this is g.w. newsmonger from berlin the split screen presidency of donald trump two history making events happening practically at the same time talks about weapons of mass destruction in one noise and words as weapons in washington in a few hours trump and north korean leader kim jong un are expected to sign a joint agreement capping their second summit what if any progress has been made in denuclearizing north korea and is there any substance in trump's bid to turn an enemy into a friend and half a world away in the u.s.

capitol explosive accusations of a trump friend turned michael cohen trumps former fixer and attorney telling members of congress that the commander in chief is really a commander in chief. on the order. he is a racist. he is a con man. and he's a cheat i fear that if you loses the election in two thousand and twenty that there will never be a tease for transition of power. golf it's good to have you with us u.s. president donald trump and the north korean leader kim jong on are set to sign a joint agreement in hanoi in a bid to show the world that they are a step further away from the threat of nuclear conflict trump is urging him to give up his nuclear weapons program in exchange for economic development the trunk says

he's in no rush thank you very much jim and it's great to be with you again and i'm sure over the years we'll be together a lot and i think will also be together after the fact the a very good deal is made we had very good discussions with it it is. pretty good it was very good and. a lot of good ideas being thrown about i think very importantly the relationship is you know just very strong and we have a good relationship a lot of good things happen so i can't speak necessarily for today but i would say this is a little bit longer term and over a period of time i know we're going to have a fantastic success with respect to jeremy kim in north korea is going to have an economic powerhouse at the right that i've been talking about that i think is going to be even now making power and something i very much look forward to helping with

because with a little bit of help in the right location in the great place i think it's going to be something very special. that they say very much that maybe getting that speed is not that important there be i very much appreciate no testing of the nuclear rocket just a little bit earlier to appreciate it and a very. jim and i had a great talk about that last night. what he said he'd like you and if you just be doesn't have to but we had a very good talk about that last night and again i'm no rush. if you don't want to think. we've we've developed something very special with respect to that but i just want to say i have great respect for hearing him. great respect for his country and i believe. it will be economically almost hard to compete with so many countries it has a potential. and there was a u.s. president here's how north koreans north korea's kim jong un responded when

a journalist asked him what he expects from the talks. but it's too early to tell you that you know it. but i wouldn't say that i'm. going to. hold. people over from what i feel right now i do have good results with. you correspondent alexander phenomena she is covering the summit force in hanoi and she walked us through what to expect in the next few hours. kim and still sitting together now in an expanded by letter all meeting they were joined by secretary pump ale and kim young and north korean top diplomat top negotiator and a former spy and after that there will be having working lunch together or the other on discussing the issues that are important to india and really have joint

agreement signing ceremony and we still really don't know what this document is going to be about if it's true that north korea is willing to dismantle at least one of its key nuclear aside and. will be willing to agree to an end of the korean war declaration if the u.s. is. to open and the is on in north korea but this shouldn't be very surprising it was the case in singapore when we saw pictures of kim and trump signing a joint agreement and only a couple of hours later it turned out that it was quite the agreement. there was alexander phenomena reporting from hanoi here in the studio with me is parents bear he's a senior fellow and asia analyst at the german council on foreign relations and it's good to see you i want to ask you about this joint agreement that they're going to sign today what needs to be in that agreement for this second summit to be

considered a success. well first of all the needs to have something that both leaders can take home community one has changed the propaganda tome to economic growth and openings that he needs something and terms of sanctions relief and donald trump need something that he can for and of denuclearization and that means either a clear wording what the find a gold and a common understanding about this but also perhaps smaller steps like dismantling facilities the fact that the u.s. president said earlier today that he is in no rush is he preparing us for a joint agreement that may have very little in terms of progress when we're talking about denuclearization well it will not have much in terms of to nuclearization for short to nuclearization will stand at the end of a process and that the moment the biggest step is that this process is being

started that will be negotiated with steps have to be taken and what both sides are willing to do and when we had the first summit in singapore last year. the consensus was that the u.s. president went into that summit with more to just show and prove they can jiang on . this this time around is it the other way around is it kim jong owns you have to be willing to offer more if he wants to keep this process going well the completely depends on what is being written in this statement that they will sign today if the u.s. is really willing to go a completely new way in foreign policy and resolve the conflict with with north korea and going a long peace process towards a peace treaty that also will involve didn't include zation at some point and it's obviously on kim to to deliver himself and backer with the german council on

foreign relations we appreciate your insights thank you. now for in hanoi to washington and the testimony of one man that has stolen much of the world's attention yesterday for more than seven hours before u.s. congressional committee michael cohen the man who once said that he would take a bullet for donald trump fired off one damning indictment after another against the u.s. president trump's former fixer and personal lawyer said that the president had prior knowledge of leaked e-mails from the democratic party during the twenty sixteen presidential campaign he also said that trump instructed him to break campaign finance wants the committee chair alija cummings later told reporters it appeared that trump had committed a crime while in office. or let's take the story now to washington where. is standing by for us. the testimony of michael

cohen many people are saying that it will redefine the trump presidency do you agree. i think it depends on who you're going to ask there will be definitely a larger crowd now who would say exactly what you said that this will this testimony and what the beans mr cohen spilled about his former boss donald trump president all trump will change the perception of who donald trump is how the whole song got into the office and how he became president and it will also redefine his the rest of his presidency if he's not being reelected in two thousand and twenty however if you ask another. crowd or other people and those are predominantly republicans and still thirty percent of americans who actually voted for and are still considered the base for dollars from they would probably say nothing has changed mr cohen is

a crook himself and not trustworthy whatsoever and trump is doing what he's doing on the behalf of the people who elected him and he's doing a pretty good job. what was the most damning indictment leveled by colin against trump yesterday. think it's twofold to number one it was basically a character assassination mr cohen as you had already said. portrayed mr trump as being a cone odd is a liar and a cheater who had basically not expected to become president nor be actually nominated as the top candidate for the republicans so he kind of stumbled into this and he made clear what he things about the president and that is basically not much anymore number one number two and that is the most striking here is even if he couldn't offer specific evidence for collusion with russia mr cohen managed to said

everybody. in alert or to alert that mr trump may have committed the crime and that is that he ordered mr cohen to lie about specific facts regarding the payment through the adult film actress stormy daniels yeah i mean the accusations of course are safe you know and grave but you can't build a case against a sitting u.s. president on the accusations of just one man so so how significant is michael cohen's testimony to into the overall investigations that are underway. yeah brant you nailed it actually so this has nothing to do with what mr miller robert mueller is working on and where we all still sitting here and waiting for the report of mr mueller to drop actually now don't forget that this is a larger and a very specific. investigation at the same time larger in the sense that it can

actually include anything mr mueller basically one spot is very very focused on is the collusion between the time campaign or the president or was there collusion between the trumka payments and russia and of course now this report will win it whenever it will happen go to the d.o.j. of the department of justice and they will decide what to make public this is totally independent from mr mr cohen and the absolutely right in what way and what with what weight the cohen testimony thus anything two words that is totally unclear. defines the most on the story for in washington john thank you very much. michael cohen said that he wanted to tell the american people his story and it seems that the american people wanted to hear it in washington d.c. bars opened early yesterday so that patrons could watch the testimony of trump's former lawyer over a drink maybe they thought they would need what our washington correspondent and he

headed out to walk to a watch party for our next report duffy's i respond just a stone's throw from capitol hill and known locally as the go to venue for so-called watch parties when big political events happen here in washington the public testimony of president trump's former personal lawyer michael cone rings such an event even if it's branded to political theater it almost certainly guarantees a relatively full house at the fees it's kind of unique it's kind of special it's washington d.c. the main thing you know we work for the government and we want to see how the government works when there's a little crisis going on this is almost like a sporting event. that i don't think it really translates anywhere else in the world my husband i actually having a great day so we both played hooky from our can we have a babysitter for our daughter so that we get home and enjoy this is that right we're not all but most patterns at duffy's who agreed to talk to us despite being

employed by the federal government agree on one thing after listening to hours of michael cohen's testimony and then you just listen to what cohen says if you believe him fine if you don't you don't but he deserves to be speak because he was an eye witness. a criminal who is telling the truth who's got nothing though he was kind of a doofus but he's telling us what we all know has happened and he's giving it into a narrative. that's on the record that we can understand. the political divide seems to deepen yet again in washington and also as the entire country seems still far from unified nobody here really expects. positive change any time soon and with that they could be many more watch parties and duffy's irish pop in the future. all right here's a reminder of our top story u.s. president almost from the north korean leader kim jong un are continuing their denuclearization talks in the vietnamese capital from north to the moon appears to

be positive kim says it's too early to tell but he expects a good outcome trump says there is no rush on reaching a nuclear agreement. you're watching the w. news wire from berlin coming up next doc film and how floods of tourists are threatening the city of venice. it's all happening to children coming. your link to news from africa and the world to your links to exceptional stories and discussions can you unwelcome student news after getting program tonight from for an exam from the news of easy town i would say d. deputed close next africa join us on facebook and t.w. africa.