a million dollars over the course of six years in different contracts and it wasn't exactly clear what work he was carrying out now adam love and you're raised this complaint and he was then stripped of his security clearance now he filed a whistleblower retaliation complaint and his attorneys are pointing out kind of an interesting chain of events this is what his attorney has to say jim baker the director kip hope was called drugs very close to the vest and nobody seemed to have any idea what he was doing time he contracted out a good chunk of it. he composed them all and then collect the burmans as he's free . is it possible that adam a lot of injure was fired simply for asking about the money that was going to stefan help or in these contracts these allegations are being raised there's a lot of talk about when is it proper to strip someone of their security clearance and when is it not it indicates that there seems to be quite a bit of disagreement within the halls of power in the united states as we head up

to the midterm congressional elections. we regret to inform you that russia is at it again that's the claim in a new article in the u.s. magazine the atlantic it goes on to say the kremlin has set its sights firmly on the upcoming midterm elections the russian government has one overriding objective with regards to the united states to weaken america so that it loses its will and ability to counter russian objectives the article goes on to explain russia's three step plan to break american democracy first take russian hackers and get them to interfere second by corrupt us politicians and third support those who think favorably of putin the atlantic believes this very channel to help undermine democracy two by inviting on guests who dare to be different they named brandon straka as an example he is the founder of the movement encouraging democrats to walk away from their party but the atlantic does appear to forget the anyone's he

talks to. well i i myself was a lifelong liberal democratic voter i would say kind of a democrat by default because i'm a gay man and i think that the expectation for a lot of minority groups is that we are supposed to vote democrat and that we are supposed to be liberal friend strake is spent years as a liberal he now says he's concerned by what the west has become well before the election i was already starting to feel uncomfortable with where we were headed in terms of identity politics and p.c. culture. ok let's discuss this now with another one of our frequent guests lionel he also happens to be legal analyst and political commentator to lionel good evening another day gone another article on alleged russian meddling what you make of this one now nothing at all but i'll comment nonetheless i want you to imagine this i'm trying new ways to explain how there are no bases or relevance to any of the accusations here to for trying to

find new and novel approaches let me try this one imagine if i went to someone i don't know whoever is in charge of the money or the power i don't know and i said i don't know and i said i am going to provide you with the plans for russia to actually interfere imagine i am trying to help russian interference. did work with me on this is somebody what is it what how will you do this and i say i'm going to do three things. if i then take this article and use what they claim as a prospective basis for what i intended to do nobody would give me a dime because this doesn't do anything if i said step number one i'm going to infiltrate american sinking platforms with ideas

that make if people an idea that maybe they become more and more it disenfranchised really the desisted it would so discord and i'm sure somebody would say you mean like the usual articles that you read from the left and the right in the middle and the libertarians and the yes i'm going to basically replicate the normal course of dissent in ascend in regular literature and journalism number two i'm going to do cyber penetration i can't tell you how i'm going to do that i'm not sure how are going to do that it may involve maybe affecting voting i'm not sure maybe but it's mostly going to be buying a lot of facebook i did over three we're going to to contribute or help those politicians who are friendly who are friendly who who go out of their way to to to

approve of of a lot easier putin now i don't know who those people are because i've watched unfortunately a lot of television so you don't have to and i watch a lot of news platforms so you don't have to i don't know who these people are because it's almost like an article of faith that in order for you to have any sense of bone if it is you must say something negative about russia the kremlin potent you have to do it so who are these people are i don't know so therefore to reiterate to paraphrase to to to give you an idea of the ludicrous nature of this article if i were to propose the three things that this article contains. to somebody who wanted to infiltrate american politics with russian ideology they wouldn't give me a dime because this doesn't work so i ask you again my dear friend you and i have been talking about this for how long since an election. somebody please tell me please how russia russians somebody who speaks russian

mr putin the kremlin how they did anything to have fact not influence but half fact negatively destruct decision gorge well you rail eternal the point isn't and i know i mean it's an idea but where's the evidence it's true i mean us as a rated rating. you know this. we're still saying the same thing and what's also interesting is that somebody was paid for this article somebody is paying this and here's what happened number one you must understand something and i'm sure you do this but when i say you i mean the royal you way they must understand that that the media of the twenty four seventh's media in this country is a runaway train that that if that must be fed constantly because people have the attention span of a gnat they don't remember any no no no new so what you do is you regurgitate you

reiterate you repeat your reus sever a and even if the point isn't made even if the basis in the thesis of what you write is specious it doesn't matter because you've got a new article right behind that one and nobody ever calls these people to task they're paid for by volume or how many likes to do you get how many clicks hey that was a great article factually incorrect. factually based list but you did very well so the metrics that are being used by the so-called journalist number one and also the mentality just feeding frenzy of this this monster dis ma this monster that you must feed constantly with us now nobody to date in fact if i went to times square right now as a here's a thousand dollars anybody tell me what did russia do you take all the time in the world you want what did russia do and you haven't it's that the change votes no and he time and the evidence that they suppress voters because in this country if you

want to see real voter suppression we well they have closed down polls they have made it very difficult for african-american people of color poor people to vote they they've tried to pass what's been said voter id laws that makes it difficult they've tried a variety of tangible results or plans now whether they were good at a different story but i can point to them i can say this nobody has ever said that hillary clinton and here's a most aboard. lost a rigged election let me say this again she lost because that's what this is all about she lost a rigged election because of facebook ads remember also hillary clinton has to explain why she lost number two there's two reasons in addition in addition to this you know russia russia russia you know the elections but no russia no nato no russia no nato no bad guy no bogeyman no there's no so it's

a two pronged what's multi-pronged so there's many reasons why the boogeyman the straw man the specter the evil image of russia must be maintained because it fills because somebody talked about one time the power of nightmares it was a wonderful b.b.c. documentary and you need something to fear you need something and historically in this post you know cold war a red baiting this russo phobic hysteria feeds into this is well and there's an audience for it i guarantee you if somebody said he had an idea would you like me to do a very thorough and sober look at how russia has not affected the election they say no no no no no no no keep up with this no no we're going to after labor day you're always welcome in our state i was it was to get it was good to get your views on this sort of thing to say that was the line on legal analyst and political commentator thank you thank you sir. now the russian embassy in the u.s.

has accused the local authorities of subjecting jailed russian gun activists marie abuse in a cruel and inhumane treatment including strip searches is in or is under arrest on charges of being a russian agent which was quickly interpreted by much of the western media as her being a spy russia's compared the situation to the witch trials in the seventeenth century well after russian diplomats visited maria in prison on thursday they discovered her health had deteriorated there demanding the u.s. state department stop psychologically pressuring and humiliating her and she still a suspect and not a convict miraca is more. maria was taken into custody about a month ago accused of acting as a russian agent and quote developing relationships with u.s. persons and infiltrating organizations having influence in american politics now if she's convicted she could face up to fifteen years in prison and now the russian embassy has issued

a statement comparing it to the salem witch trials and accusing us authorities of subjecting her to cruel and inhumane treatment including night checks every fifteen minutes something that's only done to prisoners who have a history of suicide strip searches after visits she's being denied medical care she had a swelling on her leg as a result of cold temperatures in her cell and she's only been given pain killers now she's walking with a limp she's also not allowed outdoor walks and she can't receive any letters in russian apparently because they might contain coded messages for some background after she pled not guilty she was denied bail and her attorney thinks her nationality might have had something to do with it i'm hesitating to say it's completely apolitical we think it's hard to imagine a national another country would be treated the same way i think we're a little bit of a russian phobic time here in the country the media might be using language like spy in but her lawyer says that those words can't be found in any legal documents

and that she's never done any military related work and there was no classified information involved now to sum it all up she's basically been accused of lobbying and somehow the u.s. sees it as connected to russia gate she's also accused of trading sex for influence but there's been no evidence at all to substantiate those claims but what's interesting about her is that she's always supported us russian relations and she's pretty open about this it also should be noted that she was arrested hours after the trump put in summit in helsinki but now she's waiting for trial the date of which is still unknown but what we do know is that the next technical hearing is scheduled for september tenth but most evidence against her is still classified so we're just going to have to wait and see how this case unfolds we spoke to human rights lawyer about the case. now she's being treated is a violation of the u.s. law the us constitution which forbids cruel and unusual punishment in also violates

international law none of these things are justified these are clearly designed to put pressure on her to subject her to emotional distress and i think people should be very upset about that there are so much anti russian sentiment because while she is not being accused of being a spy that really is how it's being played in the media and so i'm not sure she's going to get much of an audience in washington for her concerns she may have to go to an international body for that there are laws on the books to protect people it's very difficult to win those cases they can take a lot of time even if you do when the fact is a lot of mischief can be done before or if ever the harm being done to her is correct clearly there's people in washington who want to be rail any chance of a detente with russia and i think the timing asked to be taken into account and it may be some indication of a political motive to do just what i said to make it impossible for the two

countries to reach some sort of you know peace with one. after the protests have erupted in the gaza strip with palestinian demonstrators there demanding a return of what they call their homeland in israel the crowds can be seen despite a large amount of smoke in tear gas as you can see here the great march return on the israeli gaza border started back in march and up to one hundred seventy seven ians have since been killed gaza based reporting dowding has the thing to. list in years going to need to crowd task for that twenty first friday there israelis can seem to do fire tear gas canisters and live ammunition on the palestinian protesters. that the situation now is that. the palestinian protesters are trying to bring you to break sometimes to. there's a vision of those ready snipers there israeli forces continue to fly more to gas canisters on the palestinian protesters to disperse them and to keep them away from

the friends at least two policy means injured in a very very critical condition as you see palestinians are are raising the palestinian flag and throwing stones on by israeli snipers and this is how the palestinians have been concentrating their days right the snipers and the israeli forces oh my god like many in this unit you gas canisters are being fired that gun on the palestinian protesters and as you see it's been fifty fired on the policy and truck that's where your gas canisters are being fired from directions as you see the place is filled with white smoke everyone except the casing from it's your gas fired this is also one of the injuries that from the tear gas fired just right now. no signs for the first time i see this there is no sense right now that the palestinian protesters had that ability to break the

fence was probably just heard the gunfire. was that kind of thing in time that police had to break up fence dies or if i still think the shooting live ammunition on the part of protesters that everyone is going back it's like reporting carry their will meanwhile the israeli defense forces do say the response of their troops to palestinians trying to break through the fence was in the cordons with standard operating procedures. the palestinian journalist has been arrested by these already defense forces for filming soldiers and allegedly inciting violence darley live streamed two videos on facebook of israeli soldiers operating in ramallah filming i.d.f. soldiers though is illegal in israel filming an officer with intent to undermine the spirit of the army is punishable by up to five years in jail the i.d.f. adds that the man they arrested was inciting violence against the state of israel

and also the army. the man filmed and edited videos of i.d.f. troops during the course of their operational activities while encouraging violence towards them and incited attacks directed at the state of israel and i.d.f. troops. and we were sleeping when we heard a knock at the door in the middle of the night we woke up and opened the door they told us they are soldiers they asked me whose house is it i said it's muhammad out and then they ask to lives upstairs i said it's allah dharavi so they went upstairs and arrested him he told me mom don't be afraid i hope i won't stay there for long he's not guilty i'm sure he's not we went to the court and they told us they were prolong his detention meanwhile the palestinian rapper mc garza has risen to fame after filming a music video jury in the great march of return to dedicate the song to his friend a journalist killed during that match.

will send a message like oh we. know . you just want to. just want to go we just want a lot of humor the. only way out of it was almost was just my concept to make me just to see like i want to start my own music because i don't believe that it's almost an easy for them. that the wedding of a country's foreign minister wouldn't normally generate many headlines but it seems that's not the case of a certain fatima putin is on the guest list because that's precisely what's happening in austria on saturday and not everybody is happy about it with more his pace rather. president vladimir putin will be the guest of honor at the wedding of

austrian foreign minister. and businessman wolfgang milingo at the luxury venue that they'll be getting married out just to the south of garth's in austria president putin is expected to arrive by plane early morning on saturday he'll be then traveling by helicopter to the place where the wedding is taking place there is talk of a carriage ride also going on but i think that might be more for the happy couple and not something that mr putin will be taking part in from the austrian side they've confirmed that the usual security protocol will be in place for the arrival of guess store a visitor of the stature of the russian president but it his arrival in his saying is acceptance of the invitation has provoked a controversial reaction lot of the press across austria and across europe saying what does this mean if putin's extended an invitation to the wedding of a cabinet member of an e.u. nation well what we've seen for in reaction terms is from the head chef of the

place where the events taking place well he says he wants a selfie with the russian president however we've also heard is from a green party m.e.p. in austria saying that the fact that mrs is can i sell invited vladimir putin in the first place means that she needs to step down from her position in the foreign ministry for mr nigel bears responsibility for this and should in order to avert any bad consequences for austria immediately resign if she does not do so voluntarily chancellor because should today suggest to the president that he sack been confirmed that the invite was extended back in june while vladimir putin was on a visit to vienna he's making this is part of a stop off on route here to lynn for an important meeting with german chancellor angela merkel rest social appearance though from vladimir putin in western europe in recent times since twenty. fourteen and since relations between the west and

russia took a downturn over the ongoing situation in ukraine we haven't seen much of them coming to places like austria germany in fact on social visits but the austrian foreign ministry it says that this is clearly private visit that they'll be you know journalists in attendance that will be no politics discussed that's sometimes easier said than done especially when austrian chancellor. is also on the invite list almost certainly he will meet with vladimir putin at some point during the wedding it's unknown of course what they will be discussing there but when it comes to relate the relationship between austria and russia it's certainly been far warmer than most other western european nations in fact if you look at the script power poisoning case just recently vienna was one of the few russian capitals not to expel any russian diplomats over that but while it's certainly

a private affair while vladimir putin is in austria at this wedding it's very much a business affair later in the day for him it's unlikely we're going to see any pictures from that wedding of lot of me appeared on the dance floor beginning into the night because around six pm he's due to be here in berlin where he'll be meeting with german chancellor angela merkel and peter all of reporting you're watching our company we're back with more news in half. crazy conspiracy there they're all worthless there are all the bus forget about the

back of the buses rather love us because we want. wonder bread and say to you that's. a low and welcome to cross talk we're all things considered i'm. a trumpy and kind of view it is an understatement to say donald trump is an unconventional and an orthodox political figure his critics do have a point when they say trump appears to be harsher with allies then with real or imagined enemies then there's the middle east and iran why is trump so obsessed with terrain.

cross talking a trompe and kind of view i'm joined by my guest peter ford in london he's a former british ambassador to syria and rein in washington we have james jaharis he's a former u.s. diplomat and former advisor to u.s. senate republican leadership and in new york we have richard murphy he is a former u.s. career in basad or to syria and currently an adjunct scholar at the middle east institute right gentlemen rules in effect that means you can jump in anytime you want i always appreciate james let me go to you first in washington because you've rapidly become the donald trump sure for me. i know you're a supporter of the president and you have great for him paul. the expertise so i want to see if we can kind of. unpack a few things here for example i give the president from kudo's with north korea if something could happen there it's very very complicated the parlay is going to be long and hard but i think it takes

a lot of courage to engage that unlike past administrations. in europe with his european allies doing nato tough love there i think he's doing absolutely the right things you want to be protected ok if russia is such a terrible threat but want to pay for it ok it's pretty simple but then the wrinkle comes in james i mean the middle east i mean the trump administration isn't braced israel and saudi arabia much more than passage ministrations iran is again on target with the rhetoric and the planning and all of that i don't see any rhyme or reason to it all can you is there a silver bullet for you to give me to make me understand it go ahead james well let me draw an analogy to start with people of notice that trump since the day he took office even before he has been under siege from people in the intelligence community i think that's one reason why he and the sun the moon and the stars to the pentagon he had to have somebody who was on his side when we put it to the

international context that you just raised look we've got clients and i do call them clients of not satellites in europe in the far east like south korea and japan i think he can afford to kick them around but we come to the middle east and talk about israel and saudi arabia i don't think there's so much our client says where their client given the kind of influence the israelis and the saudis have in this town it's not so easy to cross them so i think he is proceeding much more carefully there just as he indulges the pentagon i think he's indulging those countries but we're going to have to see now he can turn the corner especially if he can work out something with mr putin on syria with regard essential to. keeping the israelis and the iranians away from each other near the golan heights we might have the beginning of something constructive in that region but that's going to be a very tough road to hoe i think ok it's interesting peter what way you know not to because i guess if you do. restate my first question but in

a much shorter version is that trump is showing flexibility in some areas here in other areas he's seen these seem far more rigid how do you see it i mean particularly in the region of the middle east in iran go ahead peter. well i think the key clear understanding. with some humility but i think it does help to see him as an american first first and foremost meaning. to use the term i don't like much myself i thought nation is the opposite interventionist let's recall you know the term america first the america first committee tried to keep america out of the war world war two and the things the spirit of john quincy adams who advised again america going abroad in the sleigh this tradition to which should trump hark back which appeal thought much i

think through middle america and he seems to be consistent in that and almost all his moves can be interpreted in that spirit whether it's pulling back from korea pulling back from nato overreach in eastern europe. the middle east is a little bit different but maybe come back we will come back to that ok richard i mean ok good considering what we just heard from james and peter i think both them would agree that you know and i like how james put it you know indulging the pentagon i mean the pentagon's got a lot of money right now ok but what does that. i mean for in a lot of people would say it is for possible or continued military interventions which the president ran against during the campaign and now we have massive arms sales to. saudi arabia in israel here and there seems to be a lot of ambiguity about what the u.s. policy is visa v.

syria how do you one tie all this go ahead richard. i don't think. syria's situation is well understood or has been well understood but the purser values we made a mistake there's no other word for it back in two thousand and eleven assuming that . the regime was very fragile and about to be blown away. it managed to survive and then that was bolstered by russian support and a rainy and support in the following years but the color of. washington servitude that. you had heard about during obama's time do not get involved in yet another middle east of the war. richard you're absolutely right and that's exactly where i want to go here james they ok all of all of us are kind of more or less on the same page here but then how do you account for the bellicose

attitude towards iran and i think richard's right donald trump knows enough about history is that that he doesn't want to be a president that's brought down by a foreign war but he really doesn't want to get involved in i mean cheri i mean he's old enough to know what happened to lyndon johnson for example or george bush jr with iraq he doesn't want to have that around his collar but james you know using sanctions to intimidate friends and foes not to import a rainy unoiled i mean i again you know you and you look at the american allies in the region saudi arabia and israel which would love to see some kind of regime change or instability that's probably their first priority i mean this seems to kind of go counter what trump it is them is all about when it comes when it goes to foreign policy james absolutely clearly and i think peter is right absolutely it's an america first policy i wouldn't call it isolation ism i would simply call it.