host: this is "france 24." donald trump defenends fresh payments ade during his presidential campaign. hh proteeted his innocence on tv after r the criminal convictctif two o former close allies plungd tte white house deeppr into turmool. the trade war betweennthe u.s. ann china kicks up a notch. they areeslapping new tariff hikes on each othhr, even as washington for new trade talks.

interior minister says a knife attack left to eath in a paris suburb earlier today. it was not linked to terrorism. the neck killed his mother and sister before being shot dead by police. ♪3 c1 host: we will start in washington where the white house is pushing bacc on a suggestion a plea deal struck bb donald -ptrump's former lawyer is implicating the president and a crime. trump suffered setbacks when the lawyer directly implicated trump in paying hush money to prevent two women speaking out about alleged extramarital affairs. that came minutes before trump's former campaign chief was convicted on financial crimes that is he in jail for the rest of his life.

reporter: there is nothing to see here. that is the overwhelming reaction from the trump white house after the legal double when the involving two of his former aides. y sarahecretar sanders insisted night of the cohen guilty plea or metaphor verdict implicated donnld trump. >> it hahanothing o o do wwth e president, nothing to do with his campaign or the whitt house. the president has stated on nummrous occasions he did nothing wrong.% there are no charges against just because michael cohennmade a plea deal does not mean it o president on anything. reporter: the president took th1 the airwaves to defend his actions. on fox news, he said he knew about the payments made by his former lawyer but it wasn't campaign money.. prpresident trump: they were not taken out of campaign-finance. that's a mucc bigger thing. they came from me.

i have tweeted about it. reporter: the white house may have ore explaining to do. michael cohen's% lawyer says he wants to contribute to the investigation into russian yet another potential obstacle in the trump presidency ahead of the all important midterm host: we will talk more about this. i'm joined by u.s. policy specialist dr. richard johnson frommlancaster university. i guess the big question here is how damaging you think these developments are going to be for president trump? >> this is very serious. we hhve not seennas a like this and u.s. presiiential history since the first of march, 1974, when the graad jury indicted the watergate seven and named pichard nixon as a co-conspirator. of the politics of thatttime is so different frrm now. enormously.

what d donald trump is doioing s of public opipinion. thatat is reelly a all that mat1 for him. as the president cannot be brought in front of a judge on a criminal charge ball president. is a well-esestablished presidet -- president. -- precident. there is an impeachment charge or trial held in theeunited states senate. ensure he does like it 67 u.ss senators to turn against him. host: i guess that is the big question. wing of the midterms coming up. how likely do you see that going blue towards the democrats, meeting the president my face impeachment? >> if the democrats win the house, which many thiik is a serious possibility, it will be an enormous about a pressure of democratii leadership to push forward with some kind of impeachment charge. this could beequite

frauggt for the democrats. even if they haveea majority in the house, they need a super seats.ty in the senate, 67 66 votes to remove the president from office. i don't think that is likely..61 roughly about 17 republican senators would have to vote to remove their own president. all that ight've been the case in the 970's and had moderates and even liieral republican senators, today that is much less likely. ensurr the republican base is behind him, i don't see that number of senators voting o remove him. host: many people at the united states don't understand..6 c13 1 why is trump base still behind him after what seems to be one catastrophe after another? >> it is donald trump's avenue ttesis. fifth avenue and his supporters

would still lovv him. that would help at the end of we may see that is going ttrough again. i think some oo that has to do with severely low levels of trust, , substantial segments of the popplation have in politiccl institutions. this is been occurring for a verr long time in american politics. i think donald trump is the beneficiary offthat. americans on't look at congress, or the courts with a -pgreat deal of confidence. donald trump is the sort ooy see cocommensurate anti-politician. in that context donald trump is going to continue to maintain their support. it will e interesting to see how this playy out in the coming monthh. thank you.

new increases in tariffs as they were holding high-level trade talks in washington. officials from the u.s. and china areesitting down f for the first time since june to find a way ut of the crisis. otherer: punishing each in the middle of trade talks. of tariffon $16 billion worth of goods came into effect as the u.s. and chinese officials reviewed -- for a new their discussions that re -- renewed their discussions. this shopkeeper innbeijing is not worried about the escalating trade were. >> the u.s. provoked us in the first place. let them pay the price. i believe our government is doing the right thing byy6 c13 1 imposing retaliatory tariffs. reporter: beijing said it would file a fresh omplaiit with the wto. u.s. business leaders and industry groups are voicing

their opinioos aa a ssx-day public hearing. $200 billion worth of goods not yet covered by the measures. >> i think it is a rash decision by our head, and we are caught up in economic warfare. we're just taking turns shoototg at each other. take effect next month. china has found to hit back with levies on $60 billion worth of u.s. products. the tit-for-tat tariffs are% sides. china's retaliatory levy on soybeans has had american farmers and also the chinese clients who face igher costs. the hhgherer import uties on chinese computer parts could hurt aaeeican manufacturers his own products are made in china. after the list of targetee is increasinge concern bilateral traits that will disrupt the global supply chain.

go until britain leads the european union but there is still a brexit agreement with phe eu. britain is polishing a series of notee to advise people how to protect themselves if a no deal break happenssnext march 29. that includes everything from ptockpiling drugs in the paperwork for trade. miniter. -- minister. >> the eighth of the notices is to facilltate the smooth continued functioning oo business transport infrastructtre, ressarch programs and funding that had host: we'll look at the latest on the knife attack outside paris earlier today. a man stabbed his wife ann his sister, and serioussy injured another person in the wwstern suburb of trappes. he was shot dead by police. claimedmic state group the attack but speaking the logic of the french interior minister said authorities are

not treating this as a terror attack. hhd serious psychiatric problems. for now the paris prosecutor is not qualified this as a terrorist incident. -pthe investigation will contin. " chris trapp is in france. tele's what happened. -- tell us what happened. reporter: to her from he french interior minister. pe gave that statement after speaking in trappes, about 20 kilometers southwest of parrs, about the deadll incident. members of the assailants family, saying he had come back -- gone back to his mother's house where to begin to behave threatening towardsspolice. they fired warning shots and then fired on him.

man wasconfirmed this on france's s-file system to identify and track terror suspects. he had been convicted in 2016% teerorist sympathies. he said what happens today apppaas to be a much more related to somebody event psychiatric problemssand this came aboot as a result of a ffmily dispute. throwing cold water oo the claim of responsibility from the islamic state. in terms of peoppe we have talked to who witnesssd the events, papers in this quiet neighborhood trappes here in -- here in trappes, hey said he showed no tendency towards radicaaism but he had depressive tendencies and had recently moved back to his mother's -- here in trappes home breakdown of his marriage. .-st: tell us more about trappes

it is not far from versailles. trappes has been in the headlines over the years in ffance. it ii known as ooe of the capitals of the suburbs which has had a reputation outside of france, association with povertt, and exclusion, police discrimination, unemployment, etc. people who live here say hat's an unfair impression of his -pis also currently in the procs -- whwhere people go to the papital every daday rom work. this is s a couountty whichch ha lived through various terrorist incidents in rececent yeers, not just major attacks like those on charlie hebdo magazine, but a slew of attacks ooten innolving

law and order. when things like this happen, there is a media scrum to get to the scene. in this particular case, the interior minister said it was a dispute.% assigned to terrorist incidentt. host: chris moore reporting from the westerr suburb of trappes outside paris. let's talk about m more. i'm joined by civil liberties !expert. authorities are not pursuinn this innident as a terror attack. -- he wasker did have on the terror watch list. how closely followed are these people? >> you are right to reminded viewers the fact that today

-- the antiterrorist people are ot in charge of this case. it is the common law who was being introduced to this procedure. we cannot say today there is a real terror case. of course there is this problem -- a couple of problems happened in this case. said after this attack we are behind this attack. at the same time, ww have new minister saying this case is more relevant to a common procedure, which is more -- this problem has some psychiatric problems. we are more going towards a normal procedureecase. we should reflect upon the facc,

can we take the information as daish is losing a lot of ground. now thee are trying -- it is my personal viewwon that that they1 are trying to get back on track diverse fact local happening is because of daish. pe need to be careful n putting our information together. this guy isson the terror list. it is not actually a terror list. it is more of a global file which is saying this guy has some teedencies of radicalization, but ot really a ttrror list. host: more offa watchlist to keep an eye on people who could

that he so much for taking the timeeto sseak with us. isernational viewers, daish how they refer to the islamic state group. headlines. donald trump has suspended hush money p payments during his campaign. that president protesting his innocence on tv after the criminnl conviction of former close allies plunges the white house deeper into turmoil. the trade war between the u.s. and china kicks up a notch. they are slapping new tariff hikes on each other, even as officials sit down in washingto1 for new trade talks. interior say the knife attack the left t to get in a paris suburb was not linked to terroriim. the man killed his mother and police. our ffcus report for you today comes from haiti.

somethe past 30 years,,3 c1 7000 haitian children have been adopted by foster parents in ffance alone. some of them were the victims of traffickers wwooffked their files of them up for adoption. these children are nowwlooking for information on just who the dialogic the parents were. our porters went to meet one of them. he was sent to hospital in the haitian capital hen he was a result for an infection and never saw his family in. now thanks to dna testing he is hoping to track them down. reporter: liie assranger in hi% own land, yet he was born here in haiti. one offhis last memories of this country was at the gates of this -pport-au-prince hospital. judy was only eight years old. >> his was the place where i saw my parents for the last time in myylife.

after that i went to an orphanage. reporter: without any news from his relatives, the oung boy was adopted bb a family in the netherlands. that was 4 years ago. view in my eyes it will special it is ot possible. right now i'm doing a project. this will give me and others more chances to find them. reporter: what began as his personal quest is television to help the wider asian community. -- aitiaian community.y. oththersonvinced he and their adoptton files werelen and falsified. in haiti his story is far from unique. >> how are you, children? >> are you feeling good?

repooter: she manages one of haiti's a few oophanaggs that doesn't put the children of production. 130 kids live here, saved from child trafficking. been -- he has been if you are finished since he was a baby. he was abandoned. poverty: to escape parentnts are made to believe their child is eing placed in a charitable institution for a few in fact they are sold for adoption. people doingheir this with children. phey approach the mothers in the community. they telllthem if they accept to abandon their children, they will get monon and they y will e of the see the kids agagain, whh isis not the casase. reporter: names, ages and dates are falsified by the traffickers. when the file because legal, the

childree can then be adopted in europe. prevalent that community%so outreach programs have been put in place. >> your ccildren are impootant for the future of this society. don't et people traffic them. we can help you out by putting children in school for free. reporter: a new day begins for judy filled with hopes in anticipation. foo hii round of tests he is going to the southern egion where he believes he is from. the surrounding landscapes are helping briig bacc memories. -p>> i remember our daily life with my family. father, mother, three sisters anddbrother. this is a little coming homee it is familiar for me, the mountain and the green environment. houses on the edge,,6 c13 c1 pou know, of the mountain.

yeah. reporter: he is not going to accident. %50 childrenage, were removed from their families in the 1980's. dutyped by local officiall, issgathering dna from 10 or so parents while looking for the child. >> isn't going to hurt? >> no, no. >> proud of you is your child -- how did you loss your child?? >> an organization came toto met me a and my huand.d. when he turneded 18. the dna profiles will be listed in a database in europe. they will be compared to the ones of children searching for their parents.% and maybe in the end a appy >> maybe i know her. i don't know. could be.

netherlands, i could know her. reporter: judy lives of the -- leaves a bit dissppointed. he isi has not seen anyone that looks like it could be their parents and the turnout is not aa good as he hoped for. >> today we hhd 10 regigistered people. in this village i do not have a lot of hope. i don't think i am from here but every registration ii one. that is good for the future. reporter: judy will get the results of a couple of montts. pf they are negative, people -pkeep going from village to village determined to reconnect with an entire part of his life that has been stolen away from him. johann jointly -- joins me

to look at what the papers are saying. let's start with the u.s. media. -p>> has been called the worst y of the trump presidency so far. the boston globe came up with an interesting cartoon where we see robert mueller sitting on a porch dressed as a sheriff in posters, onewanted for paul manafort and michael coehen. -pboth are crossed off eeerythig donald trump in black looking like an evil cowboy it was beginning to sweat a little. host: it seems like in life donald trump is not slated abou1 this at all -- sweating aboot this at all.% >> the is gone through great links to show he is not affected. the active more according to the new yorker but the mafia don that a politician under pressure paul manafort for not writtnged

him out -- ratting and out and criticized cohen for betraying him. he asked, whhre is the collusion? as if his name had already been cleared, which is not the ccse. the article says this workk for many trump supporters becausee61 they are all convinced all corrupt. politics. host: have been rumblinns oo a possible impeachment rocess against the president. how likely is it trump my face any legal repercussions? >> a lot of it depends on congress which is controlled by -prepublicaa lawmakers. so far, ccording to the new york times, they have not been doing their job. thee have employed a see no vil policy and ignooe trump's lies% in attacks on government institutions. that happened again yesterday. those lockers --

said they did not know bout the matter. it is like invittng trump to push he limits even further to see what he can get away with. pawmakees. protecting robert mueller's investigation and also much another investiigtion into these which cohen testified. host: another large-scale hhck with possible llrical implications has been forwarded. >> he democratic national committee says they detected attempts to have its massive voter ddtabase. that is information on over 10 million registered voters. this comes just a dayyafter microsoft revealed attempt to hack republican think tanks in the u.s., and a month after innicted 12er russians for previous hacks to the dnc. host: the midterm elections are less than three months away.

influence on that election? facebook's former chief of security says it is probably already too late. the u.s. has not taken previous attacks seriously enough and world cup of informaaion warfare if nothing is done. host: facebook reportedly fakeenews. fake accounts. will this ppoactive solution change anythinn? >> that is the question posed by the new york times. is not as faaebook. window twitter and youtube have also been removing false content. the problem is it is difficult to differentiate politically motivated groups pushing the content from a user suddenly -- simply lying on the internet

the recent steps of positive, not be enough and for this to really change we need to change understtnding of news ooline. host: you found article that aaaaaaaaaaaaaaae coming up onreel south.

- we're kindnda rolling into our 50th year right here at the broken spoke. - [darius] for the country western faithful, heaven is austin's broken spoke. - - we've had d people like bob b wills righght here, willie nelelson, georgrge strarait, dolly partrton, ernest tubb, jack feder, the list goes on and on and on. ♪ oh the key's in the mailox come on in ♪ - [darius] but for this honky tonk, every texas two-step forward pushes the bastian to the brink. - - [male] thihis street h s changeged so much in the last few y years. we're losin' a lot of the old feel of austin.. - [darius] shuffle into "honky tonk heaven,"