i was going to do. by the way ways that the. u.s. attorney general refuses to testify before the house judiciary committee on his handling of the report the session was labeled a circus with one democratic member brandishing a prop. chicken bar should have shown up today and answered questions think yesterday proves not terrified as we body still in the circus continues over here. the u.s. is set to continue its support for the saudi intervention in yemen after the senate failed to override president of the resolution that would have ended u.s. engagement in the war. in which the leaks co-founder julian assange attends a court hearing in the u.k. on whether he should be extradited to the u.s. .

are broadcasting live from our studios in moscow this is our team international and sean thomas glad to have you with. the u.s. attorney general has refused to appear before the house judiciary committee to testify on his handling of the report into alleged to trump russia collusion some are now saying william barr should be held in contempt of congress. it's failed the men and women of the department of justice by placing the needs of the president over the ferry administration of justice and yes we will have no choice but to move quickly to hold the attorney general in contempt if you still to negotiate in good faith mr barr's moment of accountability will come soon enough and i think that probably to my important to note that it was pointed out that at this point the department of justice has made a less redacted version of bob miller's report of vailable to top democrats but

these top congressional congressional democrats navl are palosi and others have refused to read it and said that instead they want the entire report revealed to a wider audience the chairman willing to go look at what the attorney general offered him it's pretty amazing to me he wants to go in executive session ask questions about it but he won't go read it what are the democrats scared of they don't know bill barr here today they've had the report they read it they don't like what's in it the still in the circus continues over here members of congress basically tried to be somewhat the at trickle a bucket of fried chicken was displayed in order to illustrate the argument william barr was chicken or cowardly for not attending chicken bar should have shown up today and answered questions of black sox look plain compared to this team it's a sad day and we're now yesterday william barr testified for over six hours and it was quite a grilling he received one point of contention seems to be

a sentence from bob mahler's letter to william barr in which he refers to quote public confusion about critical aspects of the investigation now democrats argued that that sentence potentially was accusing william barr of having misled the public regarding the investigation however william barr said that was not the case that that sentence from the letter referred simply to the media not to his own activities i asked him if he was suggesting that the march twenty fourth letter was inaccurate and he said no but that the press reporting had been inaccurate bob miller's report. did not reach any conclusion about whether or not trump had engaged in obstruction of justice bob mahler's report simply. illustrated soup instances in which that could potentially be the case william bar feels that donald trump did not obstruct justice so with clear disagreement on capitol hill the saga of the trump russian investigation even much as longer after its conclusion seems to be continuing the trump russia story persists with more hearings more testimony

and possible contempt charges for the u.s. attorney general a congress in its capacity here is not really investigating malfeasance by the attorney general which is their job as oversight there actually having some perry mason like. miller to investigation which will gain them nothing and the bar i think just basically said look six hours of this is enough and done they didn't want him to show up they made it impossible for him to come so that they could have the theater they had today it's about politics it's not about finding any wrongdoing that part is over now we have the political discussion the tiny tiny tiny portion that's not grand jury testimony that was actually redacted that's been made available to the committee and they don't want to look at it because as i said they want the theater that they don't want cooperation they're not looking for something bad they've decided there's something bad they make the bald assertion and that's good enough for them meanwhile hillary clinton has spoken out on the

miller report in a t.v. interview the former secretary of state seemed to ignore the conclusion that trump's campaign team did not conclude with russia and she jokingly called on a foreign power to hack into the president's tax returns. since russia is clearly backing republicans why don't we asked china to back us i hereby tonight ask china that's right and not only that china if you're listening why don't you get trump's tax returns i'm sure our media would richly rewards you now according to the mother report that is not conspiracy because it's done right out in the open this woman just can't except that she lost her case of pay and all by yourself and just she's grasping and she just she's trying to be humorous she just doesn't understand humor but what she did wittingly or unwittingly is acknowledge that trump was joking she

used to joke that to mimic the joke that he made nobody believe trump was serious they contrived these bogeyman and that russian collusion just hasn't worn out they won't let it go. the u.s. is set to continue its support for the saudi intervention in yemen and that is after the senate failed to overturn president veto of a house resolution on ending u.s. indigent in the conflict on tees rachel blevins reports. resolution which initially passed the senate in march whatever acquire trying to withdraw any troops in or affecting yemen within thirty days unless they are fighting al-qaeda backers of the resolution said they wanted to reassert congress's constitutional power to declare war and send a strong message to saudi arabia about the devastating civilian toll of the four years long civil war in yemen they also aim to put pressure on the administration to try to change the us saudi relationship saudi arabia is

a despotic dictatorship. that works over time to prevent any movement in that country toward democracy and this is also about squaring u.s. policy with national security interests and getting the blood off of our hands we ought not give unflinching unwavering unquestioning. devotion to a regime that treats its own people that way when justifying his decision to veto the legislation trump claimed that their resolution is a quote dangerous attempt to weaken his constitutional authority this resolution endangering the lives of american citizens and brief service members both today and in the future senators have tried to pass the young men resolution for years over concerns the saudi arabia wasn't doing enough to limit civilian casualties with its air strikes in yemen the saudi arabian government has long been involved in the war

and gammon which has killed tens of thousands of people and spawn with the united nations calls the world's most dire humanitarian crisis with the country on the brink of famine the united nations development program also recently issued a report which noted that while the humanitarian situation in yemen was already one of the worst in the world before the war started it has gotten much worse and they claim that the yemen where is now considered one of the most just struck. since the cold war.

the saudi arabian government denies targeting civilians and it strikes claiming that the u.n. reports about this are false and that u.s. and international anger over the civilian toll of the yemen conflict the trump administration last year stopped for guiding refueling support first saudi arabia's aircrafts and gannett but trans actions and relations with saudi arabia still over main matters of controversy the united states is trying. to have a steady supply of oil to fuel it's industry and its worldwide military empire president trump this is it is a business decision and if he has to do with a murderous regime he will continue to do so. he has no compunction morally or with any regard to human rights to in their relationship he sees it strictly as

a transactional relationship if you keep us capitalism going to fuel the u.s. industry and the u.s. military and bar he has no human rights concerns is the. move on to london now where the first court hearing on julian assange his possible extradition to the u.s. has been held in the wiki leaks founder faces a charge of conspiring to hack into the pentagon computer network appearing in a video link up from jail a song told the court he would never surrender to the americans voluntarily his lawyer along with the wiki leaks editor in chief spoke after the hearing. it has been twenty three other twenty four hours a day. that is what we call in general terry confinement that's unacceptable in this case it's not about hacking. this case it's about a journalist in a publisher who had conversations with a source about accessing material and spoke to that source about how to protect

their identity this is protected activity that journalists engage in all the time and any prosecution and extradition of mr songe for having done so place a massive chill on investigative journalism in the world it was a preliminary hearing julian assange appeared via video link from belmarsh prison where he is currently incarcerated and the judge asked him if he consents to being sent over to the u.s. to which julian assange replied i do not wish to surrender myself for extradition for doing journalism that has won many awards i'm protected many people so it's the judge replied i'll take that as the decline and the hearing was only now the next hearing is going to be on the thirtieth of may that's going to be procedural so going through the legal steps that are to be taken as part of this legal case then there will be another more substantiative hearing on the twelfth over june but the real sort of extradition case the full hearing isn't expected for many months and

it gives you an idea of how drawn out the drip drip of this legal process is going to be the central question that's being examined is whether the british authorities should to allow the extradition of julian assange over to the u.s. where he is facing charges of computer hacking that was of course prior to the leaks published by wiki leaks the the toria say rock wall logs in two thousand and ten that featured that video that appears to show u.s. soldiers shooting at a real civilians now judy in a sauna was out another court yes. today he actually appeared there in person and he was sentenced to almost one year behind bars fifty weeks for skipping bail back in twenty twelve that was when he entered the ecuadorian embassy seeking asylum and the judge that was pretty strict on julian assange julian assange anjan his legal

team have said that the reason that he had to seek asylum in the ecuadorian embassy was because he was wanted in sweden for questioning over these alleged sexual assault allegations which julian assange to this team member who weighs said is just a freak us for a u.s. extradition request and he spent seven years inside that embassy last month his relationship with his ecuadorian hosts broke down to the extent that he was dragged out of the ecuadorian embassy in london he was arrested by british police and he was slapped with this u.s. extradition request that is now being well mold a very in the courts here in to us on style as with anything to do with the wiki leaks founder it's attracted the media circus it's attracted many of his very vocal support says. there was trouble with getting a court room large enough to fit members of the public and his supporters and all

the journalists that i was so interested in following this case julian assange if he can be pursued by the u.s. authorities or even extradited over to the u.s. for something that he has published well then that could have implications for any journalist anywhere in the world if they publish anything to do with the u.s. . protests were held outside the ecuadorian embassy in london on thursday enjoying the grand almost seventy years there before his asylum was revoked release editor in chief kristinn hrafnsson tried to collect the song his belongings from the embassy but was denied entrance he reported the incident to the police as a crime. last year britain's high court ruled that another man accused of hacking u.s. government computers could not be extradited laurie love attended a demonstration outside the court where soldiers hearing was being held. i think he's going to have an uphill struggle everyone has an uphill struggle under us that should assume a crisis because it's

a very unbalanced treaty so the us doesn't have to provide any evidence they just have to have the paperwork in order and the presumption is a view only towards exhibition if we manage to win there's a lot of campaigning and a lot of support political support from and he said this is going to have a hard time because he's already out of this politically he's upset the establishment in the u.k. the establishment i would say is complicit in his persecution and we need to do everything we can as members of the public and sequel to this list of people involved in journalism to ensure that we do you know i allow the injustice and isolation to happen. meanwhile a close ally of julian assange is facing trial in ecuador a court in the country has just dismissed an appeal for all the bini a cyber security expert who was arrested in quito on the same day as a songe binny is a swedish national and a specialist in digital privacy according to the ecuadorian authorities he visited a song several times at the embassy in london who thought he's accuse him of

hacking computer systems in ecuador but beeny denies the allegations. a rally has been held outside the venezuelan embassy in washington calling for an end to u.s. interference in the ongoing crisis this follows two days of unrest in caracas in which up to three hundred people were injured. with. was. president nicolas maduro spoke at a may day rally and call for dialogue with the opposition he also confirmed the alleged coup attempt had been stopped however u.s. national security advisor john bolton claimed there was never any attempted

overthrow of the government in the first place. the law is an intrigue that they tried to use against the failed coup attempt has been defeated this is a trial for truth loyalty and. clearly not a coup we recognize one guy i do know as the legitimate interim president of venezuela and just as it's not a coup when the president of the united states gives an order to the department of defense it's not a coup for wanted why don't you try and take command of the venezuelan military russia's foreign minister has discussed the venezuelan crisis with u.s. national security advisor john bolton sergey lavrov is also expected to meet secretary of state might pompei o during a visit to finland pledged to continue dialogue despite significant differences in views. we discussing the situation in venezuela but i don't see how we can find a common approach where no policy is based on the principles of international law

and the us line is to appoint someone as an interim president in another country threaten to use military force along with choking sanctions to overthrow the current regime. and the us might object to the term coup however if we turn to the dictionary the word is defined as a sudden violent and illegal seizure of power from a government our guests debated whether that's what's being attempted in venezuela . the u.s. supports coup d'etat is all the time this is another example that one has no power under the constitution of venezuela the fact the us recognize him recognizes him is of no import the u.s. recognizes him because he has already agreed to privatizing venezuela's oil in the interest of u.s. companies that's why the u.s. recognizes him and that does not make him with the opinion of united states is no the only opinion for all of the fifty countries recognize why go as

a legitimate president ninety percent of venezuelans do support also while you go there are legitimate president this is an unfolding coup that the u.s. wants to push forward and we have to remember by the way the us supported the coup in two thousand and two against hugo chavez and we're reluctant to call it a coup back then the fact that the u.s. wants to use semantics to cover up what it's doing doesn't change the fact that this is a coup when people say you know a seizure of power illegal seizure of power the basic definition of a coup doesn't key element there is not illegal because. has a legitimate power recognized by the international community overwhelmingly international community and by the venezuelan people who goes out in masses of people are on the streets supporting the door of that's undeniable there are people

there that support him i have friends there contacts that support him you never hear their side or store use never you never hear from them in the press and so you get one side of the story and that is tantamount to misrepresenting destroyed their recent science or do not justify the line in common the basic commie and the three million plus in this one it's gaping venezuela for other current. no start when this actually started this started way before that six million people voted for nicolas maduro last may in a free and fair election that i observed you know how many people voted for want. none. the u.s. military has stopped publishing its regular reports on the amount of territory controlled by different forces in afghanistan the head of the watchdog responsible for monitoring this says u.s.

citizens will now know less about their country's successes and failures in the region the reports are made by the special inspector general for afghan reconstruction or c ghar this special post created by the congress was responsible for watching over us head to ease in the country see gar also conducts criminal probes as well the work of the special inspector has been criticized by donald trump who slammed the idea of making it public. kind of stuff as we're fighting wars and they're doing reports and releasing it to the public the public means the enemy the enemy retards reports a study every line of it they should be private reports and be locked up and if a member of congress wants to see it you don't want to read it. all right over the last two years washington has gradually been reducing the amount of information it makes public on afghanistan in two thousand and seventeen it stopped publishing data on casualties and last july it ended assessments on the role of afghan government forces the latest rollback makes it harder to track what territory is

currently under the control of the afghan government the trend over do sing information on afghanistan comes against a backdrop of u.s. talks with the taliban and a worsening security situation in the country the war in afghanistan has cost americans more than one trillion dollars since the invasion in two thousand and one and it has claimed thousands of american and afghan lives an afghan presidential candidate is now calling on u.s. forces to be held accountable for the devastating toll of the conflict. any criminal act by any civilly all military personnel or of the united states on a toll would have to be brought to justice through their competent legal off part it is he strong that this justice process should not be politicized harlan's arts are about that

but peace activist kathy kelly believes the u.s. government does not want people to know what is happening in afghanistan. the united states pentagon certainly doesn't want the advise of the united states popular as it doesn't really care about consent or assent to the war what they want is the money and if you are just people who truly understand what a disaster is failure and catastrophe is now going on eighteen year war in october to be the eighteenth year what this has represented in terms of failure and destruction i think people wouldn't choose to create these extraordinary sounds that many people need the information and here in the united states isn't that well not that people are supposed to have exactly this kind of information. with the semifinals of the u.s. for champions league at the halfway stage our star pundit football coach just

a marine your gives his thoughts on the first and second legs also tells us how children nowadays dream of being a football manager not just a player you can watch the full episode of on the touchline right here on r.t. later but here's a quick preview. before it was very rare for a kid to dream of being a football manager and. every kid that was in love with football wanted to be a football. the process was changing it was changing. i think i have a little bit of responsibility young on that you can study to be the c.e.o. . of a company that people can study to be you were

a person can be and the same person can also be to become a football manager the one seen ease. in front of the screen and allies in the again live and saying. i will take this one and that will put that one can you on the line have the same state of mind to be calm to be and only used to read the game everybody in the world knows more about football than nuts is the only job where. the people knows more then that's the specialists and thank god is like that because that's the reason my food will get these awarded these alcan i see to my son. and the kid in the world don't do it if you love it and if you feel you can you can do it so.

if you have. a dream like i had. let's go. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confrontation let it be an arms race in this on off and spearing dramatic development only and going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time to sit down and talk. god the football we will pull the reserves much more and the thing is possible in

football to do the two work the movement is phenomenal and they still can. eat meat more months where people can see all night. better away than the home they don't sleep very well instead of being a coach you want to pacific eight or. you predicted barcelona would win the first leg and then i aks the heights again would be tight which i think is pretty much what happened but all the headlines today about lionel messi and those two goals he scored against liverpool who in the end just couldn't cope with it i told you a couple of weeks ago that messi would never be my special one here because what do. those all the time so you feel becomes a special one once then the becomes

a special one almost every and almost every week but i have to say. absolutely incredible. i think you made that result. liverpool who was positive liverpool was in spite of. start the game without me know i think for sure was not the you were going this season to leave me know out the field mean i was in the top of his. game but in spite of that then we've got playing. striker. we were pools brave in the approach they made something that. i would like to know but. i don't think in the past twenty years and many teams in the champions league they beat barcelona involved possession in the come no normally barcelona style is very

impose their game they dominate the game in every expect us to didn't happen liverpool was very very positive to have three big chances at the company in seventy final is also a lot and normally out of sri you score one and then the story can be a different one but that. that got the football made it made it completely different and. of course they have a good team of course to her phenomenal players but that is absolutely incredible to be thought a little cool you said previously that in order to contain messi you have to create a cage of plays around him to try and stop him playing and that seemed to be what they were doing quite effectively but those last of the seven minutes with a seven minute period where he scored twice and there's very little they could do about that because it really that he did once in. which i think they did really

well which was to push once a loner for many times a long build up from the keeper which is something that they don't know how to do. they know if they do they're going to be dominated by the opponents or they always try to go short they take lots of risks playing from the back because they have players of super quality really able to kids they are so comfortable taking these risks from the back but liverpool's pressing so high every walkie that so many times they're going to have to go along and of course van dyck. deep they always win the first of all they recover the second ball and again liverpool was having the ball that's the reason why they have i think a little bit more than fifty percent of the ball of the ball possession.