the gleeful desecration of the capitol and the violence against congress our staff and our workers our horror of that will forever stain our nation's history 5 americans have died following the violent attack more than 50 police officers were seriously injured including 1515 officers who were hospitalized on behalf of the house i salute and expressed deepest gratitude to u.s. capitol police for the balor that they showed in protecting the lives of members of stossel protecting our staff and those from

a stronger us function mr speaker this is a sad day for our country that we have to come to the floor in a way to defend the constitution of the united states at this time the facts are very clear the president called for this said vicious attack for days the arab supporters to come to washington for the insurrection wednesday morning he participated in a rally to encourage the rioters to march on the capitol and fight and not only did he urged people to march on the capitol and fight he further fanned the flames and he has his family cheered and celebrated the desecration of the capitol later that day as the dangers escalate he ignored and flat out rejected the pleas

of congress and clearly those of his own party to call off to his supporters the rioters the terrorists as a engage in that alyssum of violence. later that and now the president is saying that he is not responsible and that his incitement to violence was totally appropriate the president's actions demonstrate his absolute inability discharge the most basic and fundamental powers and duties of his office therefore the president must be removed from office immediately this is a decision we make with the most celebrities and perform this which this crisis requires removal of the president is an unprecedented action but it is required because he is an on president it is the one president moment in history because the danger that he poses not heard the previous speaker say that we are of objecting to

the president because we don't like the way he acts of the duties executes as you know we don't like it at all acts of sedition excitement to insurrection treasonous activity and if you are so sitting yourself what that as the proper execution of the president's duty she wore a selfie adding yourself to sedition and treason yesterday in a proforma section we introduced unanimous consent request to take up german commerce and rations legislation which calls on the vice president to mobilize the cabinet to activate the 25th amendment to move the president from office again to prevent him from crossing more damage to our country who knows what he might do next but have republicans rejected this legislation and so the president's own hinged unstable doraine facts of the sedition may continue endangering america and undermining our democracy. now we're taking up this legislation and regular session

after passage we're calling on the vice president to respond within 24 hours of passage this resolution gives half brother republicans the clear choice to honor the oath of office to defend our democracy and to uphold the sacred trust given to us by the constitution and by those whom we represent mr speaker joined to present trump presidency this 4 years and especially during this sad time i recall the words of the great israeli poet a who had monologue and that's what he said when he said i can't keep silent in light of how my country has changed her face won't quit trying to remind her in her ears i'll sing my cries until she opens her eyes i can't keep silent of how my country's changed her face i urge my republican

colleagues to open their eyes and to finally hold this president accountable the security of our country and the future of our very democracy are at stake when we pray for god to bless america let us hope that that blessing comes down strongly on us in the next few days with that mr chairman mr speaker i yield back the balance of my time again applaud the leadership of mr asked the speaker years backed as a gentleman from maryland reserve i reserve just gentleman from ohio is recognized misspeak right where you are to minister the gentleman from virginia mr klein general is recognized for 2 minutes thank you mr speaker arise today in opposition to house resolution 21 calling on vice president pence to invoke section 4 of the 25th amendment like all of us side condemning the strongest possible terms the violence that occurred here in our nation's capital last week.