coming up on our team in a surprise move the defense in the bradley manning trial rested late this afternoon our team has been covering this trial from the beginning and we're at fort meade today for the courtroom drama. and egypt remains in a state of chaos while pro morsi protesters filled the streets arrest warrants were issued for muslim brotherhood leaders more on these developments and what's next for the country in turmoil. and some prison inmates in california are on a hunger strike we'll look at how many inmates are taking part and what their demands are later in today's show. it's wednesday july tenth four pm in washington d.c.

i'm sam sax you're watching our t.v. . we begin with major news in the bradley manning trial the defense has rested its case the private first class is facing twenty one charges including aiding the enemy for his role in providing wiki leaks with internal state department and military documents these documents show the afghan and iraq war logs as well as communications between state to state department employees all around the world and one day after attempting to have some of the most serious charges against bradley manning dismissed and only three days into their arguments the defense has now rested joining me now from fort meade maryland for the latest on the trial r.t. correspondent was wall. liz the defense rested its case does that come as a surprise. yes they did come as somewhat of a surprise after some of the most compelling testimony that we have heard this

afternoon third day of the defense phase of the case bradley manning's attorney david told the court today that he is resting its case this is just after a hearing problem about had witnesses that's less than half of what we were exposed it's all happening very quickly big developments in this case today sam was what was the testimony in the courtroom today that led to this i guess resting of the case who did we hear from what was it what what what kind of arguments was the defense making there. that's right sam today. he's being described as our witness in a case you are part of to tell you a little bit. is a harvard professor by then. and here now to be asked to be a key witness for the defense. he. he's an expert ah. wiki leaks has done extensive research on wiki leaks on the history of wiki leaks.

it was able to testify that the organization of wiki leaks really what their role that they play news media said you know what they were prior to these leaks. documents what's being called a document on them and dump excuse like this but these of these iraq war logs. wiki leaks was viewed as a legitimate organization they worked with the new york times they worked with the guardian and then all of a sudden after these latest. there was absolute the way that we can because it would. have to do with it a bit responded that due to. the way that the rhetoric about wiki leaks portrayed wiki leaks as the enemy and after that we the media kind of followed suit and took on that belief that they were affiliated terrorist organizations the professor said

. ok. well thanks for the update with we'll continue to stay the latest on this story. correspondent was will. as the war on whistleblowers taken a new turn to attorneys with a dallas law firm are wondering just that the offices of shulman and matthias were robbed last weekend in while three computers were stolen and filing cabinets were rummaged through oddly some of the most valuable equipment and belongings like silver bars and video equipment were left untouched that's one reason why the lawyers don't think it was a random criminal act shelmon and matthias represent two whistleblowers with the state department who recently came out alleging drug use solicitation of sex and harassment among top state department officials so is it possible that this break in in dallas has a connection to this whistleblower case let's ask one of the attorneys at this firm

i'm joined by damon mathias managing partner at showmen mathias a law firm david thanks so much for coming on face and thank you for having me let's let's start can you describe the details of the break in and why you think money wasn't a factor here. well sure i guess those are where i first heard about the about the robbery i got a phone call june the thirtieth at approximately twelve pm from the property manager that our suite have been broken into and i got there the police officers were expecting the scene what i saw was that there was about a four by three hole in the conference room wall where the suspects had entered into the suite. i went into each office miles as a particular i started with was the first one i went to every drawer had been opened and the only thing on from the office from my office particular was my

computer. and a few of those drawers are a number of valuables including the firm checkbook you know there were some bars of silver expensive so records on it i was taken there are probably four credit cards only one of those credit cards was taken surveying the rest of the office the sec receptionists computer those taken and also my partner terry shortens. the computer was taken so we saw surveillance video. of the two suspects coming and and the video that i've seen so far shows two suspects and during the building approximately eight forty pm he and weaving about fifteen minutes later. it's a male suspect in a female suspect in the comedown carrying boxes. the other video we see that it three possibly three fifty am on sunday morning the male suspect returns.

and he comes down shortly thereafter with with a box presumably with another computer. we you know we're in a high rise office tower and we have a very small fifteen hundred square foot office and we were the only suite in the entire building that was robbed you know there are numerous other offices in that build so if these if these individuals left behind the valuables then what exactly were they looking for and what might have been motivating them in your opinion were our our thought is that they were looking for information i mean you know to go to point a there were fourteen computers downstairs and a computer lab that was wide open if you're looking for money you don't discriminate and you say you don't go to the fifteen hundred square foot loftus there is a lot more expensive items in that building and it free range in the building to go take whatever they want didn't take it only our thought is that they were looking for information also they took three computers and one credit card why you would

need more than three entries into a suite to do that is beyond me and i we know now that there were three entries because there are two on camera we haven't seen the third one on camera but the credit card was used at four forty five pm on saturday so we know there was a minimum of four entry or three entries when you when you say they're looking for information. information related to this whistleblower case that might be. better for your firm. that's our most high profile case at this point obviously in june or really if the denison's case was played and in the in the media quite a bit and gathered a lot of tension and made some significant differences in washington policy saugus leto's those documents were all the tile implicated a lot of people and you know. you know it seems a little too coincidental that we take on this case and you know within a month we've already been wrong have your clients or your firm have any evidence

that something like this might happen where you have you guys been threatened at all in the past or any other weird circumstances happened. we've not been personally personally threatened obviously when we take on a case like this you've got to be you know ready for battle and obviously those those documents have a lot of impact on a lot of very important people to be expected but no we have not been personally threatened and one last question what are your client's reaction to this well you know we do represent federal agents in the federal agents are obviously appalled by what happened and they understand and you know the thing is there you know really if it ends in for instance has been a model for some for over twenty six or twenty seven years not a lot faces somebody who's seen who's seen that watch so. they're good they're

prepared they're prepared for the worst and listen you know their whistleblower documents. you know it will dilute the perpetrators you know make them blow public want to make them public obviously that's not their goal to make those those documents public you know if it was about information i think that they were searching and snooping to see what exactly we had and what we know they're going to tie this managing partner at shulman matthias law firms thank you so much thank you sam. now the egypt in military strong hold on the muslim brotherhood continues to tighten today prosecutors issued arrest warrants against muslim brotherhood leader mohamed badie as well as several other officials within the party and individuals were charged with inciting violent clashes outside the republican guard headquarters that left more than fifty people dead on monday plus hundreds more injured meanwhile the united states continues to weigh its options in egypt as one point five billion dollars in foreign aid hangs in the balance depending on whether

the u.s. government officially declares what happened in egypt last week as a military coup but if you lose out on this u.s. aid there are other partners in the middle east willing to pick up the slack on tuesday saudi arabia and the united arab emirates two of the wealthiest monarchies in the gulf pledge eight billion dollars in cash and loans to egypt's new interim government so just what sort of influence might all this outside cash have on the continuing revolution in egypt and is the united states which is routinely found itself on the wrong side of the egyptian people close to being shut out of the country altogether let's bring in our tea arabic correspondent rima. and in egypt our team of middle east bureau chief paul asleep thank you both for coming in paul i want to start with you since the violence on monday just how volatile is the country today. the situation here is incredibly volatile the focal point at the moment is on these pro morsi supporters

who are gathering in the hundreds of thousands in front of the back but i doubt we have a mosque as i speak to you we hearing word of a planned demonstration tonight they plan to march from there to the presidential palace and you remember back on monday that's way more than fifty one people were killed in what the muslim brotherhood is calling a massacre is a lot of anger of a particularly in light of at least one simply issued to today wednesday they were issued to pull the leader of the muslim brotherhood has deep. two of the party leaders some nine top muslim brotherhood officials there are currently investigations into some six hundred and fifty muslim brotherhood supporters now most of them have been released four hundred fifty of them but there are some two hundred that are still being held in custody and all of that is being perceived by the muslim brotherhood in the post morsi supporters as a crackdown on the brotherhood and it's evoking a lot of anger. all of the newly appointed prime minister so that he wants to bring

in muslim brotherhood party members into the cabinet how the muslim brotherhood reacts to this sort of offer and. you know the muslim brotherhood has rejected this outright they say that the whole process is to try and form some kind of interim cabinet an interim government is illegal and we hear the same kind of rhetoric coming from the muslim brotherhood that we've heard from the beginning and that is that they'll have nothing to do with the months thirty interim president and any kind of negotiations to try and push forward some kind of political roadmap what we are hearing from and so is that he wants to within the next fifteen days amend the constitution he says there will be some kind of referendum to ratify it within the next four months they will be parliamentary elections at the beginning of next year and a presidential poll following that it's also important to note it's not only the muslim brotherhood that's rejected it it's the alice salafist a new a party which is the second largest islamic party here has also withdrawn from

talks following monday's killings in which as i say more than fifty people were killed we're hearing also a lot of criticism from the thirty five groups of belong to be a national salvation front and of mohamed el baradei they say that they were not consulted and they say that they have real problems with some of the articles in the decree so you have a lot of political networking going on behind the scenes but a lot of anger and a lot of questions being asked as to whether or not this new. government can be say a tad with the timetable we have been given and they hope to do it within the next four days i want to bring you into this now the muslim brotherhood is player of the military in egypt is playing a dangerous game and sitting in a democratically elected government while at the same time trying to pave the way to new elections and also not. having the muslim brotherhood incite violence and start a civil war basically how does the military walk this tightrope. very very very

carefully i would say i don't know if they managed to walk it through all the way through yet we've seen signs of them not being able to completely convince all the parties to actually go ahead and listen to the new interim president and just the fact that some of the organizations and some of the people on the ground people who were the leaders of the doing thirty it's revolution are now saying that we do not want this constitutional declaration we do not agree to the new government this starts maybe a new division in the egyptian society and i would say and a lot of egyptians that i've been talking to are saying that maybe the most dangerous of all of what's happening right now is the fact that the egyptian society is becoming more and more polarized. given that this kind of happened through two thousand and eleven the military got rid of mubarak pave the way for elections which led to the muslim brotherhood when he was elections here we are now

with the military deposing the muslim brotherhood and paving the way to elections do people on the ground rima believe that the military is going to hand over civilian authority in the next few months like they promise. different feelings i would say first of all let's remember that in twenty eleven the egyptian military actually did give away the power to the elected government they actually believed the way for the elections so and they made it very strong in their made their case very strong that they do not want to take part in the political life in egypt however just the fact this is a lot of the a lot of. people are saying just the fact that they are the ones who actually took the decision to also mohamed morsi from his palace tells you that he was actually running the political life in egypt it's the army they have they took one side of the people who are out on the street we remember on june third. if we had millions

and millions of people who were anti morsi but we also had. hundreds and hundreds of thousands of people who are in support or with us things supporting democracy and they took one side of the equation and that tells you who is really running the show we need to and maybe they're not going to take quiet in the political life but they are the ones who will be making the major decisions according to many people just thirty seconds that we have left one point five billion dollars in u.s. savings in the balance other gulf states are pledging billions to help this new government what influence is this outside money having on this on the power right now in egypt. well as you can well imagine these coming in from saudi arabia the united arab emirates and kuwait's have been greeted with a lot of anger by the muslim brotherhood in the pro morsi supporters they believe that it's giving legitimacy to a government that we should not have any kind of digits in

a seat that panel to that me just say that i've been trying to gauge a lot of reaction both among pro and anti morsi supporters he said be the united states and you can there's a lot of anger and this goes across the spectrum people feeling that the u.s. backed morsy they've been backed he's overthrown they say they particularly want the united states to make a statement in terms of what is happening now they feel that very much washington is remaining on the fence and obviously you want these morsi supporters to say to have washington call it a military coup on the other hand you want them to say that it's not so the signs be pledges of support there's also a lot of anger that the united states and have some of the countries are not actually making any kind of statements and remaining on the fence. those words here because it's fun and. the kneejerk r t middle east bureau chief thank you both. now moving on to afghanistan where the u.s. military is trying to figure out what to do with a thirty four million dollars bill. base that has never really been used and will

likely never be used located in southwest afghanistan's helmand province the massive military base was completed this year it comes with a high tech operation center a theater spacious offices and anything else you need to fight a modern war in the country the only problem is the war in afghanistan is supposed to be ending in fact the base was designed to accommodate a staff of fifteen hundred but only there are fewer than four hundred headquarters level staff on it and even though military commanders said there was no use for the facility all the way back in may of two thousand and ten just three months after the army requested funding from congress it wasn't until this spring that the decided to put an end to the project probably aborting the installment of millions of dollars of computer gear but too late to do anything about the lavish furniture being delivered in crates to the ghost base with the demolition of the base likely the only option now the inspector general for afghanistan reconstruction said in

a report quote cigar is deeply troubled that the military may have spent taxpayer funds on a construction project that should have been stopped. now whether it's this costly empty base in afghanistan a war that's supposedly ending or the millions allotted to upgrade facilities at guantanamo bay a prison that's supposedly being closed one has to wonder can our military industrial complex ever just let anything go ultimately the big winner here a british contracting firm known as ambac earth in environment which secured the construction order despite objections from military commanders on the ground the big loser american taxpayers who saw another thirty four million dollars go up in smoke in a war that's already cost more than six hundred billion dollars and provided little to show for it. now on to the latest from the hunger strike in guantanamo bay where

one hundred six prisoners are now starving themselves with forty five being force fed just as the month long fast for ramadan begins this week during a senate judiciary committee hearing on tuesday the nominee to head up the f.b.i. james komi was asked what he would do about the ongoing hunger strike he danced around the question. if i were f.b.i. director i'd i don't think it's an area that would be within my. job scope but i i i don't know more about what you're describing them what do you care say it's within all of our job scopes to care about how the united states of america acts. so earlier this week u.s. district judge gladys kessler punted on issue an injunction against force feeding ruling that only the present the united states has the authority to stop the practice when asked in april why did prisoners are being force fed president obama responded by saying that he simply doesn't want these individuals to die meanwhile

several groups including the world medical association in the u.n. high commissioner for human rights have referred to gone tomo force feeding as inhumane the hunger strike that gave no has now lasted more than five months. and the hunger strike at that guantanamo isn't the only one taking place on u.s. soil this week tens of thousands of prisoners in california began a hunger strike protesting prison conditions in the state in particular isolation units housing thousands of inmates at the pelican bay facility of the one hundred and thirty three thousand inmates currently in the california state prison system nearly thirty thousand refused to eat for the second day in a row this protest is occurring at two thirds of the state's thirty three prisons as well as each of the four private prisons currently holding california inmates in other states although prison officials refused to it recognize a hunger strike until inmates have refused nine consecutive meals this is just the

latest problem for the california prison system in two thousand and eleven the supreme court ruled that the state's overcrowded prisons were a violation of the constitution's protection against cruel and unusual punishment and just last month a panel of federal judges ordered the state to immediately begin releasing prisoners to combat overcrowding. so what might this hunger strike do to alleviate some of these prison conditions that according to our own courts amount to cruel and unusual punishment joining me now is carol stricken staff attorney of legal services for prisoners with children who is actively involved in the mediating this hunger strike carol welcome thank you so carole specifically what exactly are these prisoners protesting against with this hunger strike the main issue is long term solitary confinement that california has in which can keep someone in solitary

confinement for their life the rest of their life and that's the primary. reason for the hunger strike and then there's related issues having to do with how you get into solitary confinement and what the conditions are like when you're there how does this latest issue of solitary confinement as you as you say fit in with a lot of the larger problems facing the california prison system that a lot of the courts have pointed out well some people have said that because of the severe crowding that we had. in years past that that contributed to a big agang issue which. which was dealt with wrongly by putting people in solitary confinement instead of decreasing their crowding and offering educational in their program medical services which is what we think is the direction the department of corrections and rehabilitation ought to be going this isn't the first time

california prisoners have gone on a hunger strike thousands went on strike in late two thousand and eleven but this particular story corresponds with the hunger strike on a boat guantanamo bay that's getting a lot of attention was that a motivation at all in the prisoner's decision to go on strike. no i don't think so actually the the prisoner hunger strike currently is a follow up from the one from two years ago and they announced this date of july eighth back in january they gave the department of corrections a lot of notice that unless certain changes were made they would go on hunger strike then so i think the some of coincidental the timing is worked out the sleigh based on the interactions you've had with prisoners how committed are they to this how long might this go we're now we've we've heard about thirty thousand or twenty nine thousand people have participated in it for these first few days how many of

those tens of thousands of people are likely to see this for the long haul. well i certainly don't think the majority would see it for the long haul we did have a large number begin two years ago and then it it did die down but i do think that for those prisoners who are most deeply affected by the issues there's a strong motivation to see it today yet how do prison officials deal with these hunger strikers or if this continues going for days and weeks or we're going to see the same sort of force feeding that we're seeing again coincidentally at the same time going on in guantanamo bay right now it's possible we we don't know exactly what c.d.c. or its plans are and they do have they do have protocols that would allow for speeding and it could be that we see we see that here in california does does this have anything also to do with i guess the larger drug war in just prison

overcrowding in general in the united states becoming the sort of prison state what what what kind of influence might this hunger strike have on this larger perception of america as this place that incarcerates more people than anywhere else in the world. well we do incarcerate more people than anywhere else in the world and a higher percentage of our population than any other country does and i think anything that draws attention to that fact. is it's good because we really want to be changing the out of this hunger strike is just one other way in which our prisons are not shows one of the way in which our prisons are are not being run the way that they really ought to be in might now in california we're seeing not only the hunger strike because of long term solitary confinement we're seeing. crowding is you've mentioned we're seeing valley fever which is killing prisoners in certain prisons and

a court order that they have to be moved or report recently on for sterilization of women prisoners so there's there's not a lot of we're albums going on here we're going to leave their culture at minute turning for legal services for prisoners with children but it's so much thank you and that does it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com forward slash r t america check out our website artie dot com ports fleischer said you can also follow me on twitter at sam sachs stay tune prime interest is next. world. science technology innovation all the latest developments from around russia we've got the future of coverage. what defines a country's success. faceless figures of economic growth. for a factual standard of living.

good afternoon welcome to prime interest i'm bob english here in washington d.c. here are the stories we're telling today to taper or not to taper that is a question being asked at the federal reserve so do we stop printing eighty five billion dollars per month or not and guess what today we learned that half the. members want to end it not even taper by year end we'll talk with jim rickards about this and the big trouble in china in a bit. and the first non-blank institutions to be named too big to fail was announced today actually the term is six week guess who they are ai g. and g. who both required massive bailouts during the financial crisis will do about this with our t.v. producer rachel later in the show finally seems a new living wage law here in d.c. has wal-mart threatening to tear down there.