but now, there is ethnic cleansing. if they want it, they would stop it >> reporter: serious accusations from a u.s. ally who fears his people, two million kurds, have no safe future richard engel, nbc news, northern syria. >>> and now to the showdown over impeachment, after another wild week in washington the president's personal attorney, rudy giuliani, is under new scrutiny tonight, for allegedly pressing for a favor for a fired ukrainian prosecutor nbc's hans nichols is at the white house. >> reporter: the latest accusation against rudy giuliani, that he lobbied the trump administration to secure a u.s. visa for the fired ukrainian prosecutor at the center of the impeachment inquiry. victor shokin helped giuliani form the basis fort unproven story that he was fired so he would not investigate joe biden's son's work in ukraine. after the visa request was denied, giuliani appealed to the white house, which also rejected it the accusation comes from closed door testimony from a career diplomat on friday, according to n

but at least apparently some ethnic cleansing.and there is a reference to war crimes. is there consideration of taking turkey to the hague if war crimes have been committed? >> on the war crimes, we're looking into those allegations and we actually have a set of packages we've sent demanding an explanation. we'll look at the various options. but you're absolutely right, one reason we tried so hart to stop the turks from coming in is pau because we knew it could lead to all of the things you mentioned and more. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i have the utmost respect for you and my colleagues on the other side but i find the level of hypocrisy is nowhere close to bipartisanship here. what i see is you don't like president trump, you don't like his policies. i hear that coming out through the last member that testified. president trump you said through his actions created a humanitarian crisis. that's terrible. i agree there is a humanitarian crisis, but there's been a civil war going on there for over eight years. 800,000 people have

syrians not only kurds now turkey is also doing an ethnic cleansing for assyrians from the southern from the northern part we never heard about turkey's role to give money and support and finances and weapons to the yes they are the head of the shah in live and the role that. just last month they closed the bubble how our border in the face of these fighters they have no idea what i'm talking about they don't know what i know maher are you know well you know why i vow shall not speak badly of a nato ally that's why it happens here. gets a free pass for all of its bad behavior in the region amar let me go back to you i mean. now is the kurds a big no no and. they would know what kurd if it hit him in the face but that's beyond the point again because of what the media coverage here well you know what's what's very interesting to me is that what is what is in the minds of the deep state here i mean if you leave syria is it the domino for one side gone falls the rest of asia goes i mean is this the thinking that's coming here about withdrawing 2000 troops because that sends a signal of

there are also fears about ethnic cleansing, and what the u.s. would do to stop it. abc news foreign correspondent james longman is in the region. >> reporter: with reports of pockets of fighting raging on, it seems to have been a pause that never was. but tonight kurdish forces have withdrawn from the key town of ras al-ayn, the first pullout since the conflict began. this move required as part of the deal the u.s. struck with turkey last week in which a safe zone would be carved out all along the border. president trump defending the deal. >> sometimes you have to go through some pain before you can get a good solution, but the kurds are very happy about it. [ speaking foreign language ] >> reporter: but kurdish commander nesrin abdulla says with more than 200 dead, they are far from happy. donald trump says the kurds are happy. [ speaking foreign language ] >> translator: i would tell mr. trump that the kurds are not happy. they've killed all these people so of course we are not happy. this agreement has allowed turkey to occupy our land and kill our people. >> re

so the deal we signed with erdogan has led directly to this ethnic cleansing in northern syria's indigenous kurdish region. it's a disgrace. these people fought with us, these people took bullets for us. these people were our loyal and faithful allies. for the united states to turn our backs on them, or to start a series of events, chain of events, which would hurt them, really is a very dark day in our country's history. as the kurds fight to survive this onslaught, they've been forced to abandon their watch over the prison holding thousands of isis fighters, over 100 of these terrorists have reportedly escaped. and now a situation in northeast syria is a humanitarian and national security crisis. in a region already rife with conflict, tur keys' military operation is wreaking more havoc. rather than hold cur to tee -- turkey accountable for how they've conducted this bloody campaign, president trump has given them a free pass, when the head of isis was finally killed -- a free pass. when the head of isis was finally killed, president trump unfortunately thanked the turks, thanked the turk

, at least apparently some ethnic cleansing.there was a reference to war crimes. takingsideration of turkey to the hay if war crimes had been committed. mr. jeffrey: we are looking into those allegations. we have a set of packages. levels sent high demanding explanations. you're absolutely right. the one reason we tried so hard to stop the turks was we knew it could lead to all of the things you mentioned and more. chairman, i mr. have the utmost respect for you and my colleagues on the others. isind a level of hypocrisy nowhere close to bipartisanship. what i see is you don't like president trump, his policies, i hear that coming out. said throughmp you his actions created humanitarian crisis. that is terrible. there has been a civil war going on over there for over eight years. in hundred thousand people have died. the largest exodus of people on the planet since world war ii. i will yield if i can reclaim my time. more than willing to engage in a discussion about whether his action to withdraw our troops turning its back on t

ethnic cleansing. this is a military operation to get rid of one ethnic group and replace them with another. replace them with 2 1/2 million, syrian refugees who will come under a resettlement plan. ethn e ethnic cleansing. donald trump says this is a bad but i don't see the same passion in president trump to this as to other issues. this is ethnic cleansing and the invasion of one country by another. and by the way, it is not just president trump. the nato chief says that he will call president erdogan friday. friday. >> remarkable. >> he says i call on turkey to act with restraint. we've just seen jets take off from the air base and bomb places that we know from turkey's attack last year that they do not act with restraints. >> and this air base is used by nato forces. and this is a complicating factor. turkey is a nato ally and kurds are an ally. don't go anywhere. i want to join in graeham wood, staff writer for the atlantic. you wrote prior to this happening but as a result of the decision allies a

he gets to, and i want to be clear about this, gets to ethnically cleanse northeast syria of kurds. not just the kurdish fighter, all of the kurdish civilians. he views them as a huge threat. this is what he wanted to do. but in fact this whole story is a story about giving erdogan everything he wants at the tremendous cost of the lives of the people at the ground and the american interests. so we're helping turkey advance its project of of ethnically cleansing the area of the kurds, and president trump himself referred himself to the turkish plan as cleaning it out. >> you have a 22-mile strip that for many, many years turkey in all fairness they've had a legitimate problem with it. they had terrorists, a lot of people in there they kpt have, and they suffered loss of lives also and they had to have it cleaned out. >> had to have it cleaned out. that is the one story. that is story that's dominating a lot of the politics and coverage. everyone is watching and thinking why did this happen, right? 354 people in the house condemned trump's decision, that includes 129 republicans. most

gates are open to the mostly arab refugees, there will be a scramble for land and killings, ethnic cleansing and civil war. already human rights groups accused turkey and militias of possible war crimes including targeting kurdish civilians. >> richard engel in syria tonight, thanks.>>> the s responding to the uproar over an explosive admission about ukraine by the acting white house chief of staff nbc's kristen welker has more on that. >> reporter: tonight, the trump administration in damage control mode with backlash growing after acting chief of staff mick mulvane under cut the president's denials of a quid pro quo with ukraine. >> do you want to clarify what he said. >> i think he clarified it. >> reporter: on thursday saying the president wanted ukraine's help with a justice department investigation before he would give military aid. >> the look back to what happened in 2016 certainly was part of the thing that he was worried about in corruption with that nation that is absolutely appropriate. >> reporter: later, backtracking that despite what he said on camera, quote, there was absolut

wants is ethnic cleansing.t depends on where and how -- >> if the u.n. , would you support june -- german boots on the ground? >> we are not talking about hypothetical conclusions. it to see russia as a permanent member being involveved in this conflict, i don'n't see this coming. we have to enforce anything that is possible. in a diplomatic and humanitarian way. i don't think the military option is the one to choose now. >> that you don't categorically oppose german boots on the ground? >> i don't see german boots on the ground. >> today in british parliament, they gave him one that they denied him another. lawmakers have voted given pulmonary approval to boris johnson's exit bill then after that, they rejected a timetable for debating the bricks legislation. the first bill -- debating the brexit legislation. it was passed with a majority. as the first time they have approved leaving the eu. that's historical. losing the second vote means that boris johnson without be able to take written out of the eu by the

engage in the ethnic cleansing of the kurds.d the united states of america and their president is now allowing him to do just that after the kurds helped us destroy isis. the president said that he just wanted to thank the kurds. the kurds -- kurds, those are the same allies of ours, mr. president, that you actually compared to isis. but you said our allies are even more dangerous than isis. so why are you congratulating somebody who said just yesterday is more dangerous than isis and you say this is a great day for the kurds? no. they're fleeing into the desert as the admiral said with winter coming on they are all fleeing into the desert because ethnic cleansing is coming just as winter is coming. i don't -- i don't even know where to begin here. ed luce, it seems impossible to sort through all of the lies and the nonsense, the president saying right there. all he's done is he's given cowards in the united states congress a chance to say the president's working out a deal when, in fact, it's not a ceasefire. the turks aren't c

it's ethnic cleansing. can you assure the kurdish people and the president's allies in congress that you will not be party to ethnic cleansing? >> george, we were very clear and the vice president could not have been more clear when we were speaking with president erdogan. go take a look at the statement that was released jointly. no fewer than three of the paragraphs were aimed squarely at ensuring that in this space, this turkish controlled space, that there wouldn't be attacks on minorities, that this was about getting a cease-fire, a secure area, and that this, in fact, will save lives in that very space. that was our mission set. we accomplished it and now we made to make sure that the commitments were honored. >> the turks said they got everything that they wanted. >> yeah, i was there. it sure didn't feel that way when we were negotiating. it was a hard fought negotiation. it began even before the vice president and i arrived in ankara. it lasted hours while we were there. we achieved the outcome tha

five years are deeply worried that president trump has allowed turkey to unleash a campaign of ethnic cleansing against the kurds because tonight, we're learning more details about what turkey plans to do with the so-called safe zone that president trump ceded to turkey in exchange for stopping the assaults erdogan today said he plans to settle one to two million syrian refugees in the new zone the kurds worry as soon as the flood gates are open to the mostly arab refugees, there will be a scramble for land and vendetta killings, ethnic cleansing and civil war. already human rights groups accused turkey and militias of possible war crimes including targeting kurdish civilians. >> richard engel in syria tonight, thanks. >>> the white house is responding to the uproar over an explosive admission about ukraine by the acting white house chief of staff nbc's kristen welker has more on that. >> reporter: tonight, the trump administration in damage control mode with backlash growing after acting chief of staff mick mulvane under cut the president's denials of a quid pro quo with ukraine. >> do you wan

it's the biggest blunder of the presidency and noticed we are witnessing ethnic cleansing, the destruction of the reliable ally in the reemergence of isis. the choice was impossible to understand. the former ambassador argued that they were instrumental in the successful fight leaving them to die is a big mistake. not one decision could unite democrats and republicans and deal yields this result it epitomizes the approaches of the world and i would urge my republican colleagues to remember that it's not the only example president trump would help $391 million since the ukraine and stayed at war with russia in a conflict that has killed more than 13,000 people as part of an effort to compel them to dig up dirt on the political opponent that should unite us all in rejecting a foreign-policy experts ambition over national interest and so lead ousullyour nation's honor d credibility. i look forward to the testimonies and suggestions on how to achieve the national interest. with that i will yield to mr. wilson for his opening statement. >> thank you for calling this important hearing. the unite

to avoid ethnic cleansing and make sure they have air cover they need.ow president trump in this administration, has done a much better job of meeting the needs of the kurds, the kurds have been with us, sacrificed 11,000 lives in this defense. and fighting against isis. elizabeth: the president is getting criticized for the way the pull-out was handled. house democrats are attacking president trump's pullback as benefiting russia. remember this 2016 "washington post" headline reads obama proposes new military partnership with russia and syria. talking about using forces with u.s. and russian air air force o coordinate a bombing campaign there is a lot of back and forth. >> we have to make certain this isis does not reform, they do not go back to other countries, they don't go into the european countries. they don't come back and attack us. the kurds have been there, have been protects the towns where the isis fighters are held. yes, some have escaped. some of these families have escaped. they are going back to syria, back to iraq and other countries, wh

they have suffered one round of tests ethnic cleansing and that is why they are so alarmed. host: where will they go? guest: some will try to enter into iraqi kurdistan, which is an aspect that could become regional. their only option is to flee deeper south into syria where isis resurgence is greater then in the far northeast, or iraqi kurdistan. it remains to be seen whether iraqi kurds are willing to take refugees. host: brian, woodbridge, virginia, independent. caller: i am impressed with your knowledge of this issue. you are the exact opposite of the guess that was on before. she had a lot of misinformation. the only thing she had that was true was at the turkish president called up trump and said, i am coming in, and trump responded, i will open the door and get out your way. which is very dishonorable, because the kurdish people are our only sincere allies there. they should have a homeland and modern syria and we should have defended them. saudi arabia and israel and turkey are two face did -- faced allies. they are very insincere. israel saudi arabia, and , you have

we must not stand silent as turkey attempts the ethnic cleansing of the kurds in syria. and putin said the armenian people went through one of the greatest tragedies. iran's former vice president stated the government perpetrated genocide. it's our rivals can talk about this, if they can take a stand, certainly we can. armenian genocide, we must say it is here, it's happened, it will never happen again. we must make that commitment. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: entlewoman's time has expired. the gentleman from new jersey. mr. smith: i yield such time to the gentleman from florida, congressman bilirakis. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. bilirakis: thank you very much, mr. speaker. it has been more than 100 years since the atrocities committed against innocent armenians and other ethnic and religious minorities at the hands of the ottoman empire. the ottoman empire genocidal mpaign from 1915 to 1923 killed 1.5 million armenians, men and women and children as assyrians, s, chaldeans and syriacs through executions and death marches. we are

we're witnessing ethnic cleansing in syria by turkey and the reemergence of isis. the conditional sanctions today will be viewed by turkey as a tepid respond and will embolden their president even more. >> let me explain. this is a multi-step process. the first was making sure we have the proper authorizations. if we go to maximum pressure, which we have the right to do, at a moment's notice the president calls me and tells me, we will do that. we can shut down all u.s. dollar transactions with the entire government of turkey. >> is that something you may do? >> it's something we may do. absolutely. there's full authority within the eo and it's something at a moment's notice the president can tell me to do. >> explain something to me the president said about this. take a listen. >> now the kurds are fighting for their land, just so you understand. they're fighting for their land. somebody wrote in a very, very powerful article today, they didn't help us in the second world war. they didn't help us with normandy as an kpm parking l ex. >> what is he talking about? f

don't carry it with all the kurds from is a tricky one he said he wanted to basically ethnic cleansing don't carry it with all the kurds from there wasn't that strong that khrushchev that of syria and by bringing islamic law there it wasn't that strong that khrushchev that of syria and by bringing islamic state. perfect example look at all it was 99 percent credit since the perfect example look at all it was 99 percent credit so there's about 10 percent good because all of the islamist there they were hurt i was there not much that is about 10 percent good because all of the islamists there they were hurt i was there not much better than fall apart and i think it's a mistake that for russia is one of the fall apart and i think it's a mistake that for russia is one of the superpower out there with the powers out there to be partnering with to ruthlessly superpower out there with the powers out there to be partnering with to ruthlessly geom in that region turkey and iran and and i think it's about the team in the region turkey and iran and i think it's about time for the united states an

we didn't hear anything yesterday about what steps will be taken to prevent ethnic cleansing as turkey has promised to return press up to 3 million arab syrians to that region and what that will meet in terms of potential clashes with the syrian kurds. i think it left this one for a lot of answers. >> host: what was the alternative, to keep u.s. troops in syria indefinitely, to keep troops in between what was becoming a shooting war between turkey and the kurds, surge more troops into the region? >> guest: let me start by saying the decision made in late september, late september or in september to remove the 50 or so you'll soldiers, that was necessary because what we don't want is a small contingent of your soldiers between two convergent forces. but when people say the president greenlighted turkey, a green light wasn't in september. the green light was back last year in december when the president announced wicklund withdraw 2000 troops in syria. it was at the time turkey began to mobilize its apparatus to prepare for an invasion that was going to take place in did this year in nor

for years erdogan has wanted to ethnically cleanse north eastern syria of kurds. that's what he wanted and that was the ultimate point of this. the deal struck today turkey will pause for five days to allow the kurds to leave the area thereby ethnically cleansing themselves so turkey can go and get the rest of that territory. in exchange the u.s. agreed to remove economic sanctions imposed earlier this week as well as the threat of other sanctions. meaning turkey has gotten what it wanted. curdish allies who lost 11,000 people people siding side by side of american soldiers with isis have now been repaid by removal from the land. >> joining me tammy duckworth. iraq war veteran. purple heart recipient. the vice president and senator mike pompeo saying this is huge deal today but the facts appear to essentially allow the turks to kind of allow a campaign of ethnically cleansing the area of kurds and the u.s. withdrawal of sanctions. how did you see the deal? >> how is this a huge deal to have essentially 120-hour pause on a situation created by the white house? we a

and while this is happening, there is ethnic cleansing under way. that is a very, very big word, but it is the only word we are hearing right now. already, a quarter of a million people have been forced to leave their homes. and the kurdish commander thinks once the turks restart this offensive, the rest of them are going to be forced out. >> brett, you just heard that record from richard. you have been to syria. you have been to where richard is at right now. ethnic cleansing is a strong phrase. is there any other way to describe it, though? >> well, first, where richard is standing, that is the heart of what used to be the isis caliphate. it's important to remember why is this area important, why are we there? this is the headquarters of isis, the main supply routes for isis which came through turkey when they were enslaving thousands of women, holding slave markets to trade them around to different fighters. planning and plotting attacks against us in the united states and against our frndz in europe. that's why this is so important. erdogan by h

i knowi say this and for two yee have a family live with us because of ethnic cleansing. i'm very familiar with that and i want to know, what can we do? what can be done? we saw the atrocities already happening. what can we do? >> think you, corfman. i think it's a valid concern. we could be concerned about this on frankly both sides of the turkish line of advance. because we have not really had insight into what has been happening in the other turkish occupied enclaves of syria, the shield pockets. one thing that we will want from the turks, if we're going to go there and try to talk to them, if we are going to be threatening them with sanctions, we will want transparency and humanitarian access into any zones they occupy to ensure that these things are happening. whether it's turkish authorities or more likely at the hands of some of these extremist proxies we've seen up to no good in recent days. on the other side of that line, i think it's even more challenging because obviously, the assad regime has brutalized the population in areas that it has reoccupied and so, to

this is not ethnic cleansing, this is ourfight against a terrorist organisation and when we clea n aisation and when we clean this area, everybody should be included for any governance over there, and more than 300,000... about 350,000 syrian kurds will go back to ein a la rab, kobane, or their homes. this is not... let me put to you what's going on the ground, and it's really causing a lot of alarm because there are huge accusations of human rights abuses. i'll give you one example, former british foreign secretary david miliband, head of the international rescue committee operates on the ground in northern syria, he said "worst crimes are coming to pass. there are war crimes against the billions, a grave danger to children. as a result this is not a safe zone you are creating but a killing zone". this is unacceptable. i have to disagree and what he has said is unacceptable for us, and there are some claims and sometimes... but you see the dirty propaganda as well. rupert colville, a spokesperson for the united nations human rights organisation, has said that there are... he says, "

rights conventions that turkey has signed off to and they did this and it comes at the price of ethnic cleansing also in the north you have seen $180000.00 people fleeing already from the kurdish areas further to the east these people will not be able to return and especially not resettlement is taking place by turkey for thing arab syria refugees out of turkey into that zone so we see different levels of violations of international humanitarian law and that of course is inacceptable do you see nato becoming a spectator to this ethnic cleansing as you describe it now has been a spectator to the. well conflict in syria is not the 1st time that major human rights violations take place so at the moment it has none of itself in a very difficult position how to intervene at the fates of the conflict bendish eller from the 100 bull foundation thanks very much for coming in thank you why amnesty international says its research backs up claims that turkey has been forcibly returning thousands of syrian refugees across the border and those findings suggest that thousands of people were illegally returned

the kurds are voicing concern about ethnic cleansing. our george stephanopoulos asked secretary of state mike pompeo about that concern. >> can you assure the kurdish people and the president's allies in congress that you will not be party to ethnic cleansing? >> george, we were very clear and the vice president could not have been more clear when we were speaking with president erdogan in that turkish controlled space that there wouldn't be attacks on minorities, that this was about getting a cease-fire, a secure area and that this, in fact, will save lives. >> that cease-fire deal brokered by the u.s. has been criticized as favorable to turkey allowing its troops to occupy new territory while forcing the kurds from their homes. >>> the army is trying to determine why three soldiers were killed during a training exercise at a base in georgia. their bradley fighting vehicle like this one rolled over into water early sunday morning at ft. stewart. investigators are looking at a variety of potential causes. >> fortunately casualties in tra

rights conventions that turkey has signed off to and they do this and it comes at the price if ethnic cleansing also of the law if you have seen $180000.00 people fleeing already from the kurdish terrorists further to the east these people will not be able to return and especially not resettlement is taking place by turkey poor thing arab syria refugees out of turkey into that cell and so we see different levels of violations of international humanitarian law and that of course is inacceptable do you see nato becoming a spectator to this ethnic cleansing as you describe it nato has been a spectator to the whole conflict in syria it is not the 1st time that major area rights violations take place so at the moment it has maneuvered itself in a very difficult position how to intervene at the state of the conflict bendish eller from the 100 bull foundation thanks very much for coming in thank you. let's review now some of the other stories making the news at this hour wildfires in southern california for some $50000.00 people from their homes there is also been experiencing power outages still the

campaignafew the ypg in an ethnic cleansing campaign a few years ago.some bad blood between them. i do not accept the statement that there is an impending genocide against all kurdish syrians, kurdish syrians account for about 10— 12% of the population. the turkish operation and the syrian allies of theirs are not interested in annihilating the syrian kurds. they are specifically going after the ypg. in terms of isis in northern syria, how worried should we be about what is happening now and its impact on isis fighters that are there? we should be worried as well. this chaos, this fighting between a nato ally and isis partners and the possibility of the regime and the russians are benefiting from it creates a vacuum, clearly, there are some prisoners who have already been attacked and some people who have escaped from them. so this group can easily merge into the local population, go underground, and recruit again. and soi underground, and recruit again. and so i would be concerned, though i don't assess this to be a major crisis yet, because the caliph

do you really think president trump, in his moves, is endorsing ethnic cleansing right now?n't really see how that's an escapable conclusion, because he said they had to do what -- they have a security concern. they have to do what they have to do and used the expression even, clean out the territory. he didn't use the word ethnic, i suppose. you could grasp at straws in that way. i think he basically, in departing, was focused on the narrative of get u.s. troops home. seize the backlash now internationally. hears from, of course, so many current and former military commanders about how hard this is going to make it for us to convince local actors to be our ground force against terrorist, whether it's isis reflourishing or other movements in other parts of the world, we need ground forces. nobody in either party wants to continue to be deploying u.s. forces into countries and cultures that they don't know where they have to learn on the fly, as they did in iraq back in the first decade of the 21st century, on the ground, in a combat role. nobody wants that. trump has made th

ethnic cleansing is a strong phrase is there any other way to describe it? >> first, where richard is standing, that is the heart of what used to be the isisin suppe s and women against our friends in europe. that's why this is so imane have to listen to what he's dens 450 kilometers by 30 kilometers, which is the entire -- from the euphrates river all the way to iraq he will then repopulate that zone with 2 million people and claims that that has been agreed to with the united states. u.s. officials describe it as a much more narrow area. and i think kurdish fighters will probably begin to pull out of that much more narrow area. but then to be replaced by these turkish extremist groups who are responsible for war crimes and other sorts oftr strategic debacle, within 48 hours the cease fire ends. also in 48 hours, president erdogan will be meeting with president putin in soc, particui that are majority kurd there are other areas in this strip that are majority christian. the fate of those areas, unfortunately, as we are seeding all our influence, will be dec

in regards to the claims that there will be an ethnic cleansing or change in demographics. it was pydg that changed demographics in most of north syria. when they, in fact, invaded and forced many people to flee, human rights watch and amnesty international published two reports about this issue about two years ago. one of the reports said that what they did in some of the arab towns may amount to war crimes. nobody has reported about this. we're not interested in occupying any part of syria or changing demographics. the syrians will go back to where they have come from. nobody forced to go anywhere they don't want to go. we cannot let pkk to have a state-like structure to our south. everybody knows that's pkk's intention in syria. you cannot fight one terrorist organization, meaning isis with pkk in syria. that's been very clear. the president has raised this issue with world leaders since the beginning of the syrian war. what we're trying to do now is to give the syrians themselves a chance to go back to their homes where they belong. >> fair enough. let me ask you, sir,

it's almost literally an endorsement of ethnic cleansing from the president. when one ethnic group needs to be cleaned out of an area. that's where we got the idea of ethnic cleansing. the president endorsing that overtly today. everything from that to the other thing that mulvaney was sent out to the podium to announce today, which is that the u.s. government will, screw it, will host the next g-7 summit at the president's personal property in florida. the u.s. constitution just bluntly says you cannot do that. you cannot take foreign payments as president of the united states. you cannot profit from the presidency like that. you just can't. the president announcing, you know what? we're going to hold the g-7 at doral. it's the only place in america that will work. and no, i'm not going to tell you all the other places we looked at, i'm just taking the money. i don't know if they're trying to shoot the moon or goad the democrats into moving even more aggressively on impeachment than they already are. i don't know. but today felt like a turning point for a lot

then and this is essentially ethnic cleansing again this seems to be new appetite to bring this up in the senate but it shows that turkey which has spent many many millions of dollars in lobbying against such measures in the past seems to have run a friends on capitol hill for the time being at least and certainly we know again from the turkish foreign minister he says that any decision to impose sanctions would set. only be an insult to a need to ally and would also be very much against the ceasefire deal that was negotiated by mike pence and brought in because of the turkish offensive against the kurds an official thank you very much indeed the top u.s. government official says he raised concerns twice over the president's efforts to pressure ukraine to investigate a political rival i did sound of inman has been testifying as part of the impeachment inquiry into donald trump how did you cast your reports from washington d.c. . alexander venom and is a u.s. army colonel wounded in iraq veteran and the 1st impeachment witness with 1st hand knowledge of the july phone call between pres

>> oh, he thinks they are facing ethnic cleansing and that it is going to get a lot worse and that it's going to get a lot worse in less than 24 hours when this u.s. brokered ceasefire with turkey expires. there are no indications, unless there is some last-minute intervention, some last-minute diplomacy, no indications this ceasefire is going to last because the kurds and the turks don't agree on the terms of the ceasefire. the turks think they're supposed to take control of a very large safe zone here inside syria. and the kurds think that it's much smaller and are not pulling out. i can tell you we've been told by u.s. officials and kurdish officials that kurdish forces have only pulled back from a small part of this so-called safe zone. so it seems highly likely that in less than 24 hours, that turk irk offensive irkish offensive is going to begin again. >> i don't know if you have a monitor there showing you what we're seeing here but it's individuals in syria holding up signs and they seem to be confronting u.s. troops as they leave. can you tell us about this scene? >> there were

the five days is in some significant way as samantha powers tweeted a kind of gesture towards ethnic cleansingn some ways. so it seems to me that if you're ally, you know that this is just the latest libya, the treaty with iran. there is no promise that america can make while donald trump is in office that the country will keep. if you're an adversary, you know you have a bully. you know you have someone who's pliable, who will move if you move him. if you don't blink he will blink first. so erdogan, whether he's an ally or whether he's an adversary he got what he want and trump looks like what he always looks like, a bully with no real punch. >> tell me what one can adduce about donald trump's view of the world if one can adduce anything from this. is this the trump foreign policy driven by whim caprice by matters that are inexplicable other than the desire to be on the good side of robert portmvl? >> i think we don't really know what role the fact that trump has business interests in turkey played in his decision to roll over to turkey. but what we do know is that vice president pence, they

nothing short of an ethnic cleansing campaign all driven by intolerance and sectarian hatred. i visited a camp in burma and i met with a young father whose children had all been born and were raised within the confines f a barbed wire perimeter. they lacked a mosque, didn't have any teachers. there was no regular medical care. they simply lived off the food that we were giving them. i looked at that young father and he said to me, what do i tell my son? i've got nothing. in china, the government has muslims in ons of education camps that hearkens back to chairman mow's revolution. beijing is determined to strip them of their individuality, identity, and their faith. in europe, the old scourge of anti-semitism is rearing its ugly head. violence against jews and their places of worship is on the rise. including yet another attack this very week in eastern germany. the su suspect apparently sought to live stream his gruesome acts. and i recently traveled to the nigerian countryside and i learned how extremists were exploiting local conditions in conflicts as fuel for jihad. but w

when you look at the bases of this whole fight, you are talking about ethnic cleansing. talking about people that are fighting that was our greatest allies in the region. you are talking about now this president has delivered a foothold, a strong one at that for russia, and he's helped assad who is an ally of russia. so this is no little thing to compare that to some kids fighting in the school yard, let them fight it out when you're talking about ethnic cleansing and having the enemy adversaries of this country get a real foothold in the middle east is absurd by anybody's standards. and i think that anybody that even acts like you can't even joke about this. i mean, we all sometimes do sound bytes. there is no sound byte. the seriousness of this i think really is appalling. >> and you talk about the impulsivity of this president, the lack of strategy as we talked about as it relates to ukraine, the defense there as it relates to syria here. you heard the president saying basically, yeah, sometimes you got to let them fight it out. 24 hours earlier this is what he said.

is it possible we're watching in real time what appears to be ethnic cleansing? >> reporter: i think that's very likely, because as u.s. troops consolidate their forces, that is a particularly vulnerable time for them. as you try to pack up and leave with honor, because u.s. troops do not want this to look like vietnam where you have the last few people rescued off of some rooftop, they want to leave in a dignified way, which means they are watching what is happening here extraordinarily closely. there was an incident earlier where as u.s. troops are pulling back, trying to defend themselves, trying to leave in an honorable way, a kurdish -- excuse me, a turkish militia, one of these radical forces, got too near to them, so u.s. troops had to do a show of force to scare them away, effectively. they are watching the environment, they are seeing what is happening. they are in contact still with the kurdish forces. this is not a situation where they are oblivious to what is going on. a u.s. official told me they are witnessing violations of the law of war. >> very q

and the kurds, this is an issue for them that turkey wants ethnic cleansing in this region.want to resettle millions of refugees on kurdish land pushing the kurds out. the u.s. should never facilitate that. >> what -- i guess why is turkey an ally now? at what point do we not consider them one? we have our nukes there. this is a disaster. >> i mean, in a way, if you think about it, n.a.t.o. grew out of the u.s. right at the end of world war ii deciding that they needed to invest in both turkey and greece to keep the governments being toppled from pro soviet elements within the countries. turkey is not only a member, n.a.t.o. started because of threats to turkey and greece. recent actions by missile defense systems from russia instead of u.s. systems and other steps, they're not an ally now. >> what do we do? how do you trust -- do you trust turkish soldiers standing next to american psoldier es for a n.a.t.o. mission? >> the mill to middle relationship has life blood in it. the political relationship is completely shot. there is this tie because many turkish military leaders