♪ brent: this is dw news live from berlin. tonight, u.s. president donald trump has returned to tweeting, calling the investigation into his campaign's possible ties to russia a witchhunt. that came after the department of justice's quick move to appoint former fbi director robert mueller as the special counsel in the investigation. and in brazil, a scandal within a scandal. the president says he will not as -- will not resign despite allegations he was recorded discussing payments to silence

people in a massive corruption case. ♪ brent: i am brent goff. it is good to have you with us. donald trump has lashed out at the appointment of a powerful special counsel to investigate his administration. he took to twitter again today, making unsubstantiated claims of both hillary clinton and barack obama overseeing illegal acts that warranted special investigation. he said he was the victim of the single greatest political witchhunt in american history. the outburst comes as the justice department named robert mueller as its special counsel to probe russian influence in the 2016 presidential election. for the perspective, we also have the power to look at other

issues arising from the white house's handling of this and many other crises. reporter: this is the man who will be the investigation into the trump administration's alleged ties with russia. hard, uncompromising, robert mueller will have many powers to follow the investigation leads. congressional leaders from both parties welcomed the appointment. >> i believe that the professionals in the justice department need to do their jobs independently, objectively, and thoroughly. i believe the special counsel, which is robert mueller now, helps that. >> the appointment of the former fda -- fbi director as special prosecutor is a good first step. the action shows the urgency of investigating the trump-russia possible collusion and interfering in our election. it also recognizes the gravity

of the president's abuse of power in trying to shut down the fbi's investigations. reporter: following mueller's appointment, donald trump was confident there would be no collusion group. the justice department's decision came only days after trump fired former fbi director james comey in a move that sparked huge controversy. [applause] reporter: the trump administration stressed its view that a special counsel was unnecessary, but after that, the justice department controversy increase. donald trump complained of unfair media. donald trump: look at the way i have been treated for recently, especially by the media. no politician in history -- and i say this with great surety -- has been treated worse or more

unfairly. reporter: now all eyes will be on robert mueller's investigation that could determine the fate of the trump presidency. brent: amid the swirling controversy, donald trump is due to give a news conference soon with the president of columbia -- colombia. we are monitoring that. you can see on the screen we will try to bring you that news conference as soon as the president begin speaking. we will have it live for you soon. stick with us for that. we will move on with other news. one person has been killed in new york city when a speeding rammed into pedestrians and times square. according to police, 22 people were injured. there is no indication that it was terrorism-related. the driver is in custody and has a history of drunk driving charges. reporter: pandemonium erupted on

times square when a red honda plowed into one of new york's prime tourist locations. it was a hot, clear day that brought large crowds of people to times square to enjoy the good weather. >> it was very scary. we heard a big crash. we saw people running away. we went back to the corner, we saw people lying on the sidewalk. around the corner we saw a person laying on the ground. people were running to help him, and the car started on fire. reporter: it sparked fears of a terrorist attack after recent car bombings in europe, but authorities were quick to downplay worries. according to police, he has prior convictions for drunk driving. >> detectives are currently reviewing any other criminal history for the subject. further investigation is ongoing . at this point as the mayor said, there is no indication this incident was terrorism-related.

reporter: the 26-year-old, a navy veteran, appeared intoxicated. he is now in police custody. brent: roger ailes, the cofounder of the u.s. news cable television, has died. he launched it in 1996. the station became a ratings juggernaut by offering conservative viewpoints not seen on other channels. under his leadership, fox became america's most widely news -- widely watched cable news channel. he was forced to resign last year after a series of sexual harassment allegations. the united states coast guard has brought to shore 18.5 tons of cake -- cocaine. they were intercepted in different incidents off the pacific coast of central and

south america and uploaded at a port in florida. the hall has an estimated street value of nearly half $1 billion. the eastern pacific has become a major seaport for smuggling cocaine from south america to the united states via mexico. germany's foreign minister has been in washington today for talks that focused on turkey. in his meeting with rex tillerson, he asked the u.s. to help resolve the latest stab between turkey and germany. angela merkel has denied german -- after a has did not -- turkey has denied german lawmakers access. with relations between turkey and its european partners at a low ebb, our correspondent went

out to istanbul. she asked able for their views on the growing divide. reporter: the bosporus, istanbul's famous waterway. it separates the asian from the european part of turkey. there is a bridge that showing them connected smoothly. however, relations between turkey and the e.u. are anything but, after the controversial referendum here wish granted the president wide-ranging powers. some diplomats do not see a rip -- lasting relationship with turkey anymore. and the president made no qualms about it. he has threatened to end relations with the e.u. more importantly, what do the turkish people think? have a written off the european union? let's find out. we start in a conservative istanbul neighborhood more than

half an hours drive from the neighborhood. many of them are religious. in the referendum last month, two thirds of the voters said yes to more power for president rest of china erdogan. i -- president erdogan. >> the europeans need to decide, do they want us or not. for 15 or 20 years they have been exploding us and playing with us -- exploiting us and playing with us. >> we don't want europe, and if there should be a referendum about it, we will say no. 80% will say no. >> of course. i will take the turkish flag. akp, tayyip erdogan. >> we don't want them.

in 1000 years we could not become part of the you because we are a muslim nation, and europe is supporting terrorists. >> i have two flags here, which one do you want? >> the turkish one, always the turkish one. reporter: this woman teaches political science. he has been studying turkey-e.u. relations for years. how bad are they really right now? >> it has never been cooperative. they have feigned many -- face many crises before now. there is a crisis partly related to turkey's internal problems and the european union's internal problems. there are harsh comments on the other side as part of the negotiations, and i think both sides are using it as a strategic discourse during the negotiations. so this can be overcome, but only if there is political

willingness to do so. reporter: let's see if people in this neighborhood believe in the turkish-european friendship. students are artists, a stronghold of the political opposition. 80% voted no in the referendum. what do people think about the e.u.? >> it is a modern union we have to join. >> i am 44 years old now, and i don't think i will still be alive when we finally become a member. >> it makes no sense. why should we join while others are leaving? reporter: so which one is it? >> the turkish flag. >> there are many problems right now, but they need to be solved because ultimately we are a part of europe. reporter: many turkish people from what we have learned do not

believe in a future with europe anymore. the few still do art hoping the connection will not be lost in the wake of the current crisis. brent: time to take you to this year's can film festival -- cannes film festival. there was an argument about what films should be allowed to compete. reporter: all the stars came out to the opening gala of the cannes film festival. adrian brody, susan sarandon were among the big names that travel to help celebrate the 70th anniversary. ♪ reporter: and this could be the year for creative women at cannes. the opening film stars to women. -- two women. ♪ >> ♪ it ain't me ♪

reporter: three strong women are in the jury. a german director and actresses. this year jury's president is a spanish woman. a before have so many female directors and competing for the award, like this woman from japan with her drama. scottish filmmaker lynn ramsay, and a feminist remake of the american civil war drama, the beguiled. nicole kidman and colin farrell play the leads. this is also the second year running that a german film has made it to the competition, a remarkable development. >> it was tough to find even a single german film, but now they

are back. last year there was a film that scored the hit, and this year, they are back in competition with into the fame. reporter: diane kruger plays a woman who'd loses her father and son in a bombing attack. the buzz has been considerable, even before its premiere. some calling it into the fate, a hard tip to win the award. in 2018, cannes will be tightening the rules so only movies screening in french theaters will be accepted. >> but the big question is whether 70 years old, a film festival can adapt to the modern world and survive for another 70 years. reporter: even the award got a makeover. it has been set with diamonds. >> ♪ diamonds are a girl's best friend ♪

reporter: whether this will turn into a victory for creative women will show on may 27 when they award the golden palm's. brent: we will take a short break, then more news and business headlines areas

brent: welcome back. you are with dw news live from berlin. donald trump has lashed out at the department of justice. that is after his decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate possible ties between trump's campaign and rush up your backed away from an earlier official response, tweeting he was the victim of what he called the greatest political witchhunt in american history. in other corruption news, brazil . the president, michel temer, has been caught on tape discussing

payments to silence a witness in a huge before bribery investigation. he denies the allegation. he is vowing not to resign and says he will fight the matter in court. reporter: a country gripped by uncertainty read this headline. a time of political turmoil looms large after a newspaper said the president had approved paying off a witness in a massive corruption scandal. responding to the allegations, temer said he won't resign and will fight in court. he has claimed he ordered payments be made to a jailed former speaker. prior to his present sentence, that guy was one of brazil's leading politicians, and the impeachment process against dilma rousseff. this has led markets to tumble at a time when brazil is struggling to recover from a deep economic crisis. >> this scenario of political

uncertainty immediately contaminates the economy and will possibly leave the economy at a dead end. decisions will be paralyzed once again. people will not invest. they will wait to see with the current crisis is. reporter: the allegations against temer are the latest development in operation carwash , a large-scale investigation into a state oil company. the probe has focused on companies offered deals with the u.s. -- with the oil giant. money ended up in politicians' pockets and party funds. the scandal has led to protests and called for new elections and the impeachment of temer. brent: brazil just impeached another president not so long ago. brazil's financial markets tumbled after the scandal.

daniel has more about that. daniel: it has been an explosive revelation. the efforts to face brazil ailing economy could be undone by the accusations. markets are taking the news seriously with the brazilian riel losing seriously. the turmoil did not end there. reporter: the sao paulo stock markets crash more than 10%, triggering an automatic suspension of trading for 30 minutes. the riel fell 5% from the dollar as investors began worrying about temer's ability to reform latin america's biggest economy. this began tumbling in 2013. the soybean and oil exporter went into freefall, from a leading economy into recession. although growth is expected to return this year. it is not only temer's political

survival in the balance, but the reserve -- the reforms to get brazil into shape are now under threat. that at a time when over 13 million people have no jobs at a rate of 12%. daniel: we want to take you now to a live news conference. u.s. president trump is speaking at the white house. let's take you there. donald trump: look at what will be happening, you will see incredible numbers with the success of general matters -- mattis and the isis situation. the numbers are staggering. the military has been successful . tomorrow i'm going to saudi arabia, going to israel, going to rome. we have the g7. we have a lot of great things going on. i hate to see anything that divide. i am fine with whatever people want to do, but we have to get

back to running this country really, really well. we have made tremendous progress in the past 100 odd days. you see job numbers, you see all of the production that is starting, plants starting to open again that haven't been opened in years, very proud of it, that is what i want to be focused on. there is no collusion. russia is fine, but whether it is russia or anybody else, my total priority, believe me is the united states of america. so thank you during much. [no audio] [speaking foreign language]

donald trump: israel is a very, very serious problem. we have not seen a problem like that in decades in terms of the kind of violence we are witnessing. the president was telling me, and i knew, that venezuela was a very wealthy country, just about the wealthiest in your neck of the woods, and how tremendous strength, in so many different ways. now it is poverty. people don't have enough to eat, have no food, there is great violence, and we will do whatever is necessary. we will work together to do whatever is necessary to help with fixing that.

i am talking on a humanitarian level. when you look at the oil reserves they have, the potential venezuela has, you wonder, why is that happening? brent: that press conference. let's talk about what we have heard. the president without being prompted by reporters, interesting, mentioned russia and said," here, there is no collusion. russia is fine. how are we supposed to read that? reporter: we saw at the beginning of the statement that he really fell back on a lot of his rhetoric from this morning, claiming this is a witchhunt. he has seemed really deflated. he seems exhausted, and is not up to his usual path and verve -- pep and verve.

i think that what we can read into this is he is tired of this entire investigation. we know that he had asked people . seeing this in media reports. he just wanted to go away. it does not want the investigation. now saying it is a witchhunt is counter to the statement that the white house had put out initially when the announcement was first made them robert mueller would be a special prosecutor -- special counsel, excuse me. what the white house and was, ok, let's go ahead with this. it will show there is nothing there. what we see here is him falling back on that rhetoric of, i know what this is about, and i will tell you right up front there is nothing there. brent: the president also said there had been tremendous progress with the economy in the united states since he took august -- office. tremendous progress.

he had mentioned lots of factories opened. maybe i am missing that. do we have numbers on that? i am trying to find information to back up what the president just told the world. reporter: we know from the job numbers that that is not quite substantiated. jobs numbers and the economy having jobs is fairly weak. there has been a lot of comparisons of the first couple of months of obama's term and throughout obama, the economy was steadily adding jobs to these first couple -- i think it is 117 days now of trump's term where the economy has not been that strong. it reflects a lot of what trump supporters believe, that he will bring jobs back to america. trump supporters really trust him. they believe in him. they believe him when he says

there was no collusion with russia, when he says this was a witchhunt. what they want if the economy stronger, and they want their jobs back. they believe him when he says this will happen. brent: briefly, where do we go from now? the president is taking his first trip abroad, going to the middle east and europe. we also know sources close to him say he is dreading this trip. is this going to be a way for him to distract everyone from what is going on in washington? what do you say? reporter: it would be a classic pr move to be doing this big trip and making lots of big proclamations while abroad on his first foreign trip, but like the dust following pigpen in the classic peanuts cartoon, this will follow him wherever he goes . the investigation is grinding on the long drawn out process.

robert mueller is very thorough in his work. this will not go away. brent: they don't call him mr. mueller for nothing. thank you very much. before we let you go, here is a reminder of the top stories. donald trump has lashed out at the department of justice after its decision to appoint a special counsel to investigate possible ties between his campaign and russia. after a short break, i will be back to take you through the day. more on russia and trump. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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