brent: this is "dw news," lifetime from berlin --live from berlin. it wasn't me -- senior top administration officials are lining up to deny they wrote the "new york times" article. evenen vice president mike pence issues of public denial as the hunt for the author intensifies. the bombshell article talks of insider efforts to thwart the president's agenda. trump has called it treason. also coming up, a rockstar reception for italy's far right

interior minister matteo salvini. he took the country's populist coalition into power. we will look at the government's first 100 days in office. german police move into clear protesters from a forest that is to be cut down to make way for a coal mine. protesters are vowing they will keep up the battle to protect the trees. i'm brent goff. good to have you with us. tonight, a whodunit inside the white house. members of the trump administration are coming forward to say they were not behind yesterday's "new york times" article. in an op-ed piece in the paper, someone claiming to be a senior official says that aids are working to thjwart the

agenda. reporter: "i am part of the resistance inside the trump administration," the headline claims. "i work for the president, but like-minded colleagues and i have avowed to thwart parts of his agenda." "the new yorkrk tis has described the writer as an official in the government. pres. trump: is the feeling "new york times" has an anonymous editorial -- anonymous, can y yu believe it -- meaning gutless editorial. our poll numbers are through the roof, and nobody is going to come close to beating me in 2020 because of what we have done. reporter: trump followed this up with a tweet.

"does the so-called senior administration official really exist, for is it just the feeling new york times with another phony source,", asked. "if the gutless person does exist, the times must foror national security group this is turn him or her over at once." while some are scrambling for clues as to the author's identity, others want to focus on the message. >> i think the alarming part of the op-ed is there is someone in the white house who is very afraid t that our nationon is bg damaged on a daily basis. i think we should take that very seriously. this is not a warning from a liberal democrat. this is a warning from someone donald trump hired to work in the white house who is revealing information that is very oubling. reporter: americans are divided. should an insider resistance be commended or condemned? brent: the trump presidency and

america's divisions are things that people in germany are watching with growing concern. a new survey puts donald trump at the top of a list of things that people in germany worry about. let's go through the numbers for you. more than two thirds strongly fear that donald trump's policies -- 69% -- are making the world a less stable place. the consequences of immigration are playing on german minds. trump has talked about immigration in germany. 63% say they feel overwhelmed by migrants, that germany is being overrun by refugees. the same percentage fear rising tensions due to foreigners. germans don't have much confidence in their political leaders, either. 61% have especially concerned that lawmakers are not up to the job. that is a poor report card for

lawmakers. one of those lawmakers is joining me tonight at the big table. good to have you on the show. you are a member of the german parliament, the social democratic party. you are a member of the german -american parliamentary friendship group. looking at what is happening in washington, d.c., you agree? is the biggest fear factor in the country right now the presidency of donald trump? >> if you ask those questions and you get those answers, it is. we have a lot of surveys these days, what people fear, and what they all have in common is a sense of insecurity for the future. if the president of the united states is not too foreseeable for a german citizen, they might be fearful because the united states is the most important country in the world. brent: let's look at that letter that appeared yesterday in "the new york times," the anonymous

letter. have you been able to speak to anyone in washington, d c, about this letter? >> no, notot yet. i will be in do you see at the end of them -- in do you see -- in d.c. at the end of the month. it's through realistically like it could be that way. it is not like a fantasy we don't believe. that is might be what happened. brent: you think this letter -- it is a description of the realitity inside the white hous? >> i would say it could be the reality, and that it is good enough to scare people off the white house in the united states. the country the united states is very divided. it was divided before his presidency, but now this division seems to be carried into the administration and it is getting messy. brent: do you think we're looking at an attempt to topple the u.s. president? >> i've no idea.

it is not a business of a member of parliament of a foreign country to talk to speculate the future of the president. brent: what do you see? germany is a major ally to the united states, regardless of what the u.s. president has said. still one of the most important allies for the united states. what to you see happening in washington? >> i am trying not to make it a subject between the united states and germany. i'm trying to look at it as a crisis in liberal democracies generally. we are part of the west. the united states is more or less home of the west, but germany certainly is part of the west. we are struggling with our old systems come with the fear, as the survey shows, of the population. this president at the beginning was the sign of those fears, but now his actions could be part of the story that leads t to fear. germany is not free of that.

we don't have a different system. the election system works a little differently. we have guys in our parliament who could be fearful as well. if you look at them from the united states point of view. talking about right-wing populists -- brent: the afd -- would you say the afd in this country, the far right party that is now the largest opposition force in the national parliament, would you say that that party has a lot of the drive and support from the rhetoric that has come across the atlantic from donald trump? >> actually, the opposite. what people saw in germany, the devastating effect donald trump has come a lot of support got lost for the afd. but the roots, the cause of people protesting, they might be comparable. afd is not comparable to the united states wa.

brent: member of the german-american proble -- parliamentary friendship we will be talking to you later in the day. >> thank you very much. brent: here are some of the other stories making headlines around the world. germany's foreign has included a trip to turkey aimed at rebuilding a strained relationship. his mission was to pave the way for a state visit to germany by erdogan this month and to secure the release of seven german citizens detained in turkey on political grounds. britain has told the un security council has clear evidence that moscow was behind the poisoning of a russian axis by last march. it comes a day after the u.k. announced attended murder charges against two russians suspected of carrying out the attack. british allies have issued a joint statement backing the assessment. moscow has denied any involvement. italian prosecutors have placed

20 people under investigation in connection with the bridge collapsed that killed dozens of people in gegenoa last month. the group includes top managers at the company that opoperates e bridge. the suspects couldld face chargs of manslauaughter f for faing to mply with safety regulations. staying in italy, the populist coalition government has been in office for almost 100 days. one of the coalition partners is the league, headed by interior minister matteo salvini. he has taken a hard line against migrants and is proving popular. polls indicate that support for his party has doubled since the election in march. critics say migration is not the cause of italy's problems, and they fear that the populists are ill-equipped to navigate the country's economic waters. max hofmann reports from northern italy. reporter: the salvini show is about to start after hours of waiting.

such enthusiasm begs the question -- is this really the interior minister of italy, or a popstar? it was founded close to where we are right now, and it has been hosting this festival for many years now. this is classic home turf for matteo salvini, and you can tell. people here absolutely adore him . his fans appear satisfied with what he has done in the first 100 days in office, especially on migration. >> why should i be disappointed? he is trying to protect italy and give us better politics compared to before. >> we believe in salvini and what he is doing. this could be a revolution for italy. a lot of things are moving forward, and he is keeping his promises. >> no surprise that his promises on migration are a big part of the salvini show.

outside the populist level, many are getting nervous about what the new government is actually achieving, especially in the financial markets. >> there are people who are against us. our government is free and independent from the multinationals, from big finance, from the banking powers both international and european. we have no fears. the italian economy is sound, the italian business is sound. max: most economists disagree, insisting that italy is in trouble. but facts don't seem to get in the way of salvini's success. across the river from the festival, people are trying to do something about that. a local ngo has organized a protest picnic. they are sick of their new government claiming that migration is responsible for everything. >> in reality, italy's problems

lie elsewhere. we have high youth unemployment, and many people have temporary jobs. there are very few young people who get permanent contracts. we have a high poverty rate in relative and absolute terms. max: it is no surprise that the event on this side of the river is the only one to host some migrants. on the other side, the salvini show is drawing to a close. the interior minister's folksy, sometimes funny demeanor is one of the reasons he has managed to govern and gain in popularity. he admits when pressed that it has not all been fun and games. mr. salvini: it is not easy. italy is a big country. we have important challenges. but i was tired of being in the opposition. max: and the opposition, the

answers to conduct problems are often easier. salvini has survived the first 100 days in power unscathed, but soon he will have to show if he can actually govern. brent: from the stage to the big table, i'm joined by a fellow of the oxford university center for international studies. good to have you on the show. when we look at the far right party, when we look at matteo salvini, they can be proud of the fact that they doubled their approval ratings in 100 days in office. how have they done that? >> they went from 17 to 34%. impressive, absolutely. they did that by focusing on managing perceptions rather than dealing with reality. there are two keywords, fear and identity. fear -- they developed a whole discourse that focuses on security, on crime. that is fascinating, given the

fact that mr. salvini is in charge of the interior ministry, and the ministry released data last month showing that all types of crimes in italy have been decreasing for the last five years. yet the story is one of rampant crime. the other idea is identity, that migrants are coming, taking over the country, destroying the country in cultural terms. yet again, dadata releasesed bye ministryry shows that the number of arrivals of migrants and refugees in italy has been declining. brent: you are dealing with facts, and if the facts are that way, is it the media's fault in italy? are they not reporting the facts to the italian people? is that why there is this misperception you are talking about? matteo: no, the media in my view is like and you other profession, good ones and not so good ones. in that respect we have to give credit to mr. salvini for being skillful -- brent: well, developing a

narrative, that is nice, that is political speech for telling a lie. he is a good show man, but alsoo gogood at defending the facts. matteo: he doesn't even bend -- also good at bending the facts. matteo: he doesn't even bend them. brent: do they even talk about the actual plans for tackling these problems? matteo: no, there is a lot of chaos and proposals left and right. i don't see any clear plans. this probably does not matter, because you would expect this government to be able to implement only a minimal amount of those proposals that are good for a number of reasons. primarily because the two main cycle does, the five star movement and delete, have different views -- brent: they are strange bedfellows. matteo: absolutely. when it comes to implement

policies, they will struggle. second, brussels won't let them spend all the money they want to spend. thirdly, the numbers do not add up. and you look at their proposals, there is not money to pay for what they want to do. having said that, what we have is a situation where there are technocrats from independent technocrats, the current foreign minister and finance minister. they do not likike to his party. each one of them has -- do not belong to his party. each one of them has a specific job. managing the relationship with the european union and containing the most anti-european -- brent: what about that. italy's shift to the far right, what does that mean for the european union? matteo: indymedia terms i don't think it is at it -- in immediate terms i don't think it is a big problem because a lot of what is coming out of rome is rhetoric. the key pillars of foreign-policy have not changed. where things could change,

although it is 2019, the league does bring a lot of mp's to the parliament, and the alliance could contribute to a eurosceptic, xenophobe contingent there. brent: all right, we appreciate your being on the show tonight and sharing your insights. matteo: thank you. brent: the united states is poised to move ahead with another round of tariffs on, you guessed it, chinese imports. >> this time it is a 25% levy on $200 billion worth of goods. it would be the latest measure in a dispute that is heading businesses around the world, including american farmers, many of whom voted for president trump. now u.s. meat, oranges, and cotton are facing

counter-tariffs. they are already forced to accept aid from the government. now their life could become more difficult. reporter: this far face a bright -- this farm i in virginia f faa bright future thanks to china. they wanted to buy beef in huge quantities. that is what they told him when he went on a business of to -- sponsored by the u.s. government to beijing. >> potential buyers were excited. they wanted to sign a contract and make a deal that day. reporter: that changed when china imposed retaliatory tataffs on amemerican products over the summer. after the u.s. imposed its tariffs, china imposed import duties on beef and prefers to buy elsewhere, like in canada. the farmers there are the winners of the u.s. trade dispute. it is not just china.

european countries are increasingly buying meat, grain, and other agricultural products. the reasason is simplple.. > the tariffsfs placed on u.. corn and that would be the main driver that would make u.s. court more expensive than canadian court. reporter: the family has passed down its farm from one generation to the next. now it is under threat fromm ththose tariffs. >> to think it could come to an end, and the fact that it would end fifth-generation come is hard to swallow sometimes. reporter: the family hopes that the u.s. government can come to an agreement on tariffs with trading partners as quickly as possible. christoph: crypto currencies have fallen sharply for the second day in a row. bitcoin dropped 10%, extending a slump driving down rival crypto currencies. bitcoin accounts for more than half of the currency market.

several financial firms have pulled back on crypto currencies due to concerns about government efforts to step up oversight of the sector. for more, let's bring in our man on wall street, jens korte. give us more background on what is going on. jens: well, one of the main reasons for this current crisis of crypto currencies comes from goldman sachs. the u.s. bank actually decided to drop plans to start the trading desk on crypto currencies, and that really got those coins going south just within 24 hours. within two trading sessions, bitcoins were down 12%. another crypto currency got hit even harder by about 20% within 24 hours. christoph: there are times when

many said crypto currencies are the next big thing in finance. are they still saying that? jens: if we look back pretty much a year ago, bitcoinins stod at $4000 apiece. then they went almost $20,000 by christmas. then the hyepe started to fade and we are at a good $6,000. the hype is to a certain degree over, but that does not mean the end of crypto currencies. they are trying out ways to deal with crypto currencies. it is not the end, but the hype has finished quite a bit in the past couple months already. christoph: bitcoin and other currencies under pressure. jens korte reporting from wall street. back to brent and some very

dedicated activists. brent: we will take you to western germany, where there is a clash with environmental activists over the future of a forest. police moved to secure the forest ahead of its coming out next month, but environmentalists are starting with a color program of massive civil disobedience. it contains centuries-old beech and oaktree's and a protected species of bat. reporter: their mission is to cut down germany's most controversial woodland. the energy giant wants to clear the remaining timber to make way for open-cast coal mining. there is not much left of the forest. the next part of the operation is due in a few weeks time. but there is huge opposition. a few squatters began to protest

six years ag. now more than 100 environmental activists are living here in three houses, determined to save the forest. several hundred police officers moved into the forest in order to expel dozens of activists and protesters who have been living here for years. they live here in three houses in order to protect the forests and eight keep resisting. most of the squatters prefer not to give their names. >> this force would not be here without the protests the last six years. reporter: a few activists stand for before the police and clearance workers. this man out on a few tree trunks for hours before being forcibly removed. the several activists have come here from all around germany. >> but we have just seen

dragging someone by the hair, that is shocking treatment for someone here for a good cause. it leaves me feeling sad and lost for words. reporter: curiosity brought medical students to the forrester week ago. but she has been so affected by what she has seen that she wants to stay as long as it takes to save the force. another student sees it the same way. >> this mine is the biggest source of co2 in europe. germany always says it is working to protect the environment, but it ultimately does nothing. instead, an ancient forest is being cut down. this madness w will only exacerbate the catastrophe of climate change. reporter: in june, the german government convened a commission to come up with a timetable by the end of the year for phasing out cold. that could unravel. several members are threatening to resign if rwe goes ahead with

clearing the forest next month. activists are still hoping to persuade rwe to give up on cutting dodown the fororest, bue company is sticking to its plans. the clearance teams and erik lamela are set to move in. -- and erik lamela are set to move in. -- and there equipment are set to move in. brent: showbiz news and a big loss for hollywood. actor burt reynolds has died at age 82. this is how a lot of us will remember him. he rose to fame in the 1970's and won acclaim for his performance in "deliverance," " smokey and the bandit," and "boogie nights," but he is perhaps best known for this photograph, posing nude -- there we go -- on the pages of " cosmopolitan" in 1972. wasn't that the year you were born, christoph? he was the top grossing start every year from 1978 through 1982.

here is a reminder of the top storieies we are following. ththe hunt is onon to find out h senior administration official wrote the anonymous "new york times" article that claims thatt age are woworking to frustrate trump's agenda inside the white house. the president has called the article treason and the author gutless full that you are watching "dw news" from berlin. after a short break, i will take you through the day. stick around for that. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org]

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and he is expected lines on this. they say your social life. real real. says that. people within the administration trying trying to set the agenda. in the center. changing the plays