but many houses in our village destroyed and people have died. there are a 150000 people in the city in the red cross is all need some kind of help. john henderson, al jazeera keith. more than 1000 fire fight as a battling a huge wildfire sweeping through the jerome region of southwest and france. around 6000 hic dares of pine forest have been destroyed. the fire is now moving towards a major mote away that links the city of bordeaux with neighboring spain. thousands of people have been forced to leave their homes. emergency crews trying to put out wild fires in the us state of california have recorded a rear phenomenon. flames in a region north of los angeles swirled into what's known as a fire devil or fire nato firefighters. say that making good progress in containing the flames. ah,

this is al jazeera and these are the top stories. an armed men is holding employees hostage at a federal bank, and lebanon's capital by root is demanding his own money and threatening to burn down the bank. security forces have not entered the building years. st. hota has more from beirut. that is a 10th situation. an armed men is inside that bill during the federal a bank. he is holding hostages employees and citizens, an unknown number. i must say there believe to be at least 6 a short while ago we saw an elderly man leave. the building, the government negotiator is trying to convince him to lay down his arms. in fact, even his brother has been brought in and we saw his brother tried to speak to him through the gates. now, yes, this man is demanding his own money. because for the past 3 years, lebanon's commercial banks have imposed informal capital controls trapping. people

saving sir inside the banks and israeli military court has extended the detention of islamic jihad later, besides saudi, by at least 6 days. last week, israel launched what it called preemptive strikes on garza targeting the palestinian group following saudis arrest sierra leone has imposed a nationwide curfew in response to anti government protests. official say civil people have been killed including security personnel. protestors are angry about the rising cost of living. more heavy rain is forecast in northern sir don. we're down. pause and flash floods have killed 6 people, an injured dozens. at least 3000 homes were destroyed in river niles state. the u. s. secretary of state is and were want up the last stop on a 3 nation african tour. antony blank and is expected to discuss were wanders alleged supportive rebels and neighboring democratic republic of congo. the u. s. justice department says it's charged an iranian man for plumbing to kill former

national security adviser. john bolton describes him as a member of a rounds revolution regard to rom says, the accusations are baseless but those are the headlines. the news continues here on al jazeera, after inside story up next ah f b i agents found what they were looking for in donald trump's home. the former u. s. president says the search of his florida resident is part of a plan to destroy him. but what does this mean for his potential 2nd run for the white house? this is inside story. ah

. hello and welcome to the program. i'm hammer, jim, jim f. b i. agents in the us state of florida have conducted a criminal search of former president donald trump's home. it's seen as a significant escalation of the federal investigation into whether trump illegally removed classified documents from the white house. as he was leaving office in january last year. trump criticize the f b i search, calling it a weapon is ation of the justice system will bring in our guest shortly. but 1st, this report from gillian wolf, the f. b i search of donald trump's mar lago, a state on monday marked a dramatic escalation. the former u. s. president is facing a number of allegations into his conduct. in the waning days of his administration . for much of the year there had been small cracks and trumps political support. bought a day after the f. b as unprecedented search republicans rally behind the former

leader. when all this went down in moral argo, my phone blew up friends and family members asked me what in the world is going on? why is the law not being applied equally? your friends, tx to be things like, is the f b. i turn to the gestapo. the search was part of the u. s. justice department's investigation into allegations tromp removed classified documents from the white house. the u. s. agency in charge of collecting and storing presidential documents had notified the justice department about the discovery of at least 15 boxes of white house documents at trump's mar, logo home. it said some of those records were classified. the house committee investigating the january 6th attack on the u. s. capital had also heard evidence about the removal of classified documents when trump left office, along with allegations trump had repeatedly shredded or disposed of classified material after reading it. as president. republicans in congress are calling the search of political witch hunt,

initiating an investigation into the allegations of the f b. i. we now find that justice in america is not equal. is determined upon whether you want to go after a political, a person or not. and you go after your political foes, i think that's wrong. democrats say the f. b i action shows, no one is above the law. and the white house says president joe biden was not given advance notice about the search. the president in the white house learned about this, every i search from public reports, we learned just like the american public did. and we did not have advanced notice. of this activity president had been, has been very clear from before he was elected president. and throughout the, his time in office at the justice department conducts its investigations independently. he believes in the rule of law, donald trump remains the republican party is most influential voice and has been considering the idea of running. again, his ability to tap into the frustrations of conservative voters has helped him

overcome to impeachment and the full out from the general 6 attack his allies say the f. b, i search of his florida home could strengthen his standing once again for inside story chilling wolf. ah. all right, let's go ahead and bring in our guests. in western virginia rena shop found her and principal of relax strategies. she's also a conservative political advisor. in washington d. c. henry olson, a senior fellow at the ethics and public policy center and columnist for the washington post, is also the author of the working class republican, ronald reagan and the return of the blue collar conservatism. and in london, julie norman associate professor at university college london, and co director of the u cl. center on us politics. a warm welcome to you all. and thanks so much for joining us today on inside story. julie, let me start with you today, and let's talk for a moment about the significance of all of this. a 1st of all is this unprecedented . has a search warrant ever been executed at the home of a former

u. s. president before and you know, what kind of evidence would have been needed in order to convince a judge to sign off on a search warrant like this. sure, so as is why be known by now, this is unprecedented. justice has investigated presidents before, but i never to the extent of a search warrant for a former president. so as you noted, this would have had to have gotten approval from the federal magistrate judge as it did in order to get a warrant, though it's just probable cause that a crime was committed. so it doesn't necessarily mean there is firm evidence. it doesn't necessarily mean there's going to be a criminal proceeding. it just means that it's warrant for a search. it should be noted, a search warrant is rare in this kind of investigation. this is an investigation around classified documents. usually these are resolved through negotiations, maybe a subpoena, but a search really is unusual. so the question of course is still unknown at least to

the public of what the f b i was looking for. if they found it and what the implications will be. and we certainly don't know that just yet, rina there has been polling done recently, showing you that a majority of republicans did not want mr. trump to be the party nominee in 2024. before the news of this search at more lago, was there a sense that republican lawmakers may have been ready to move on from mr. trump? and has the fact that this search has happened? has that up in did all of that now? well, in the past few months, i've definitely heard a greater sense then in a very long time that the country may, you know, really be looking for something fresh, something new. but again, it's almost as if we don't know where the pendulum has swung entirely for republicans and i speak to. there are a great many who are still very committed to make america great. again, movement who feel that trump maybe should be given a 2nd look. but there's also

a fair amount whether you're talking about the mid atlantic region of republicans or western republicans or even southern republicans. there are a fair amount that want to try something new, perhaps in the form of florida governor ron de santis. it's hard to tell what will happen now. as of course, we know in this era, the court of public opinion feels to be the only court that matters. so the political ramifications, particularly in this republican party, i think, will be quite severe. will they rally behind trump and stay there? what will the mid terms do? or is there going to be a new energy behind trump endorse candidates who were losing for many weeks? and then now we see sort of a resurgence of some. these are all open ended questions right now, because this is such an obviously unprecedented move it because no former precedent has done anything that has warranted such a search. that's what i like to remind republicans, is that this has never been warranted. so let's be sort of cautious in the moment about what this really means about the future of the g o. p. and henry are based on

1st impressions from your vantage point, does this help or hurt trump? it marginally helps trump within the republican party because there's a large number of people who like him may be considering moving on. but now he seems to be in the target. some of the air quotes, real enemy, the democrats in the lab. so in the short term, this is something that's going to slightly increase from standing within the republican party, but it's still a long way to go and we don't know what's going to come out. i don't think this will have lasting impulse, but certainly it gives trumping brief bit of momentum that he lacks prior to the right. julie, if the f b, i doesn't find anything if nothing from the search sticks to trump, what's the blowback going to be and how much would then benefit? well, if nothing comes out of this, i think will benefit trump massively. trump has really embraced

a narrative throughout his time in office and afterwards of persecution of grievance of. 6 being under a witch hunt with the federal government in general, but especially with justice. and so this incident plays very much into that narrative gibson a specific instant and specific optics to point to. and it's one that we've already seen resonating very strongly as many of his supporters. you know, people coming out in mar logo on monday night, already rattling around trump, and it just puts him back in the center of the narrative in exactly the place he wants to be. and i could see him. i've written jim this definitely in the short term and really well into a campaign if you wished. henry, how strong is trumps grip on the republican party still. and what is his record thus far? when it comes to the candidates that he's been supporting during the primary he actually turned around his endorsement record. he was looking like he was losing a fair number of them earlier in the primary, but he said

a very good winning street. recently, winning most of is contested enforcement. i think the fair statement right now is that trump is, has the upper hand in the republican party, that there is a dance number of republicans who may want to go along with many a trump like policies, but do not want to endorse full throated trump in them or from the candidates we saw on the wisconsin primary just last night that they come in general governor, last year a trunk back candidate. got 42 percent. same thing in arizona where an opponent to trump's endorse candidate got close to 45 percent. so let's say the party is divided with trumps orders having the upper hand. and that means if there's still an opening for someone to come through and challenge him, but it's still clear that trump has that slight upper edge within g o p. and henry, you talked about the, the party being divided, but let me ask you, i mean, just how fractured is the republican party right now against the democrats. it's

not very factor. the republican factions may disagree with one another on how far or how fast lou, but against the democrats. i think you'll see a lot of unity. but there's going to be a real question whether trump is somebody who can and should lead the ticket. and that's one that's going to come to a head after mid term elections arena. you know, top, congressional republicans have been rushing to defend mr. tromp after the news broke . that that, that search warrant was executed. is this in any way surprising to you? i want to talk for a moment about the fact that, you know, you have former u. s. vice president mike pence. he's called on us attorney general, mary carland to give a full accounting to the public of why the search warrant was carried out at more lago. you know, of course, my pencil. it's known that he is somebody who was in hiding a win win that the invasion of the capital happened on january 6th. you had trump supporters who wanted to harm him. so the fact that you know,

he has come out and put out this statement at a time when there's a lot of speculation that, that, that pence might run in 2024. and the fact that there are these republican leaders of who privately may be saying they don't support trump or now publicly defending him. does that surprise? it is a bit surprising, even after many years of trump in office, to watch establishment republicans. so sitting in congress right now, who are elected members of congress, elected to a branch that is supposed to check the other branch, be a check on their power. completely surround the former president with continued adoration and love and defense of what is sort of his, his way of going about things. his unique style of continuing to engage and hypocritical action and talk. but the, what about as them as well, it almost feels as if we've entered this new era politics that we cannot walk back from. we had many weeks of the january, 6 select committee within the house. tell us that there was,

well documented evidence of trump and really his, egregious actions to try to main power to grab power that was not constitutionally his up, but still even didn't. despite that, this republican party does not have to embrace him and they continue to so it shows sort of the level of pettiness of some of these elected members of congress. it, they may be defending themselves or maybe protecting themselves. they know that money is still tied to the make america great again base. so it's, it, it almost means anyone who's even a political insider scratching their heads about at what point does a divorce happen between establishment republicans and the trump sort of empire that continues to pervade the republican party. that again, is another open ended question. this is just a time where it's just too quick. it's too early to tell. we have to get past these midterms to know more about what the american electric really thinks of trump and will he be the standard bear in 2024. 0 rena. speaking of the midterms, you know,

it had been reported that up until the news broke, that the search warner was executed that, that many republicans had been privately urging donald trump not to announce that he was going to ron in 2024 because they thought that might be damaging in the mid term elections for other candidates. now it seems that there are republicans that are calling on trump to actually announce before the midterms, because they believe that will help the party. and do you think that this means that donald trump will officially enter the presidential race soon will is by help the party, you mean that a former president who again was sort of the, the standard bearer not just sort of he was the elective former resident. you know, if by helping him that means he doesn't go to jail, which would just be my goodness, absolutely, a shock to the system to the entire country. but no one can be above the law these united states. i think the actions that we've seen in the past 36 hours, particularly tell us that democracy in action is an action here in the united

states as in motion. it's working. and we're not at banana republic because even if you are now a private citizen who held the highest office in the land, you are subject to the law. and so we have one side of the story right now that is trump's version. we have yet to hear why this legal search was conducted on his private property in florida. we will learn more in the coming days. that will tell us exactly what this means for a former president. has he broken a part of our u. s. coat that prohibits him from a holding office. again, this is all very consequential in so many ways it all hangs in the balance for the future of the republican party. do people want to do then trump at all costs? or are they willing to say, let him go like the r n c committee chair woman herself just alluded to, i believe it was just last week. i and if not, it was a few days prior to that where she said that they would not even pay trump's legal bills anymore if he were to continue on this path of

a potential candidacy. so we're again hanging in the balance as a myself, a former republican strategist, and, and a long time registered republican. but somebody who wishes to see a healthy republican party exist. julie democrats are fresh off of some big legislative whims right now on the fact that the focus has now shifted to trump. does that hurt the democrats going into the mid terms? well, as you said this week was probably not the week that biden and the white house wanted a story like this necessarily, you know, coming off the climate bill when chips some other very long waited legislation finally coming through. and of course, trump is just completely flipped the new cycle with the, with what's happening this week. so from the democratic point of view, you, they would like more emphasis on those pieces. but at the same time, you know, many democrats have been keen to see some legal movements from any of the number investigations that trump is currently under. he's expected also to testify today

in a separate investigation in new york. so many democrats have been looking for justice to come down a bit stronger on trump, as we have said there. you know, i think if there is not anything to show from this, that will blow back on democrats at the end of the day and many who are maybe celebrating right now are maybe not thinking about some of their upper questions of this in terms of the campaign and the electorate, and how this might galvanized. and julie, if we're talking about galvanizing trump supporters, you know, it's being reported that there is some violent rhetoric that's been appearing on pro trump online forums. is there a lot of concern out there that, that this could all lead to violence some point? well, there certainly is concern and ever since, obviously, january 6th, i think people are taking this kind of redirect more seriously than they may have in the past. a lot of terms and phrases that were being put on social

media on twitter. since the news of the search came out, certainly have very aggressive, very, very violence mean and connotations to then. with that said, i think we should always be cautious about not, not jumping to kind of alarm as conclusions with this. you know, people are going to react to this, there are going to be protest, but right now we have not seen, you know, any kind of, extreme expression of violence and reaction to this. again, trump himself, i think we'll have a lot of sway and how much that side of the rhetoric builds or not. he's obviously encouraged it in the past, and we can only hope that the de escalate rather than escalates in terms of the violent rhetoric around him. reducing that as a result of any of these investigations that it might be possible that mr. trump could be barred from running again for president. you know, i don't think that there is a legal way to borrow him from running for president short of jailing him. that

there's a lot of belief that you cannot add to the constitutional requirements for running or office. and there are no constitutional requirements saying that somebody under indictment or somebody under suspicion, or somebody who's been convicted even cannot run for the presidency. so i think short of securing conviction that's up, hold on a deal that have been behind bars. i don't think there's any way that this is going to prevent him from running for office, convicting him in the impeachment. trial would have been the way to do. rena, we've heard from my house, minority leader, kevin mccarthy, he told attorney general merrick garland to preserve your documents and clear your calendar. and he warned that there would be a probe into all of this when republicans take back the house in the mid term elections. now if republicans do regain control of the house of representatives come november, are we going to see republicans launch a lot of retaliatory investigations? and what's that going to do?

the country is already so polarized, the political parties already so polarized. what kind of effect would that have or republicans have been calling and you know, making calls about this january 6 like committee in the house. it that did these public hearings for these past many weeks. and they've been saying that that is a, as sort of one sided i've sort of investigation that, that is purely political and which on in and it's happening through the u. s. house of representatives because of nancy pelosi, the speaker. so so they've already sort of taken to that line of messaging and, and been rather successful with their babies potting, with that they find raised often bit a massive amount. they continue to beat that steady drum of the democrats are trying to ruin the way you're your way of life that they're trying to, you know, do things that will, will affect your bottom line lately. this entire week of the, the messaging point has been that the iris is expanding, they're coming for you, they're hiring up. we're close to 90000 new agents and they're coming for you the

little guy because you're a conservative so. so do not be surprised if you, you hear this from congressional republicans that of course, the leader and mccarthy is, is giving away his entire playbook. he wants to exact revenge on democrat, and he's gonna start it from the top down at the house. republicans take over this fall. and that will be the 1st thing they do is hold these kind of hearings because they will say, democrats already did the very same thing. henry, you know, this certainly is not the 1st time that a former president trump has been accused him, is handling classified materials, or we do know that in the u. s. the president has the authority to declassify any information if it is determined. ultimately the mr. trump took classified material that he, that he shouldn't have that he's of held on to it. couldn't mr. trump just claim to have the classified it would it, would that be enough to end all of this? i think there's a process through which you have to go to your judy. classify it. of course one can only do that as president. the question is whether he did that while he was serving

an office. i don't think it's something that he can wave one after the fact and say, these documents are all ok if he didn't go through the procedures that establishes declassification prior to his departure from office, then i don't think he's going to be able to make that quote julie, i saw you nodding along to what henry was saying, did you want to jump in just to, to agree with that, right? that, you know, while in office the president can, can declassified. but afterwards they cannot into it's unclear with the status of those documents. would be and you know, it's important to know back in the spring with kind of the 1st boxes that were taken from our log that were, were given from our logo. you, there were, there were classified documents in there. so we already, we know that trump has had some classified materials, but again, there's that can usually be assuaged the different kinds of negotiations. and the worry here is that there's something much more sensitive or much more pertinent to

some of the other legal challenges going on. but that would be, it's complicated because of that presidential power to the classify as well. and julie, from your vantage point, you know, from what you're seeing and reading and hearing, does it look like trump may be in real serious, legal peril here. you. i really think it's too early to say, we just don't have enough information about what was found and what it's going to mean. i would again emphasize that in order to bar trump from running from office again, that would still be a very long way off. i think a criminal proceeding just around having classified documents would be unlikely and would probably be seen as an overreach. if those documents actually related to something very serious than i could see an actual proceeding moving forward, potentially. but again, i think trump will continue to, to leverage this as much as possible to an appeals process, et cetera. and,

and really it will be very difficult legally, to keep him from running again. rena, we only have about a minute left him and ask you the same question from your vantage point. do you think the trump is in real legal trouble here? well, it depends on, you know, really how this whole thing plays out because there is a presidential records active. and if this legal search was fully about classified documents and how they were handled by trump, and really what the f b, i knows at this point, then it becomes a question of who's going to enforce the presidential records act for the 1st time . there were, there was a former chief of staff, there were other top advisors who weren't president trump while he was in the white house about that act and his handling of information. but it still to this day, nobody has really been punished for violating that act. are we going to be a country that holds accountable, our former elected leaders? that is the question. i'm really, i'm ready and waiting for an answer for. all right, well, we have run out of time, so we're going to have to leave the conversation there today. thanks so much to all of our guest, rena shaw,

and re olsen and julie norman. and thank you for watching. you can see the program again any time by visiting our website or dot com. and for further discussion, go to a facebook page. that's facebook dot com, forward slash ha inside story. you can also, during the conversation on twitter handle is at the j inside story for him, how much i'm doing and the whole team here for now. a ah ah.

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