that industry has been influencing very deeply. the medical and scientific establishment, ah, what's driving the? it's corporate. me. the hours pope headlights are not into national whistleblower. daniel hale is sentenced to 45 months in prison. the leaking classified details about america's drone assassination program. we speak to indignant fellow whistle blowers on the program. it's really a war on truth and i just went to the government. it's at war with its own people. and i don't think that the people actually understand what's happening. germany is rocked by a huge explosion of an industrial park housing, chemical companies. environmentalists are concerned about the plume of black smoke that's being created full of potential talks and police officers and lawmakers

alike are unable to hold back the tears on day one of us congressional hearing into january is capitol hill, right? very supposedly balanced panel. spend the session largely bashing trauma supporters also in the program for you from to proves a new law restricting travel and entry to public places for people without so called covey passports. or the move is proving hugely devices amongst businesses on the public at large. ah, it's a busy night here and most go for your top news headlines. welcome to them. i'm role research. so whistleblower daniel hill has not been sentenced to 45 months in prison for leaking classified information about america's drone program. now while serving the background base and i've got just on a decade ago,

hale that helped identify targets, forest destination. when he returned home to the us in 2013, he shared secret details about the drawing program, with journalists up intercept, ultimately revealing the true extent of civilian casualties. both the middle east and africa, and march hail pleaded guilty to leaking classified documents. now ahead of today's sentencing hail wrote a letter detailing some of the things he witnessed in his work, including the death of 2 children in one strike. he also slammed then president barack obama was claim that drone killings abroad somehow protect americans. the policy of drew an assassination, was being used to mislead the public, that it keeps us safe. whenever i encounter an individual who thinks that drone warfare is justified and reliably keeps america safe, i remember that time and ask myself how i could possibly continue to believe that i am a good person deserving of my life and the right to pursue happiness. i let's learn

more here on the program on the international. it's across lives out to john kerry who a former c i a analyst under was a blower himself. jordan, great to see you. thanks for coming the program tonight. i understand. i understand you were there at the court where hale was being sent to this. how did he take the ruling? what, what was the mood that can you tell us? you know, the mood was one of great apprehension and the court room was packed for daniel hale. representatives from code pink were their civil rights and human rights attorneys. the n s a whistleblower thomas drake was there. i was there daniel hills family was there. it was. it was all quite dramatic. but we were apprehensive because we really didn't have any indication of which way the judge was going to go . and then he surprised everyone by clearing the courtroom and sealing it for 2 hours. while the justice department argued in a classified venue for a sentence of 9 years,

so daniel hale got 45 months whatsoever. action to that. is it a fair verdict? do you think to me, the fare, verdict would have been to to, for the judge to come off the bench, shake his hand, thank him for his service to the country and let him go home to his family. i didn't think he deserved any prison time at all because he revealed a crime that was being committed by the u. s. government, the crime of, of the murder of innocent civilians. so no overall, no, i don't think it was fair but with what he was facing. and i think he did very well . and the reason why he did very well is even though he was formerly sentenced to 45 months, he won't serve 45 months. if he enrolls in a drug and alcohol program, which the judge asked him if he would be interested in doing you said yes, that takes a year off of his sentence and then he's entitled to 6 months of house arrest. so i think that with time served, he's been in jail for 3 months now. i think he'll be out in 2 years and it could

have been far worse. certainly good news coming from you there. john. i wanted to ask you in the last hour i was speaking to brandon bryan, a former drone operator in america's armed forces. he, he described daniel hale, unveiled as, as a war crime. do you agree with that? i agree, 100 percent. i think brandon is exactly right. these are war crimes when, when we know that civilians are within the strike range, that makes it a crime when we kill civilians and then put in the official reports that they weren't children for example, they were goes. that is a war crime and it became a matter of course, it became something that many drone operators and their supervisors were doing. john, what about you? so you've got your edward snowden. you've got your, you've got your julian a saw and now you've got your daniel hale as well. you've certainly been at the end of the firing line when it comes to unavailing in

a sensitive information in the united states. you know, you're not alone in this. there must be other people like you would like a sounds like snowden, like hale, who want to come out and say what they know. what would you say to them because they must be terrified of going public re. i'm so glad that you asked that question . there are ways to do it. what i would say to them is do it, but hire a whistleblower attorney 1st so that this whistleblower attorney can walk you through the process and try to ensure that you don't go to prison. there are ways to do it, even if you can't get out everything that you want. you know, the judge said today that, that the sentence for daniel had to be had to be sufficiently long as to discourage other would be whistleblowers. but you can't discourage would be whistleblowers. there are people who have a conscience. they have a moral and ethical compass. and if they see waste fraud abuse illegality,

or threats to the public health or public safety, by god, they're going to say something about it. so this sentence could have been 20 years 30 years, and there would still be whistleblowers. john, what he, what do you think is the, is the, is the short to long term issue. now with, with, when i was, and out of the biden administration, how is the abiding whitehouse to you thing, go to treat whistleblowers. and during this time, i think the biden white house will treat whistleblowers as badly as the obama white house did. and as badly as the trump white house did, i am not seeing any difference at all. indeed, this sentencing today of daniel hale with a continuation from a case that was the gun during the trumpet ministration. so we shouldn't think that whistleblowers have a friend in the white house. there is no wait outside partners when it comes to the issue of drone assassination programs around the world. isn't just langley, is it just washington, the pentagon involved in these kinds of things or other other countries are doing

it as well? john? well, there are actually 14 different countries now that export drones as part of their weapon. sales programs $141.00 of the most prolific for example is turkey. people don't really know that, but the turks had had great success on the battlefield in syria using their own you know, turkish made drones. the chinese make them the russians make them the israelis make them, the united states certainly makes most of them. and so there are countries all over the world better that are making a lot of money. and don't forget that it's a lot cheaper to buy a drone than it is to buy $125000000.00 f $35.00. and it's just as deadly john carrie acco for my see, i list on the list of all over himself. a great on to have you. one, thanks so much for joining us. thank you so much. thank you. thank you. so the prosecutors had been asking for 11 years behind bars for mr. daniel hale. his

lawyers went through this reduced the 18 months, arguing that his actions were motivated by a consolidated moral conflict. he committed the offense to bring attention to what he believed to be more a government conduct committed under the cloak of secrecy and contrary to public statements of then president obama regarding the alleged precision of the united states military drone program. we got reaction years of an earlier in the program from brandon bryant, a former drone operator, in america's armed forces. it's really a war on truth, not just whistleblowers. we've got people that have been propagating this war over in the middle east for almost 2 decades now. the waste of money that's going on is tremendous. and it's not government money, it's, it's the people's money, it's tax payer money and it's in, it's the government is at war with its own people. and i don't think that the people actually understand what's happening. there's a bunch of things that we see and we are power,

which is like having to bear witness. you know, if, if you can't you, you're part of the machine. the car runs this machine, yet you have to bear witness for it. not just some unfeeling part of the machine you're feeling. you just have to know that whatever it is that you're doing it right and you do it any way. and eventually you have to find yourself in the middle of that storm and be like, you know, this, i have to do, i have to do this because if i don't do it, who's going to and eventually you do something so that other people don't have to experience the trauma, the result, the fear, the tear, and it brings a sort of peace. i find it strange that conscientious individuals that are inside the program that are trying to hold us accountable for the obvious blayton war crimes that we ourselves are doing are being punished. and it seems that they're punishing people in order to make them an example. and that really does

disturb me, especially if america close to be this great country and freedom fighter amongst the world. how we're punishing our own people who are trying to do the tuesday. so the 1st hearing of a special with us congressional panel, a task with investigating the events on capitol hill on january the 6th of this year. it consists of lawmakers from both parties. but critics alleged that minds are already made up and in lie with the mainstream narrative. let's learn a bit more about this here on the program crossing live. now to watch either, kayla, i'm often joining us here today. caleb, it's well, you are following the hearing of what's clearly been a very emotional day for those involved almost a bit to emotional. frankly. can you take us through some of what was said? indeed as congress here is testimony about the events of january 6, the seems we've been hearing both police officers and politicians crying their eyes

out. take a listen chart. the the indifference shown to my colleagues is disgraced. now during their testimony, members of the capitol, police testified about the dangers that they faced as the crowd penetrated the capital. on january 6th, i was assaulted in nearly killed. i could have lost my life. there was a very good chance i would be torn apart. this is how i'm going to die. defending the sanctions. i said as well as i could manage. i've got kids. now the testimony focused on trump supporters and their actions, which made the police officers very afraid, some of the racial slurs that were used at one point the police officers who were

testifying were asked to, to be, you know, essentially asked by the committee, tell us about your heroism and they described facing off with the crowd, they described how the crowd had baseball bat, pepper spray and flagpole. now it's worth noting that one protester who entered the u. s. capital ashley babbitt was shot and killed. and though some of the protesters did have guns themselves, there was not any instance of the protesters firing on police officer. now, some are looking at this panel and saying it's simply impartial. we're not hearing both sides of the story. questions about about what kind of went wrong and whether or not the capital police allowed the protesters to enter. if they made a mistake or, or somehow the doors were left on guarded. what exactly happened? people are looking at. this is saying it's not an impartial hearing, and many are blaming nancy pelosi for that. nancy pelosi, however, has made clear that she wants these hearings to be about patriotism and not to

serve a political advantage for the democrats. but these claims by nancy pelosi are now being questioned, as it seems that to pro trump, republicans were removed from this congressional investigation in the congressional committee and replaced with anti trump voices from the republican party. and now it seems that as these hearings proceed, it's really much becoming a moment for trump hatred and opposition to donald trump from both democrats and his opponents within the republican party. this is some of what we've heard on capitol hill. no member of congress should now attempt to defend the indefensible obstruct this investigation or whitewash. what happened that day? you know, democracies are not defined by our bad days. we're defined by how we can backs and bang the bad days. how we take accountability for

that. my oath, your oath all of our oath here today. to protect and defend the constitution, i have faith because of folks like you. and i am, i don't expect this will be quite so much later, but it must be an added thing to day. now coven cases are currently surging in the united states. inflation is also a very serious concern. there's the situation on the border with the migrant crisis, which is continuing a sergio of folks crossing the border. we have a situation where polls have been taken with over half the country, so they feel that the country is moving in the wrong way and headed in the wrong direction. but it seems like the u. s. congress has decided to focus its time on re living and reinterpreting, the events of january 6 and the controversy surrounding the capital riot. i

caleb, thanks for that. so exercise caution and stay at home. that's the warning to people in and around the german city of lever cruz and where a massive explosion has torn through an industrial park of chemical companies. it's fed toxins have been released straight into the environment. was the listening to what now. there was a huge explosion today here in level courses, piano district, there are many chemical factors here. the last one is that a waste incineration plant used to dispose of toxic substances. the police told us that it happened in storage tanks for solvents. solvents have burnt, including those containing chlorine, but we haven't yet made an accurate analysis in cooperation with city authorities. we call on local residents to exercise caution. when going outside, we ask people to pay particular attention to any abnormal fallout. we've established hotlines, which residents can call reports and he's saying things don't try to remove any

such precipitation. stay away from it. the authorities will remove it and take it in for testing. this analysis may take a few days. we call on people to exercise patients and caution. as for the cause we can also talk about that at this point as the emergency services are still looking for the missing. and hence we cannot as of yet conduct any analysis at the site. it's not going search and rescue operation, hence we cannot hold any discussions regarding the cause. so now we call them people to stay at home and keep the windows and doors shopped. the latest numbers we have here at our international saying 2 people now confirm that 31 injured authorities have warned the situation poses an extreme threat. electricity has been cut off to ensure the safety of emergency workers at the site. we also understand locals have been told to stay inside and turn off any air condition. it was like no squeak. the whole house shook. we were scared. i live in reserve to 100

meters away. main roads around the side having closed on drivers have been told to avoid the area. meanwhile, and information hotline has been opened to address public concerns. one local police representative, a described to us what kind of measures that taking we've got a large presence of police officers and emergency services here at the site, especially in terms of traffic, we're having to regulate motor waves and roads so that emergency services, fire engines can pass and no one else gets hurt. warnings were transmitted by the fire department through apps. this is apparently worked as there's been no influx of curious people and accident tourists. well, the whole area around the city of labor crews and in northrop, with volley or in the, the west of germany is, well, the roads, the whole area is old, closed down, there are reports of sirens going off, not only in the city of live accusing, but also in near buy towns anecdotally,

i've been told the town of sali, the city of collagen. here people hearing sirens then being told stay inside, get inside of building close windows and doors. while the emergency services try to determine if there is any risk from this explosion. we seem from the pictures the huge plume of smoke, the rose up, it is covering a large area. now what we've heard from ken park, which is the body which operates this, this facility in liver crews. and is that at around 940 on tuesday morning and explosion took place the residence of lever cruz and are asked to go to close the roof, turn of air conditioning, and as a precaution, keep windows and doors closed. several employees are injured in the events, at least 2 of them seriously. they are currently receiving medical treatment. 5 employees are currently missing. police of other emergency services, calling for those on the highways around the area to pull into one side or the

other to create a rescue. gates, as they call here in germany, to allow more emergency services to arrive on the theme of there are tests being carried out on the air in the immediate vicinity and also in the surrounding area as well. this is germany's most populous area, writs most if they are of densest population as well. the area of north ryan with volley. you've got labor crews in cologne, dusseldorf, all of those major connotations all in a very tightly packed area. so for, for this to have happened in this region, it will affect a lot of people in the, the, the road that they said going into lay the cruise and completely closed off right now. in fact, i'll be heading off to that area. as soon as i'm done talking to you right now, we'll be getting as close as we can find out exactly what is happening on the scene . there are the site is one of the largest chemical parks in europe with around

30000 people actually working there. that's pete, it was saying more than $5000.00 chemicals are made there, including those use to make explosives. we discussed the blast with dr. sharon georgia senior electra and environmental sustainability from keel university. she says is not the visible black plumes of smoke. the local should be worried about can show it and she said it's not just the issue, but the contamination that you can see is that contamination that you can't say this is this the what the black smoke that you can see is particular that that is going to travel quite a distance from the side itself. so that was where the band i think is what we're concerned about is not just the immediate, the immediate range. and this is why the venture so significant because it's close to those populated areas. so we're going to have the pollution spread in a long way, going fast, so our to the door, it's going to be

a gas in the other people. and all the way when he does settle it may then move again, if he's soluble, if waynes and then i the travel again i was, the challenge here is, is to figure out exactly what is being dispersed and, and then to figure out how to contain it. and to make sure they know how to people know entry without a coven health pass. that's the new law which has been approved by the french parliament. it will restrict access to crowded public areas and travel. it comes as local authorities say the countries start struggling with a 4th wave. now, well then 25000 cages are reportedly registered a number of days ago. so hitting the streets is our fees charlotte, do, and sky take us through how the public is reacting to these highly controversial measures in a few days time. if you don't have a health pass,

you simply won't be able to do this. i don't want to see that was on a not regulation is already and for was a cultural institution that will not be extended to the venue to the new law. also requires all health care workers to be vaccinated against coby 19 is a suspension without pay. the president macro and says she refused to be a no q lated on selfish privilege. what is your freedom work? did you say to me? i don't want to be vaccinated, but tomorrow you in fact your father, your mother or me? one in, i think seeing that he is not the only one while more than a 160000 people rose up in anger against the controversial health feeling front. it's now being approved with poll, suggesting that the majority of people actually support the idea not got given right for people to infect others. and if you do not want to get vaccinated,

it's most of us actually realize that such a thing is a med, medical science exists and the father being pretty stupid, but it's your choice. so don't, don't fix, don't other finals on vaccination and on the vaccine, paul. so i think the president is a 100 percent. right. see a said you're looking for a job to around $6000000.00 have signed up to be knocked elated. think these plans were muted. just to read, to go to print, things are not ready to give up that you do the however your pool has gone exactly the government way. that was, he is opposition to the health pass that made its way through the french parliament, echoing concerns about the region of civil liberties filled the wrong not to get vaccinated, but the help passes an aberration because either we do it for re one or we don't do it at all, and for now we do not hang up or directv,

and the law is rather directive doesn't give much choice. so it forces the community to have a common sense of purpose. i don't think it liberty right now. it's not really france that is governance things. it's not the president of the republic in europe, which is it present doing that was just like see me, i'm vaccinated, but i'm not convinced everyone should be obligated to have the health. others have said they are prepared to fight, don't to defend their right to truth whether or not to be vaccinated. while over 6000 businesses have registered their intent, not to of people to show their health. as for me, on back can they did, is my choice. i'm not imposing it to anyone lecturing anyone about it. always reject any mandate that the cafe work into a police officer or health inspector. pres the macro. you're messing with elements, you won't be able to control. i refused to be a policeman. i run

a beast drove even the police don't want to enforce your orders as fast. but all 4th wave of the corona virus pandemic. many believe vaccination and controls on those who refuse one all the only way forward. swiss prosecutors have dropped a decade long investigation into suspected russian money laundering. they've dropped it apparently due to a lack of evidence. the investigation has not revealed the evidence that will justify charges being brought against any one in switzerland. the decision has therefore been taken to close the proceedings. alright, i think you got to start off joining us live in the studio to talk about this market to see you this evening. so i'd love to know a bit more about the case. but 1st of all, the how did russia 1st grab the attention of switch? prosecutors? well, as you've said, brewery, this was a very long investigation. and it was looking into suspected money laundering by the russians in the period between 20082010. and like, in any case, there's

a plaintiff and a defendant, russian officials were, of course, the defendants. and the plaintiff is the hermitage capital fund, which was headed by bill brown. it still is in fact and remember this name because it is important in the story. because bill brown was the one who accused the russians masterminding a dirty money scheme for years. his fund had been the largest for an investor into russia, so he brought a claim to himself to be the victim of the fraud. and he accused the russian officials of siphoning some $230000000.00. and why this case was looked into in switzerland and not white was open in switzerland and not in russia when the us, when any other country, because apparently switzerland was alleged to be the main conduit for this debt. the money for all these years, bill brown wanted to get russia so badly was really well. he pushed and pulled

every political lever that he had in his disposal. like our view is at least some of them must have heard of the magnet sky act. for example, of the us, that's essentially a list of sanctions against the russian nationals who the us believes to be just corrupt. and it was named in fact, against bill brown as former employee who aided build browder in this chase against russia. and but judging by the outcome of this, the geisha by switzerland, which again was going on for like about 10 years. judging by the outcome, judging by the fact that the case just fell apart without any evidence. the us and other nations like the e u, for example, who, who compiled these mac, nit ski act, magnets you lose targeting suspected? well targeting alleged corruption as well. clearly the jumped the gun because if the us, for example, was so sure and had the black rock solid evidence that the russians. but those at least those russians who were on this list, at least those names that they did something wrong that they were complicit in.

this money laundering scheme, if they had evidence of that, why not show it and said, well supply the swiss prosecution with that, why not submitted to them? so my question is, how did william browder actually receive this news? you know, 1010 years long's investigations been going on while 10 years long, and that's about as long as bill brown couldn't. well, he couldn't stop talking about russia. i mean, getting russia and the russian authorities for this was his magnum opus. so it doesn't take, well, it doesn't take too much brains to find out how he reacted to this. he didn't take it well at all. i mean, go in his twitter page. it's almost his content is almost exclusively focused on how russia is corrupt, how it is evil on all these, you know, magnet ski, act lose, and what not. so his statement on this ruling hardly comes as a surprise swiss prosecutors and drop russian money laundering inquiry and magnets

case. this happened after one of the key officials was court taking bribes from the russians to do just this. a very dark stain on switzerland. so now switzerland is evil, to welcome to welcome to russia's company, i guess. but what he the point he's making here in the suite, he blames this ruling uncorrupted with officials. and indeed, several, several in the prosecution have been while they have been accused of accepting very lavish gifts from russia and it's been alleged that they were doing so in return to well discussing the, discussing the state of affairs with this particular case and investigation. but all of this has happened just lately while even halfway through the case. so, years ago, swiss officials and swiss prosecutors, they had said that they had told the router that this case is going no way that it will fall apart. and it did. all right, all the years down off. thank you and i.