going to let me be clear with you i have to act in ways that i feel necessary and people who simply understand that. could include me or let me go to the ends justify the means. to terms with their service starts december 13th on t.w. . explosive testimony today in the impeachment hearings against a u.s. president on which the us ambassador to the european union gordon said that the president directed him to pressure ukraine to dig up political dirt on trump's biggest rival joseph tonight a stunning admission that if true could implicate all the president's men to golf in berlin this is the day.

i was there a quid pro quo as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes the suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular rope diplomacy is absolutely false mr giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a white house visit for president selenski we worked with mr giuliani because the president directed us to do so everyone was in the loop. it was no secret. also coming up a nazi memorabilia going once going twice a controversial auction where hitler's history goes to the highest bidder all these emblems that all these not see the flags of whatever they are they sell all of

a body of being the voice of and still is not separate and the so in moral and ethical terms i think it's highly problematic. to our viewers on p.b.s. in the united states and all around the world welcome we begin the day with a witness who may have saved himself and at the same time put a presidency in peril today a top diplomat up. pointed by u.s. president delivered explosive testimony in the impeachment hearings against the president gordon songkhla and u.s. ambassador to the european union said that trump directed him to pressure ukraine to investigate trump's political rival former u.s. vice president joseph biden songlines testimony not only corroborates the claim 1st made by the whistleblower but it also implicates the people who work closest with the president saw him and said the desires and wishes of trump were not a secret and that everyone was in the loop i agreed to testify because i

respect the gravity of the moment and i believe i have an obligation to account fully for my role in these events mr giuliani's requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a white house visit for president selenski mr giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the united states and we knew these investigations were important to the president in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid i later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a public statement from ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 elections and to respond to the president ever tell you personally about any preconditions for anything now ok so the president never told you about any

preconditions for the aid to be released no on the president ever told you about any preconditions for a white house meeting. personally no it was the president's direction and instruction that a white house meeting with president selenski would not occur until president selenski announced publicly the investigations that the president wanted so right that's correct and you now know that the for investigations the president wanted or as an investigation into the bidens an investigation into the 2016 election i know that now yes well donald trump is not the 1st u.s. president to undergo in pietschmann proceedings 3 other presidents have faced impeachment hearings in the past and none have been removed from office only one president richard nixon resigned now all 3 cases provide hints to how trump's impeachment proceedings may end or i shall resign the presidency of the.

us president richard nixon resigning in the wake of the watergate scandal in 1904 the democrat controlled congress had opened an impeachment investigation into a burglary at the democratic party headquarters nixon fired uncooperative aides and defied subpoenas leading the house judiciary committee to charge him with obstruction of justice republicans largely stuck with him as he insisted on his innocence. of people who got to know whether or not their president the proper but i'm not a crowd i heard everything i got. but nixon's political support in the public and in congress collapsed as the evidence against him piled up when it looked like the dam was about to break he resigned. more than a 100 years earlier andrew johnson was impeached by the house for firing a cabinet member in defiance of the law but the senate acquitted him in a trial. most recently in 1998 bill clinton was impeached by

a republican controlled house for perjury and obstruction of justice he was accused of lying under oath about an affair with the white house in turn. i did not have sexual relations with that woman miss lewinsky i never told anybody to lie not a single time never but a special prosecutor amassed evidence that he had conducted an affair and the house voted to impeach clinton. a televised senate trial was widely considered to be sorted and personal. clinton argued he was the victim of political persecution and polls showed a large majority of americans agreed perhaps not coincidentally the senate did not convict him. and so clinton stayed in the white house.

polls now show the american electorate to be almost evenly divided on trump's impeachment and most analysts say the republican controlled senate is unlikely to convict him but if the polling numbers change dramatically that calculation may change. well i'm joined tonight by a gentleman who knows exactly what it's like to be in the middle of an impeachment for seating richard ben-veniste is a warrior in washington d.c. he was one of the leading watergate prosecutors he joins me tonight from the u.s. capitol mr ben-veniste it's good to have you on the show i want to start by saying some of our viewers they may not be familiar with the john dean moment of the watergate hearings john dean was president nixon's counsel he testified about the secret tape recordings in the oval office which changed everything he also said that there was a cancer on the presidency i want to ask you was today's testimony the john dean moment of this impeachment process. i don't think so today's

testimony was cumulative of others in the diplomatic corps who have already given testimony under oath to corroborate the fact that the president of the united states had used congressionally authorized funds for the defense of the ukraine for his personal political objectives that is in order to release funds which he had ordered hello and not distributed to the ukraine the president required that the ukrainian president announce the investigation of joseph biden and joseph biden son in connection with mr biden's son's involvement with a reason a ukrainian. energy company what this is the nature in

my experience in that whatever you may say about richard nixon and that was a lot his. offenses involved u.s. citizens and actions against u.s. citizens using his position and power as president of us here we have the implication of u.s. foreign policy and with that national security being misused according to the sworn testimony of several men by president trump so you're saying mr minister that what the president is is accused of in your opinion is actually more serious and graver than what was ever thrown at richard nixon well it is different. say what you will about richard nixon at the end of the day.

he was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his presidential office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame him donald trump about and whether it's interesting that you say that i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for those several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence that's been given when you look at the testimony in your mind has there been enough presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery

and i believe there's been a prime aphasia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. of solicitation of a bride that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by the ukrainian president's alinsky knew in office that he would authorize or initiate an investigation that would implicate a political rival. for the upcoming 2020 presidential election that is joe biden indeed simply the in that smith an investigation has opened. might well be enough to blacken the real reputation of mr biden

to the extent that he would lose support in the primary elections that are coming for the democratic nomination mr minister let me ask you before we run out of time moving forward if the house since the articles of impeachment over to the senate and if a trial takes place and if the president is not convicted and remains in office what do you think that is going to say about the health and the state of the u.s. constitution. well it's going to say something about the american populace because after all the representatives of the people are the ones who vote good articles of impeachment transmitted through the united states senate and that's not a certainty you know there are other things that might be done there might be

a motion to censure the president instead of impeachment but accepting the premise of your point. there's been a great change in the country we are far more tribal in our politics than we were in the days of richard nixon. we appear to be far more accepting of the president. being untruthful in public statements you know one of our major newspapers is the washington post its tracks the lies and mis misstatements of fact that the president has made and it's in the thousands this point so it really is a print scene than it was in the days of richard nixon back 48 years of oh yeah it makes you wonder richard nixon would have even resigned diffie had had fox

news in 1974 i guess we'll never know richard her or him. won't talk about that the next time we talk with you mr ben-veniste richard ben-veniste former watergate prosecutor we appreciate your time in your insights tonight thank you oh it's a pleasure thank you. ari for more analysis now on the testimony that we heard today on capitol hill i'm joined here at the big table by rachel rizzo she is a us political analyst and a bosch fellow here in berlin and d.-w. news is very own economy he is in kiev in ukraine with that part of the story to both of you welcome nick let me start with you the testimony today as we've been saying it was very damning for the u.s. president and it wasn't exactly flattering to the leadership in ukraine what's been the reaction where you are to what we heard today. well brant the

government here in present staying as tight lipped as they have throughout there's very little in this for them to gain by saying anything either way they'll either offend the current white house and the trump team or the democrats so they seem to think it's better just to try and lie low and wait for this all to pass them by obviously as these impeachment hearings gather pace that may longer be possible in terms of the flattery or the implication they were willing to open these investigations i think it was sympathy here in ukraine for president selenski as the president of a country that's coming under increasing pressure especially from european powers to compromise to russia that u.s. support is crucial for ukraine basically willing to say anything to really keep the president happy but i think he needs to be judged on his actions and his words he that investigation has not been opened and doesn't look like it's going to be open any time soon so i think it does seem that was aware of the danger inherent in this

situation from the beginning and while they were trying to sweet talk the president they have held back from opening an investigation that could open them up to. to the charge of meddling in the u.s. election you know there's a very good point and. what about the u.s. state department do you think that the state department has the capacity right now even to focus on policies and ties with ukraine considering everything else that's going on right now in the trumpet ministration you know it's a good question but i think that whether or not the state department has the capacity to deal with it might not matter they have to have the capacity to deal with it what's happening with the impeachment proceedings is taking bandwidth from every aspect of the government from congress to the defense department to the white house to the state department and so this this proceeding has really thrust the u.s. policy and at the forefront of u.s. foreign policy discussions so the state department it's in their interest to ensure

that. something that they are in fact focusing on do you think the u.s. ukraine policy has been damaged by the impeachment proceedings let's take a question i think as far as long term damage goes we have to remember that is in the u.s. interest for for us to continue a strong relationship with ukraine right they are a close partner of the united states they're a close partner of nato the u.s. government has worked very hard with the u.k. government to help them do things like stop out corruption and we also have to remember that they are at the forefront of the conflict with russia crimea and eastern ukraine them their their stock by russian forces and so if if this if the united states if we let this damage our ukraine policy it would be to our detriment nick the ambassador reportedly said that the president the u.s. president does not really care about ukraine and that he only cares about the big

stuff such as the political investigation into the by so that he could use maybe in the next election campaign what is what is all of that doing to america's credibility in ukraine. i'm not sure that ukraine has many alternatives for allies beyond the u.s. so i think they're losing credibility isn't going to do much that but i think we're already seeing america defected disengaging from ukraine this conference in the normandy format that's planned for the beginning of december where putin and selenski will come face to face for the 1st time with michael a medical it's really a sign the europeans are taking of the initiative and ukraine coming under increasing pressure now to make those be concessions to make some movement possible prison mccall seemingly very willing to get back to business as usual with russia with vladimir putin's kremlin had the u.s. being more engaged maybe the ukrainians wouldn't be so willing to make those compromises to make those noises there's a real sense here that

a whole generation of u.s. experts who knew this region. who had studied in this region in the ninety's when these countries became independent from the soviet union people like fiona hill. they are not being replaced they are leaving government people like senator john mccain who died recently had been a big figure in the mud on here well these people had a personal interest in this region to go on and they were placed by people who really couldn't care about ukraine's fate to the same personal level so a real worry here that this is the kind of lack of leadership and a lack of interest yeah that's a very good point mick. 3 of us from the you know be gordon so he donated a $1000000.00 to the inauguration and was rewarded with the ambassador position in ukraine republican presidents do this democratic presidents do this. other countries do not they reward their best diplomats with the title of ambassador of the united states says money buys access to these jobs does that needs to change

doesn't i think you make a good point and going back to your what you were saying about him donating to the term campaign it does make it interesting that fact as well as the fact that he did fly also on air force one and then trump came back and said that he hardly knows the guy so i just feel like that's interesting and i sort of odd aspect of this whole thing but i do think you make a good point this is not just a trump administration phenomenon this happens with republican administrations and democratic administrations and you know most of the time it's ok but i think this is a really good example of when things can go wrong when you don't have someone with a deep deep knowledge a breadth of knowledge about a certain country that they are going to be serving in things can go wrong and so i do think that the united states needs to rethink how it. fares and this is a good example and then we can point to yeah and maybe some of the presidential candidates will pick that up and put that in their platform that's for next

november we will see rachel rizzo us political analyst and bosch feller and nick connelly our very own correspondent to both of you thank you we appreciate your insights tonight. myself in this election i think it does and i think it very. very important just very just very briefly made the position clear we will have a referendum. guided by that result. well that was britain's political elite holding their 1st candidates debate ahead of the general election that's scheduled for next month and as you heard both prime minister board's johnson and labor leader jeremy corbyn they drew mocking laughter from the listening voters but twitter it's not laughing about the conservative contribution to social media giant issuing

a warning to prime minister boris johnson's conservative party after the party changed its twitter presence during the debate of this is important to check this out it normally looks like this with a clear declaration that it is from the conservative party but on tuesday during the televised election debate it altered its appearance. radically to look like this losing the mention of the conservatives altogether but adding a prominent fact checking u.k. banner alongside the claim that it is now fact checking labor statements twitter responded saying that we have global rules in place that prohibit behavior that can mislead people including those with verified a kill. with the british foreign secretary dominic robert retorted that the account had remained clearly identified as run by the conservatives adding that no one gives a toss about the social media cut and thrust. whatever the.

should be able to listen to richard take that voice and vote but we make no apology for. nailing the nonsense that jeremy called him put it out and try to put it back in the debate last night and being very clear about our plan it was dominick rob there speaking earlier today real fact checking organizations where they have slammed the stunt is an attempt to mislead voters will more chief executive of the london based website full fact said it twitter was correct to call out the conservatives in a world with more information than ever it has become harder and i want to trust and we need to make it easier for people to find trusted sources of information conservative party yesterday made. when they get into government they're going to be asking for people to trust them why squander their trust here in the election campaign. here in germany jewish organizations have

condemned an auction of hundreds of items of nazi memorabilia most of which belong to high ranking nazi officers the cell has raised questions about how germany should deal with relics from this dark chapter in its history this top hat once belonged to. it was one of the highest rated items at the munich option a bit up tight $50000.00 for it many objects feet of a swastika a nazi symbol considerate and constitutional in germany and is therefore banned. all these emblems or these nazi flags or whatever they they sell or buy a bar you know i mean it was and still is not soprano so in moral and ethical terms i think it's highly problematic the auctioneer on the other hand claims that objects like the tarp had a historical pieces of evidence and. it is a historical object like any other the fact that its owner was

a mass murderer is under sputum but the things that belong to him and were part of his environment should not be mythologized by co-habiting that sale today show it in hard to support of the thing personal items the auctioneer said would show the banality of evil the historian rejects this he believes context it's necessary context that can be provided in a museum without placing them in the proper into the proper historical context. you don't understand them it would just be a measure of voyeurism and the objects themselves. do not speak to you the ocean has said that it conducts checks on its business but in effect it is impossible to control who buys nazi memorabilia and for what reason. when i'm far from unique where that options of place is adult hitler's birthplace just across the austrian border that town has long had a problem with what to do with the house where the nazi dictator was born austria's

interior minister says that it will in the future. turn that house into a local police station interior ministry said that it should send an unmistakable signal that this building will never again evoke the memory of national socialist. of the day is almost done the conversation continues online we will see you tomorrow thanks for the company everybody.

jura. what unites. what divides. looking funny looks troubling. what binds the continent to cut the sensors and stories aplenty. spotlight on people. on treatment on d w. it's time to take one

step. and face. time you're on just such the knowledge and fun for the troops. it's hard to overcome downtrends and connection. it's time for work. and you don't really use coming up ahead. minds. and gemini with me at any time i've seen anyplace easy names. yeah i don't like the crowd so missing along to see this stuff come from soup but it's. good for. interactive exercises. that everything is online and interactive gem into frame with t.w.

. whatever we begin to do the day will get out of syria too and that was fear of the increase of the fabrics are. 2050 they have to start them by starting to decrease the amount of c o 2 are there now this is actually not a hard problem that just takes will however there are very important economic interests to all of the lot of coal who own a lot of oil that are doing everything. possible to make sure this doesn't happen we have to fight them like 25th row be well on the way to or allied with renewable solar wind and optimistic that. we're not totally p.c. . this

is g.w. news wire from berlin the most anticipated witness in the trump impeachment hearings delivers a stunning testimony u.s. ambassador to the european union gordon song says the president directed him to pressure ukraine to investigate trump's political rival joseph and he says everyone near the president knew about also coming out israel on the brink of its 3rd election inside of a year blue and white party leader benny guns and says he will not be able to form a coalition before.