i think up on our t.v. congress the set to include even more sanctions on russia how well that will it all up back u.s. russia relations russian president vladimir putin ways then. and the united states flop think on members of a neural government and business away love but if they backfire for the u.s. economy. then was a blowers that gather in washington d.c. celebrating their achievements in the current political climate will talk with one whistleblower who paid the price for his revelation. it's thursday july twenty seventh four pm in washington d.c.

i'm actually banks and you're watching our team america we start with a new round of sanctions that congress is set to impose on russia this time the bill targets russia's major mining on energy and defense industries moscow has called the move extremely cynical and a legal artie's roman casa rob has more following the latest bilateral trade and cooperation updates between finland and or russia the journalists quickly switch to the latest news coming out of four washington where the u.s. senate has been discussing another round of sanctions against a russia now those according to russian president vladimir putin are not only extremely cynical but they're also illegal from the point of view of international law let's have a sense that. these sanctions are completely illegal but it's there they go against international law and the rules of the world trade organization is that we're being very very. good at some point we will have to respond with them and you can always

put up with such an attitude so would you. now the russian leader also expressed regret that russian u.s. relations. have been sacrificed in serial politics and quarrels with then the american establishments and here's what he said about that which insurance through it's very disappointing that russia u.s. relations are sacrificed internal american issue on your question whether we are sorry about it i can say we are because if we had acted together we would so very pressing issues effectively and which concern both russian and american people. a lot of their putin's counterpart the presidents of finland also echoed the sentiments of their russian leader and cold on the us to have a dialogue and not to have a unilateral decisions made against russia and that that is also the sentiments of

with other european leaders as well now as r.t. is roman cossar of reporting. on investor william browder has been testifying in congress years ago he lobbied for the first set of anti russian think chance as testimony of part of the investigation into moscow's alleging meddling in the us he loved and he has given you a version of the emperor myth meeting between team trump and a russian lawyer articulate moppin has the story if we were to believe everything we heard from bill browder in his testimony before congress we would think that russia and vladimir putin in particular were almost the source of all evil in the world let's take a listen to what was said before the senate judiciary committee it turned out that in putin's russia there are no good guys no empathy and no morals to threaten me with death they threaten me with kidnapping in the face of evil i don't think there's any other way to characterize black mirror putin the russians will do anything they can get away with and even stuff they can't get away with to arrest

kidnap torture and kill just to take people's properties away the russians are liars so who is bill browder and why is he being considered an expert on iraq. in testimony to the u.s. congress well bill browder was a hedge fund investor doing lots of big business in russia in the early two thousand this point he's a wanted man charged with tax fraud in russia furthermore he was key in lobbying for the passing of sanctions against russia magnitsky act put forward in two thousand and thirteen so here's where russian lawyer and italia vessel need sky comes in she met with trump's team last year to discuss these anti russian sanctions the magnitsky act and there are many allegations about that meeting she came up throughout the hearing and was pretty much a central figure in the testimony of those two russian lawyers name to tell us when it's going to be so. then it will this guy. natalia natalia lynette's guy and i just go and tell you i tried it over lindsey

graham's pronunciation they're now in his testimony bill browder just scribed her as an agent of the russian government saying that she worked with the security services had all kinds of connections almost as if she were working directly for president vladimir putin himself now what did she say in response to mr broder while she never had a chance to respond she hasn't gotten to testify now speaking to r t she says she is perfectly willing to go before the committee and present her side of the story she says she has no connection to russian authorities or the russian government security services or anything like that she is simply a lawyer doing her job this is what she had to say when speaking directly to us here at r.t. . as a person who talks about in his statements and also ready to testify and prove to anyone in the united states or any other country that mr browder is telling myself i'm ready to defend my good name in any court but knowing the negative attitude towards russia and is prevalent among american city knowing their hatred towards

their own president i'm not sure the u.s. is ready to give me that chance if we follow the democratic process that they love so much we will need to have a public. hewing and if every side a chance to present their case naturally every participant must be guaranteed safety now as you just heard she doesn't think she'll be given an opportunity to present her views to congress one looks at the recent hearings on russia they all seem to be presenting a specific narrative and her version of events doesn't exactly fit with what congress is trying to present to the public. another nation the u.s. just announced sanctions against is venice away a lot as washington has called on the government of the south american nation to cancel this weekend's constitutional reform process which they claim deters the democratic order while sunday's vote for a constituent assembly and been a swale of drawing closer president nicolas maduro sat down for an exclusive enter view with r.t. spanish and the capital caracas r.t. correspondent i have her brings us what you need to know about the election and my

comments as a vote approaches washington hasn't wavered from its interference in venezuela's internal political process this week the trumpet ministration announced new sanctions against thirteen top government officials as a warning to the country to not continue with its constitutional procedure speaking to our team president nicolas maduro stood up to that escalation but the put it in his way that he's ready for any snow really i think it's insane for the extreme right in the u.s. to be talking of a blockade against the. funds they've already started in direct blockade against the financial systems this was the cause of the crisis over the past three years but we have economic strength in venezuela always pays what to use and fulfills its responsibilities in two thousand and seventeen two thousand and eighteen and two thousand and nineteen country will continue. meanwhile three people have died after the opposition called for a forty eight hour strike in protest of sunday's vote during which they blocked

streets and set up barricades and blocking venezuelans from going to work even if they wanted to the death to bring the toll since this round of violent demonstrations began to one hundred six dead in four months that number includes some killed by state forces as well as several people lynched by the opposition for supporting the government and others killed as a result of chaos in the streets according to president maduro the nature of these demonstrations is nothing new in fact violence has been the opposition strategy for years. i think your position has been doing this for eighteen use first against hugo chavez. the past will use against me there's no other way to resolve conflicts in the country than through democracy and elections in may for three and a half weeks or trying to establish direct dialogue with the opposition i wanted to include them in parliament but they refused it's a period of political isolation and they drifted into right wing radicalism they were imprisoned by a strategy of violence and ignoring those who voted for. sunday's election will mark the first time venezuela has held

a constituent assembly vote since one thousand nine hundred nine when former president hu go chavez called for one following his democratic takeover of the government in the fall of aryan revolution and while western media would have you believe madeira has launched a dictatorial power grab the fact is venezuela's constitution grants the president authority to call for elections to select the assembly which is tasked with updating the constitution and judicial system but himself will not rewrite the constitution in fact all assembly candidates are independent rather than appointed by parties have of the members will be elected locally here's how ya was sanctioned by the trump administration this week in fact broke down how the other half would be selected in an interview with telus tours empire files you're the sync with the policy and. then when that's a good. thing which is to towards those that are how old is the system. and that's. because most of you have no god its role

as. you know who to whom i go to become personally because. although we constantly hear in the media that venezuela is a dictatorship just over a year after this month's assembly voted elections for a new president will be held in october twenty teen recall the words of former u.s. president jimmy carter who in two thousand and twelve declared of the ninety two elections that we've monitored i would say that the election process in venezuela is the best in the world with that in mind as. yourself why the opposition can't bring itself to participate in that process and run candidates for the assembly or successfully pre-press for president or are they waiting for their defenders in the north while washington claims that want to protect venezuelan democracy just last week cia director mike pompei a trumpeted he was quote hopeful that there can be a transition in venezuela and the cia we the cia is doing its best to understand

the dynamic there with the agency's history of overthrowing governments around the world one may wonder why the only program the opposition seems capable of offering venezuelans destabilisation and washington on your part until r.t. this morning dozens of demonstrators gathered outside the superior court of washington d.c. to rally against what they say is the criminalize ation of dissent participants came together ahead of a motion to dismiss the charges being brought against more than two hundred protesters who had been arrested and charged at the hands of the metropolitan police department on inauguration day for more r t spoke with organizers from the events of the fact that people were cattlemen mass arrested brutally is one thing and then after that the u.s. attorney's office said down and indict everyone on the ice with blanket charges each of these over two hundred people or approximately two hundred people is charged with felonies each of which carries a maximum penalty of seventy five years in prison and taken together that adds up to fifteen thousand years of human life the indictment that the prosecutor put

together doesn't actually allege any individual person engaged in any activity that broke any of these lines and the government is quite frankly trying to change the definition of first amendment protest rights to basically mean you can only protest where and when we find it convenient and if you do anything else you know we will arrest you and we'll charge you with the felony potentially the most that they were able to really produce was just video reel of the entire protest and for many of these defendants the government is not really made an attempt to show individualized or particular allies. guilt or participation in any sort of alleged . prime if these go through then a lot of people say why would overturn a protest i don't even have to be doing something wrong to be charged with a felony in a country that allegedly has free speech and people think they could be charged if only simply for standing in a crowd totally peacefully exercising their constitutional rights that really changes the entire landscape of what it means to have have a free right to free speech and to have the opportunity to be able to to protest most of the people who are here two hundred people who have you know been charged

two hundred plus people have been charged understand that it's bigger than them they just unfortunately have to be the people that bring this to late as whistleblowers like edward snowden and julian aside have made headlines around the world the debate remains on whether they're heroes and patriots or traders are to talk to us we sat in on the national what's of lower appreciation day meeting today and has more on today's conference was actually a celebration for the first whistle blower law that went into effect on july thirtieth of this seven hundred seventy eight and according to those at the meeting today including senator chuck grassley it was something very important to our forefathers senator grassley who's the chairman of the senate with the blower protection caucus said because of whistleblowers more than fifty three billion of taxpayer dollars has been recovered because of insiders it's now known that more than five hundred eighty million was lost to corporate fraud sooner grassley says whistle blowers are fired blacklisted and harassed when they're merely trying to do

what's right he says because of those willing to speak up that lists cover that some vets were waiting up to two years to see a doctor and all many won't know the sacrifices whistleblowers me to do what they feel is their duty to serve their country senator grassley says they're punished and they retaliate or seem to walk free most of the reward laws began in one thousand nine hundred one known as the lacy act initially encouraging the detection and reporting of illegal wildlife trafficking insiders with vital information or compensated we need times according to grassley it's. quite the opposite for today's whistle blowers he seeking out protection for whistleblowers inside intelligence agencies in this new working to seek protection for whistleblowers within the iraqis those with access to classified information are encouraged to work with the inspector general's office to release information safely and honestly and senator grassley says he still thinks there needs to be a rose garden ceremony for whistleblowers something that hasn't quite caught on among his colleagues in washington it's not just weeks. they continue this

conversation i am now joined by a former cia analyst and also blower john kiriakou thank you so much for joining us john now here why does the the whistleblower some of that's called civil and human rights why is that important oh it's important for a number of reasons first of all whistleblowers really to me are the protectors of democracy there's a legal definition of whistle blowing it's bringing to light any evidence of waste fraud abuse illegality or threats to the public health or public safety those people should be celebrated not prosecuted and you know it's been a dark eight years under president obama it was a almost equally dark years under president bush before him whistleblowers are having a tough time under president trump already in the short period of time that he's been president so to have everybody together in this historic room in a historic building and then to have addresses by senator grassley and senator

wyden and for congressman it's a big deal whistleblowing is mainstreaming and i think word is finally getting out there that this is the patriotic thing to do if you see waste fraud abuse or illegality you have to say something like you said i was a blowers all the dark years during the obama administration we're now under the trump administration do you believe that whistleblower laws are going to change well if whistleblower laws do change and i think they will eventually they have to start from the ground up there's a movement now being spearheaded by the libertarian party here. in the united states to change whistleblower protection laws at the state and local level and the libertarians at least are hoping that once people realize the value of whistleblowers to democracy to the economy and then certainly to the national security that those laws will filter up to the federal level and eventually will have protections at that level you know earlier you said whistleblower should be praised and usually we see them persecuted now one of the events at today's summit

was there was a blogger legislative campaigns discussing protections for a whistleblower so in your opinion what kind of protections do whistleblowers need the most well there are already some protections not full protections the problem with the current was a blower protection law here in the states is that national security whistleblowers are exempt from its coverage so if you are with the cia n.s.a. the f.b.i. d.o.d. or any of its components and you blow the whistle on something that you see that's illegal the chances are that you will be persecuted you will be prosecuted there are no protections there that is the most important thing that has to change. some of the important roles that was the players whistle blowers play in our society oh sure one of the speakers at the conference today was bradley burke infeld most americans don't have any idea who brad burke infeld is but what he did was he single handedly brought down banking secrecy laws around the world and by doing

that brought down money laundering he worked in a senior position at u.b.s. in switzerland he saw that american citizens were parking literally billions of dollars in switzerland so that they didn't have to pay taxes on that money or they were using their billions of dollars to launder in order to send to other places around the world just to keep the money away from uncle sam he blew the whistle he was prosecuted here in the united states for allegedly violating banking secrecy laws but. in the end he won a one hundred four million dollars settlement from the i.r.s. wow now this is information that the public definitely it would want to know but for instance when it comes to our whistleblowers usually. citizens here in america they side more with the government like this is information that should be hidden why are you telling us this so in your opinion why are whistleblowers not praise but persecuted even from their own citizens i think the problem is that most

americans don't really understand the role of whistleblowers and it's not just americans i did some work recently with the greek government helping the greek government write a new whistleblower protection law and i speak greek but there's no greek word for whistleblower so when i was explaining to the minister of justice what a whistleblower was he responded oh you mean a snitch and i said no i don't mean a snitch and so what we ended up coming up with was trustee of the public good and i think that's really what it was a blower is. so how can you you're you're a former it was a blower and there are obviously a few others out there but how can you guys band together to change that view that negative well yes that's what today was about today was about bringing everybody together it wasn't just public sector or private sector or national security it was everybody you know i've read about so many of these whistleblowers over the years and i never had the opportunity to meet them and today for the very first time we

were all in the same room at the same time talking about the same issues so now it's up to us it's incumbent on us really to make sure that word gets out we have to write we have to speak we have to blog we have to talk to our elected officials and we have to make sure that americans understand like i said a few minutes ago that whistleblowers help to protect democracy now during today's summit and your opinion what was the most important issue that was brought up well i think the most important issue was the fact that so many important members of congress showed up and spoke and not just spoke but expressed their wholehearted support i've actually never seen that happen before you know senator grassley has always been great and senator wyden has always been great but to have them come in today and say sure this is all great it's great that we're here together but what we're going to do is to propose new legislation and if we can't do it for all of government we're going to do it for one agency or department at a time we've got protections now for national security agencies now we're going to

the i.r.s. and we're going to start protecting i.r.s. employees eventually the law is going to get around to national security so this is nothing but good and we have about a minute left i just want to touch on i was so blower edward snowden what do you think his outcome is going to be what's going to happen with him you know i'm glad that ed snowden is as patient as he is i'm i'm on record from from the very beginning as saying that i believe snowden is a is a national hero a bonafide american hero because if it hadn't been for ed snowden we would. had no idea that our government was spying on us now that's a violation of the law and it's even a violation of n.s.a.'s charter well what happened when ed snowden went public immediately he was vilified that's very typical of national security whistleblowers it's the press and the american people tend to not focus on the information that has been revealed instead they focus on the whistleblower himself what did he do

wrong what brand of eyeglasses does he wear why is he and russia why is he running to iceland or ecuador or cube or wherever it is they were alleging that he was running that's not the issue the issue is he exposed waste fraud abuse and illegality and that's what we should be focused on so the fact that snowden has been so patient and has not demanded to come home i think has been to his benefit. i've urged him publicly and privately to not come home not until he has a deal in place he is not a criminal he is he is an american patriot and i think when he finally does come home he should be treated as a painter brought up a great point a lot of the times when it comes to these little blowers the attention goes on them and not the information that they're giving to the public thank you so much for this insight that was former cia it was a blower john kerry aka thank you so much again. but the bus is coming up next here in r t america. joins us for a preview of what's ahead hi there sumon hey ashley well coming up on us we're

going to go to sin city where bianca fish sheeny is in las vegas to examine bitcoins relationship to the dark web will the crackdown on illegal online activity cool the crypto currencies rise plus we all wish we got in on bitcoin when it was ten cents to the dollar instead of well two thousand my guess tells us about the pioneers who got rich and who lost it all speaking of rich we had a new world's richest man well at least for a little bit there was a wild trading day that dethrone bill gates before putting him back on the pedestal we'll tell you what happened that's all coming up all right simone sounds like a pack show thanks so much well that does the for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america also check out our website our two dot com ports slash america you can also follow me on twitter and actually banks underscore r t and don't forget to question more.

every. period. so you can get it on the old. according to josh. from iraq. a trial that we have spent countless hours for and through documents that tell the story. corporate media really uses to talk about these foreigners. i'm not a clear picture about how disturbing our corporate. these are stories that you know no. i might have torn your whole marriage. work.

if you don't see how everyone in the media is trying to be all cool and lefty politically right now then just listen to this cosmopolitan or cars mo is a magazine that's been around in america since one thousand nine hundred six it started out as a family magazine but in the one nine hundred sixty s. it became a women's magazine it's largely focused on lighter information like celebrities beauty and fashion tips or relationship advice since the one nine hundred sixty s. cosmos has always had a young hot chick on their cover showing her cleavage like always every single cover has pretty much had boobs on it the magazine is also famous for its receipt articles like how to be good at oral sex or how to make your boobs look great so you can score that man you want to the point where over the years cosmos received

a lot of criticism for its racy nature grocery stores have covered it up in their aisles because it's so sexually explicit and it's also received criticism for just bad reporting for instance in one thousand nine hundred eight they ran a feature article claiming women had no reason to worry about hiv meaning at the height of the aids crisis because mo magazine was giving out fake news so because no has made its brand all about being edgy and how hot to sell magazines in lieu of presenting actual usable information so now what kind of articles are they writing well now they just read an article entitled sixty non-sexual things that are one hundred times how they are then facts so edgy right so hot so cool and the very first item on their list of things that are hotter than. sex there is no one. rachel maddow telling me everything is going to be ok for real i don't like

t.v. seriously cosmopolitan magazine out publication that has built its reputation on being race he now says that rachel maddow saying everything is going to be all right is hotter then sex hotter than sex being reassured by a lefty t.v. host reading a teleprompter that everything is ok that's supposed to be hotter than sex so to me that's just the most ridiculous lee obvious proof of what's supposed to be cool and edgy these days and it's clearly being as lefty as possible the writer of this insanely stupid article is just trying to be cool that's what's trendy right now so that's what they'll do never mind if it's excruciating lee embarrassingly stupid as long as it's cool that's all that matters this article should have never made it past the editor's desk but the fact that it did it speaks volumes about how low the

media is willing to think just to pander to the left behind mind and to me there's nothing hard about that. the series of. the experience. that you get out of the old. according to josh. probably for the wrong.

i'm tom hartman and i'll give you what the mainstream media can't help big picture we'll go deeper investigate and debate all so you can get the big picture. i've got to do just that and you're watching all of. us swashing. people have got to know whether or not fair present or support american people deserve to know when difference at this point does it may must guard against the military industrial complex or we shall never know gold cannot. or should know that there is still my generation yet we do what we must do with a way out.