a lot of reaction we're joined by dr mark shanahan from the department of politics and international relations at the university of reading now trump spoke of a spectacular deal with the u.k. after brics that given his track record when it comes to trade is that a promise he can live up to. not really i mean what we have talking here a kind of mid ranking developer from one of the less popular new york baratz his business acumen is largely built on celebrity television the reality television of the apprentice in america it will not be his deal to make it will be a deal that is done by officials and actually has to be ratified by congress has to get through congress the house is against him he doesn't have any majority for it also we know that these deals take a very long time to bubble through and mature and he will be long gone from the white house even if he wins the election next year before there is any big wonderful beautiful trade deal that is of course if britain ever gets around to leaving the you today donald trump also weighed in on who should be the successor to theresa ma

shanahan very good to talk to you about this thank you so much for joining us there from london mark shanahan is from reading university in the u.k. thank you for your time. now the attack in southern yemen has killed a child and wounded 6 others the rebels launch rocket attacks on areas around tie there's also been fighting between you many government forces and the healthy established city that millions of people around the world are celebrating eades the holiday marking the end of the holy month of ramadan but in yemen families have little to celebrate ramadan a tab reports from the capital sana'a. the stands held was going he's broken taxi it was his all in last option to make ends meet for his big family he has no idea how they will celebrate their little 1st holiday marking the end of the holy month of ramadan but. i bought this taxi which help me meet my family's needs now it's broken down i can hardly afford daily meals let alone eat essential so my family. her clothes used to have better lives he was a military pilot before the war devastated yemen's air force the relocation of yemen

general hertling to you, your reaction to shanahan's departure, what do you think of his decision to pick the army secretary who we must note is a civilian. mark esper to replace shanahan. >> mark esper is very well respected within the army, he's been the secretary of the army for the last two years. he served in desert storm with the 101st airborne division. and got into the reserves while he did some activities in and around the washington area. he was in the washington, d.c., reserve group. he served a total of about 20 years in the army reserve, he has a good feel for the building. having been a liaison to raytheon corporation. he was a soldier, also was a businessman. and as connected to the heritage group in d.c. however, what i'd say is, there's a vast difference between being secretary of the army and being secretary of defense. army is an internal role focused on maintaining carrying and equipping one branch of the military. the secretary is more of a policy making role, certainly national security policy that will be a step for mr. esper as he fulfills that position. why did mr. shanahan wait so long? that's a great question, alex,

instead, he's decided to devote more time to his family. >> shanahan is going to be replaced by secretary of the army markng to the president. the former boeing executive ran -- that is shanahan by the way -- ran the pentagon since james mattis's resignation in december and recently told reporters shanahan's nomination was moving forward in the senate though the republican chair of the armed services committee said no official nomination has been received. >> joining us now, our nbc news pentagon reporter and hans nichols live at the courthouse. courtney, you reported last month that the president may have been having second thoughts about shanahan as defense secretary. why was that a month ago and only in the last few days did we learn there may be a bit of a personal hiccup with regard to the confirmation the confirmation and vetting process? >> so my colleague carol lee and leigh ann caldwell and i were digging into this for some time. the reality is president trump made patrick shanahan the acting secretary of defense more than six months ago now. and it was months before he actually said he was going

pat shanahan was acting. we put mark esper in. mark is highly experienced. i think he will fit in easily. >> [question inaudible] >> let's see what he does. i can tell you that the eu, if you look at the euro, they have a different stance than our folks do. we did something today that was very dramatic and frankly it's helped that part of the world. so we'll see what happens. they'll be making an announcement very soon. we'll see what happens. i want to be given a level playing field. so far i haven't been yeah, i would be allowed to speak to them easily. i speak to them anyway. >> [question inaudible] >> most likely that's what i'm thinking about doing. pretty soon. >> [question inaudible] >> we're looking at iran. a lot of things going with iran. we're very prepared for iran. we'll see what happens. let me say this. we're very prepared. regardless of what goes, we're very, very prepared. if you look at what has taken place, if you look at what they have done, if you look at -- i'm not just talking about over the last week. i'm talking about over a long per

patrick shanahan is out. mark es per secretary of the army is the new acting secretary of defense. the back story is ugly. the announcement came within minutes of a "washington post" report. that out lined alleged domestic violence incidents within shanahans family. we'll have more on the story. first, the president has wrapped up this rally in orlando tonight. where he delivered his message to die hard supporters. >> our patriotic movement has been under assault from the very first day. we accomplished more than any other president has in the first two and a half years of the presidency. and under circumstances that no president has had to deal with before. because we did in the middle of the great and illegal witch hunt things na nobody has been able to accomplish. not even close. nobody's done what we have done in two and a half years. >> president wasted no time going after democrats. >> our radical democrats opponents are drien by hatred. prejudice and rage. they want to destroy you and our country as we know it. not acceptable. it's not going to happen. >> the president left

both pat shanahan and mark esper, the outgoing and incoming acting defense secretaries.what we have heard from the pentagon, what we have heard from the president, president trump has not ruled out using military force, although we constantly hear as we did from peter navarro avoiding all-out war. how specifically do you want to see us respond to the latest developments. >> first, we need to continue to make it absolutely clear to iran that we will have zero tolerance for the targeting of the united states, of united states personnel, of united states national security interests. when you attack the united states, it is very different than a situation where they might be aggressive in a neighboring country. we're concerned about that but as far as red lines on our end, there should be a military response if we're attacked by iran. that message needs to be out there. i want to reiterate, i don't want to see a military option. that's the last possible option. the president doesn't want military conflict. i don't believe that our country wants military conflict. but i do be

administration's national security and foreign policy is the man trump has nominated to replace shanahan is mark as spur he's been secretary of the army since 2017 esper also has experience as a congressional member of staff but his 7 years as a defense industry lobbyist may be a weakness during senate confirmation hearings that were better to have a confirmed secretary of defense might say with regard to marcos where we all know him. i think that's a good choice for acting the pentagon's clout in advising the president is widely seen as having suffered since the departure of trump's 1st defense secretary general jim mattis he was opposed to the u.s. leaving the iran nuclear accord and eventually quit in december when trump announced plans to pull special forces from syria it's just that right now because you don't have someone who is in that permanent position they're not able to influence the level of authority and forwards over decision making and that gives the president's national security adviser john bolton an enormous berth in terms of his ability to. in force and shape the direction of

mark: i'm mark crumpton with bloomberg first word news. acting defense secretary patrick shanahanithdrawn from consideration to take over the post on a permanent basis. president trump revealed the news on twitter. he says he will name secretary of the army mark esper as the new acting defense secretary. president trump revealed the news on twitter. he says he will name secretary of the army mark esper as the new acting defense secretary. shanahan's exit comes as reports of alleged a mystic abuse with his former wife have surfaced. senate minority leader chuck schumer says -- >> here to tell the people at a rally want you want to do in iraq. the policy in iran has been erratic and opaque. nobody knows what their plans are and why they are doing what. as we have learned since the 60's, unless the american people on board with a strategy, ultimately it will not get their support, and congresses support. mark: there are concerns about increasing tension between washington and tehran in the persian gulf region. iran says it is breaking compliance with the international agreement that

mark s. but is a former arms industry lobbyist and will replace acting defense secretary patrick shanahan. well now to sudar and leading a protest group that says that it has accepted a plan for a transitional government put forward by ethiopia's prime minister r.b.a. ahmed's called for sudan to immediately form a joint military and civilian government for the next 3 years now this would include a council with 7 civilians 7 members of the military and one person who is approved by both sides. here in the u.k. police say they will take no further action after being called to the home of farce johnson a leading candidate to take of the conservative party offices were asked to investigate reports of a domestic incident after a neighbor claimed to have heard a loud ulta cation involving screaming followed by slamming and banging during an interview event in birmingham johnson downplayed the incident saying that the audience wasn't interested in what happened john johnston is a political reporter at politics home and said this incident could affect his campaign what this will do is this is goin

administration's national security and foreign policy is the man trump has nominated to replace shanahan is mark esper he's been secretary of the army since 2017 esper also has experience as a congressional member of staff but his 7 years as a defense industry lobbyist may be a weakness during senate confirmation hearings i do think we're better to have a confirmed secretary of defense might say with regard to marcus where we all know him. i think that's a good choice for acting the pentagon's clout in advising the president is widely seen as having suffered since the departure of trump's 1st defense secretary general jim mattis he was opposed to the u.s. leaving the iran nuclear accord and eventually quit in december when trump announced plans to pull special forces from syria it's just that right now because you don't have someone who is in that permanent position they're not able to influence the level of authority and forwards over decision making and that gives the president's national security adviser john bolton an enormous berth in terms of his ability to enforce and shape the direction

e president says secretary of the army mike esper -- mark esper will take shanahan's place as actingtagon chief. >>> and facebook says that it will soon roll out a new digiou digit currency thatan be used all over the world. it is called libra and is expected to launch in the next 6 to 1months. the occur of currency will be backed by real money, more than two dozen companies inuding visa, mastercard and paypal have already signed upu to lah and xwofrn the use govern the use. sounds interesting. six months to get used to it.>> e've already decided we're not using it. >> no, we're not playing. >> you can use it first. you be thea guinepig. >> i'll try it first. >>> first at n4:00,teen's emotional reaction to seeing color for the first time. t was a graduation gift changing her life and how her community came together to make it happen. >>> plus a sneak peek inside the new exhibit at the space museum. aimee cho shows us thetreasures on display to commemorate 50 years since neil armstrong walked on the moon. >>> and the la check of the radar. most of us mainly dry, but we will continue t

it just came up and i think we did it very quickly. .at shanahan was acting we put mark esper in.e is highly experienced. reporter: [inaudible] federal reserve. pres. trump: let's see what he does. i can tell you draghi, with the eu, the euro, they have a much different stance. as you know, he did something dramatic. was very we will see what happens. they are going to be making an announcement pretty soon so we will see what happens. i want to be given a level playing field. so far, i haven't been. allowed to speak to him very easily. i speak to him anyway. reporter: [inaudible] pres. trump: most likely, that's what i'm thinking about doing. pretty soon. iran, we have at a lot of things going with iran. we are very prepared. we will see what happens. we are very prepared regardless of what goes on. you look at what has taken place , and i'm not just talking about over the past week, i'm talking about a long period of years, they've been a nation of terror. romaine: we were just listening on his president trump way to his rally in florida, giving a wide range of responses to iran.

instead, he's tapped mark esper to handle that job. shanahanpersonal family issues that came up and a lot of back and forth on that. the better part of valor was to step down and not go through the process. the read on the above with the north carolina republican senator a key member of the senate armed services committee, tom tillis. good to have you back. >> thanks, neil. >> neil: the president and his comments particularly regarding the acting defense secretary who did not go through this confirmation process given the revelations, what do you think? >> it's new information. shanahan decided to step aside. the president identified somebody that i've had the opportunity to work with. esper will not miss a stride and will continue to do the good work under this administration. >> neil: so it comes at a time as you know where the president is sort of upping the ante with iran, hoping to bring an additional 1,000 troops to the region. what do you think of that, whether it's enough, tomorrow, escalating the crisis? >> based on the briefings that

mark s. but a former industry lobbyist and current on the secretary to replace patrick shanahan he withdrew his nomination of the facing questions over his personal life but will take over as acting and to can chief on sunday let's go live now to washington on the job castro is for us how is president trump's decision making over iran being viewed in the u.s. capital. well many are seeing it with concern adrian as well as confusion the public statements that the president gave before hand seeming to offer a rant and alex by suggesting that it was a mistake not made by the central iranian government or rather by a rogue general and then later on deciding to cancel the military retaliation with in his own words 10 minutes to spare and all of this feud in the greater context of the to mulch us transitions that we've been seeing at the department of defense the u.s. has now not had a permanent secretary of defense for 6 months which shatters the previous record 3 times over in u.s. history for not having a permanent person in that he position if i recall gym mat as he was the last senate confirmed

today, acting defense secretary patrick shanahan pulled his nomination to the permanent post or had his nomination pulled. the secretary of the army, markce shanahan in the interim. so the acting defense secretary will be replaced by another acting defense secretary. that's a whole lot of acting. but in this white house, it's all too real. scrolling beside me is a list of all the top trump administration officials with acting titles. and there are a few biggies here. defense secretary, homeland security secretary, u.n. ambassador. oh, by the way, the white house chief of staff, who is also the acting consumer financial protection board. he's two acting. and the president seems to be in no reassure to make any of these temporary roles permanent. >> i sort of like acting. it gives me morepl flexibility. do you understand that? >> there's a lot of truthiness to that answer for him. true, these senamembers don't n really being if charge, of having their orders is actually get implemented because you see, they're not the true authorities. they're just acting like them. . (woman) when you take align, you have the support of a probiotic and th

administration's national security and foreign policy is the man trump has nominated to replace shanahan is mark esper he's been secretary of the army since 2017 esper also has experience as a congressional member of staff but his 7 years as a defense industry lobbyist may be a weakness during senate confirmation hearings were better to have a confirmed secretary of defense might say with regard to markets where we all know him. i think that's a good choice for acting the pentagon's clout in advising the president is widely seen as having suffered since the departure of trump's 1st defense secretary general jim mattis he was opposed to the u.s. leaving the iran nuclear accord and eventually quit in december when trump announced plans to pull special forces from syria it's just that right now because you don't have someone who is in that permanent position they're not able to influence the level of authority and forwards over decision making and that gives the president's national security adviser john bolton an enormous berth in terms of his ability to enforce and shape the direction national se

president trump nominating army secretary mark esper to be the next secretary of defense, following the abrupt resignation of patrick shanahanian turner has more from the dc bureau. >> reporter: mark he's person currently the secretary of the army is already slated to become acting secretary of destarting monday day. last night, the white house announced president trump hopes to ultimately make the secretary gig permanent. esper has served as the army secretary for a year and-a-half now. this comes on the heels of patrick shanahan's withdrawal from consideration this past tuesday. >> mark esper, a highly respected gentleman with a great career, a tremendous talent, was just named acting secretary of defense. i think he'll do very well. >> reporter: the white house has been touting his resume, saying he's a former vice president of government relations and a defense contractor. he's worked under senate committees. he has a doctorate in public poll sigh and he's a -- public policy and recipient of a dod model. news that he hopes to make esper permanent went over like a ton of bricks with democrats. >> i imagine you think it's

military into new on certainty just as tensions with iran of rising janet shanahan's replacement mark esper is due to travel to brussels next week for a meeting of nato defense ministers. right well we can now speak to former u.s. assistant secretary of state p.j. crowley who's the many is in the u.s. air force he joins us live now from washington 1st of all how do you explain president trump's decision to order a strike and then to pull back i see it as a process failure we know within the interagency process i think the president is perfectly it's all perfectly legitimate for him to make sure that the response to the shooting down of the drone is proportional but that but that that calculation about about casualties was something that he needed to make before making his decision not after making his decision but what does that reveal then about internal deliberations that might have taken place i mean from your experience what is your sense about this.

decision made to cancel that military strike on iran and now the person who is set to replace shanahan is mark s. for who is currently the army secretary trump says he intends to nominate aspart to become the senate confirmed permanent defense secretary most people are viewing that as a wise choice this is a person with military experience also experience working as a congressional staffer however asper also spent 7 years as a lobbyist for the defense industry which may be a weak spot when it comes time for his confirmation hearings and his duty ahead of him cannot be overstated in his importance the pentagon has really lost a lot of clout with the presidency or since the departure of general mattis who was the original secretary of defense and since then the president has been his own worth sort of on his own he just said today that he is only one whose decision matters are already thanks very much how did your country. well as we mentioned earlier iran has announced it has executed a former defense ministry employee on charges of spying for the u.s. general. left his post 9 years ago he was

about this news that is coming from president trump, tweeting pat shanahan will not go forward with his confirmation. instead he's naming mark esper the new secretary of defense. what do you think of that? >> i think mark esper is a great choice. he's a west point classmate of mine, as is secretary pompeo. i think he will do a fantastic job. >> melissa: why do you think there was that change, if you had to guess? i just want to be clear, naming him as the new acting secretary of defense. >> it's really hard to know, getting to those nomination processes. there are so many different things that go on. who knows? all we know now is he has withdrawn, and mark esper is a great choice. >> melissa: okay, and how do you -- you say he's a great choice. in what way? what do you think he would do differently, or in this current situation? >> well, mark has been the secretary of the army for quite some time and has done a great job there. i think he gets what's going on in the world, and he understands the dod's role. >> melissa: yeah. let me ask you about everything else, all the news of the day in terms of the secretary of state pomp

within moments of shanahan's departure, the president offered the job to mark tesper current army secretaryexpected to begin today. he must be confirmed by congress. prior to his prior role he served a as top executive for a majo defense contractor. >>> several republicans in the virginia legislature want to stok into the sexual assault allegations again lieutenant governor justin fairfax. two women have accused the lieutenant governor of assault. he denies any wrong doing but just last week he told news 4 he opposed the hearing. fairfax told us his attorneysre hed out to prosecutor's offices in two states asking them to look into the a allegationsove he said would clear his name. t >>> today therump administration is expected to e relacan obama-era policy put in place to combat climate change. in 2015, president obama phased out coal burning plants. over the last years, federal data shows air pollution has worsened under president trump the epa has blamed the up tick partially on wild fires in the west. >>> last night the mayor and police chief of phoenix once again issued publico gies for

shanahan had decided newt go forward with his confirmation process so he could devote more time to his family and thanking him to his outstanding service. and the president announced he was announcing marksperrer as the new secretarying secretary of defense. shanahan spoke to the post on monday and yesterday about the incidents which includes the arrest of his then wife in 2010 after she allegedly punched him in the face. as well as the separate arrest of his son in november 2011 after he reportedly hit his mother with a baseball bat. nbc news has not confirmed the post report which was based on interviews with shanahan, as well as court and police records. nbc news has also not reviewed any of the documents. in a statement, shanahan said it was, quote, unfortunate, that details from the post story were dredged up and said that continuing with the confirmation process would harm his children. before departing the white house for his re-election kickoff, president trump spoke about shanahan's withdrawal and the revelations of the violent incidents. >> did you ask mr. shanahan to withdraw? >> no, i didn't, he walked in this morning and said it's going to be a rough time for him because of

secretary of the army mark esper taking over tomorrow. patrick shanahan is stepping down after details surfaced from his divorce several years ago. president trump said not only will esper take over as ak active secretary of defense, it will be a full-time job. that means by law, he has to step down to go through that confirmation process, setting up another temporary leadership change at the pentagon. >>> analyst and retired general and columnist for the "washington post." gentlemen, good to have you back. >> good to be here. >> let me start you here. before we take the military option off the table, i want your reaction here. because the president has people on either side of a potential military strike on iran that he trusts both inside the white house, outside the white house, on fox news, even. do you glean from the president's comments and what we learn about the time of this call-off of a strike that there will be no military retaliation against iran? >> i don't glean that, victor. i think that's potentially part of a multi-pronged approach using d

developinghis morning president trump will nominate mark es per to be the permanent defense secretary. a few days ago acting defense secreta pat shanahan resigned from his post amid ethics question. esper was trump's army secretary, a west point grad and gulf war veteran. one of his immediate challenges will be the crisis with iran. >>> growing tensions between u.s. and iran have iranian-americans on edge. thousands marched from the state department to the white house saying they want change. war.don't want a our chris gordon was in the crowd and has t story. >> reporter: iranian-americans from across the united states rallying in front of the u.s. state department. they want a free iran, a non-nuclear iran andthey want regime change. >> my brother was arrested when he was 17, fresh out of high school, kept in prison 6 for/2 years and then executed at the same time the 1988 massacre of 30s 00 political prisoner iran. >> reporter: a small group of counterdemonstrators from code pink showed up. they were quickly surrounded and shouted down. >> we are here to encourage the u.s. government to seek peace with iran, dialogue with iran, no dr

mark to the full-time job. the president name after acting defense secretary patrick shanahan withdrew his name for considerationor the position earlier this week. amid reported -- domestic abuse allegation jillian turner has the latest. >> clearly secretary of the army is already slated to become acting secretary of defense starting monday. but last night, the white house announced president trump hopes to make the secretary gig permanent. he's served the army a secretary for a year and a half now, and the announcement of his appointment comes on heels of shanahan withdraw for secretary of defense post this past tuesday. >>mark was a highly respected gentlemen with a great career, a tremendous balance, who was just named acting secretary of defense. i think he'll do very well. >> the qhows has been touting his resumÉ saying he's a former vice president of government relations at a defense contractor. he's worked under senate committees and a doctorate in public policy and he's a recipient of the d.o. medal but hopes to make it permanent went over like a ton of bricks with democrats on senate arm service committ

that patrick shanahan who has done a wonderful job, has decided not to go forward with his confirmation process to devote more time to his family. trump said he'll name army secretary mark esper as the new acting defense secretary. but declined to say whether that would become permanent. shanahan is the former boeing executive who had been running the defense department since james mattis resigned in protest in december but only in an acting capacity until trump announced last month he would make things official. but the paperwork was never filed. raising eyebrows inside of the white house about why. >> i can't tell you how long the process is supposed to work. >> reporter: and now cnn learned the resignation came amid details of a contentious divorce including an allegation that he hit her during a dispute nine years ago, an allegation that shanahan has denied. his ex-wife was arrested and charged with assault and the charges were later dropped. in a statement today shanahan said he was resigned to protect his children. writing, i would welcome the opportunity to be secretary of defense but not at the expense of being a good father. the sudden withdrawal leaves the pen

>> well, mark, in a way is the anti-shanahan. he's very, very popular. he served. he's an armyf oficer. he gets along brilliantly with general millie, the chief of w stafo is going to become the chairman of the joint chief of staff of staff. po jlar on the hill, andust very well liked, seems to be capable. and i know him personally, and i think very highly of him. >> woodruff: and so likely to get through the conatfin process. >> if the president nominates him. big if, you just heard. >> woodruff: dov zakheim, thanyou for joining us >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: president trump revealed plans on twitter last night for u.s. immigration and customs enforcement, known as icns to begin removing "mill of illegal aliens, as fast as they can," next week. amna nawaz spoke to the top ice administration official earlier today. >> nawaz: here with me is former chief of u.s. border patrol under the obama administration and current acting director of ice, mark morgan. director morgan, welcome to the newshour. hank you. >> nawaz: so we heard there the president tweete

shanahan statement. it reads -- >> i mentioned mark esper that served in desert shelled and worked as a lobbyist raytheonvote. we'll see where that leads. that as we continue to watch what secretary state mike pompeo has to stay about what has been happening in i ran. there's movement on whether the u.s. prepared to go all in militarily. the u.s. warning the regime there to knock it off. we'll keep you posted if we hear anything. for now, back to you. >> neil: thanks very much. for mark esper, the army secretary and now the acting defense secretary, you just had a bunch of stuff dumped on your lap? the read from cory gardner who is here after this. up so many doors. it's a lifelong adventure finding all of these new connections all the time. new features. greater details. richer stories. get your dna kit today at ancestry.com. shaving has been difficult for me. i have very sensitive skin, and i get ingrowing hairs. so it's a daunting task. oh i love it. it's a great razor. it has that 'fence' in the middle. it gives a nice smooth shave. just stopping that irritation... that burn that i get is really life

the president plans to nominate mark esper to be the secretary of defense, the acting defense secretary patrick shanahan is stepping done after media results of domestic violence in his family. the president had already tapped esper to temporarily do the job when shanahan leaves on sunday. >>> in the coming hours, final lists for uk prime minister are set to take part in the first of many campaign events across the united kingdom. boris johnson and jeremy hunt will address fellow tories and they will try to win votes. the winner is expected to be announced in late july. >>> in hong kong, police have condemned protesters from keeping emergency workers from responding. demonstrators surrounded police headquarters to protest a proposed bill that would allow extradition to mainland china. police say they have been tolerant, but will now act on any illegal activity. >>> returning now to our top story, president trump's decision to call off an attack on iran, it begs the question what would a full-fledged war look like with iran. cnn's international diplomatic editor nic robertson has this. >> reporter: the l

shanahan is saying his good-byes. but he's done. he's leaving. obviously mark esper, the army secretary will replace him also on an acting basis. this would be the third such defense secretary for this administration. obviously in the middle of everything that is happening in iran. we'll keep close track of that. i do want to take your attention to the markets as well. for all of this back and forth and the shifts and who is running the defense department and not and what is happening in iran and not, you'd think that we would be free falling or oil prices would be sky rocketing. we're not. we ended on a down note for the dow today. could have been worse. oil up $1.60 a barrel. putting that in perspective around the unrest around opec oil cuts in the 70s, they doubled to quadrupled 48 hours. that was then. very different reaction now. we'll explore that in more detail. the world markets and our own markets holding up nicely. the dow up about 2.5%. similar advances to the other major market averages. meantime, the ranking member of the house foreign affairs comm

violence some congressional staffers say giving shanahan the top job permanently would have been difficult the new acting secretary current army secretary mark asper whom analysts consider very capable we'll have to see if the senate is in the mood to confirm just a very rock solid business like workman like person even so at a time of growing tensions with the wrong russia and china experts say don't trump can no longer rely on temporary help this is no way to run a railroad you don't go 6 months without cabinet officials we need people who are senate vetted who are well known who have permanent jobs for the positions they've been asked to fulfill and the trump administration should not feel proud of its record of taking 6 months to finish this to fit to fill this post the last thing patrick shanahan did before quitting deploy an extra 1000 u.s. troops to the middle east to send a message to iran his focus now dealing with his own family rosalyn jordan al-jazeera washington said ahead on the news our records i'm broken at a cricket walkout by the bank hating house sproul has the sports still stands. capturing a moment in time. snapshots of

and the announcement of his appointment comes on the heels of patrick shanahan's withdraw from consideration last tuesday. >> mark with a great career, tremendous talent, acting secretary of defense, he will do very well. >> the white house has been touting his resume, pointing to his qualifications and prudential's -- credentials, former vp of government relations firm working at the defense contractors working on senate committees. a doctorate in public policy from george washington and a recipient of a dod metal, news the president hopes to make esper permanent went over like a ton of bricks with democrats on the senate armed services committee. >> there is no permanent defense secretary. i imagine you think it is important at this moment to have one. seems like mark asper is the most likely person to take that role. would you vote to confirm him? >> i will review his record but i'm not inclined at this time. >> this change up comes at the same time it changes at the national security council as well. the president's top russian in europe advisor will take down at the end of august and be replaced by tim morri

president wants mark a former arms industry lobbyist and current army secretary to replace patrick shanahan he withdrew his nomination after facing questions over his personal life as bill will take over from shanahan on sunday if his nomination is approved by the senate. from al jazeera still to come on the program. the suspension of aid is literally a real war and it literally means war shoppers panic and try to load up as the world food program suspended distribution of aid to yemen also. the united states is watching and you will be held to account. a warning from the u.s. after the release of a list of countries it says violates the communities right to religious freedom. and later in sports a shock result of the cricket world cup a sri lanka get their campaign back on track. this pitting farmers against herders in mali hundreds of villagers from rival ethnic communities have been killed in a series of attacks lately what many describe as massacres malcolm webb has been meeting some survivors in the region where entire communities have been wiped out and tens of thousands of fled their

acting secretary patrick shanahan is on his way out, g thdrawins nomination to head up the pentagon after allegations of past domestic violence surfaced. secretary of the ay mark esper will now take over as acting defense chief amid-escalating tensions with tehran nbc's peter alexander has more >> reporter: president trump speaking out about the sudden departure of his acting defense secretary patrick shanahan >> it's a difficult time for pat. but he's going to take a lite time o for family service and and for working things out >> reporter: the abrupt exit comes just as "usa today" reports the fbi has been examining a violent domestic dispute from 2010 between shanahan and his then wife kimberly as part of a ckground investigation where both claimed to police they had been punched by the other shanahan, a former boeing executive, told "usa today" "i never laid a hand on my then wife." and the "washington post" reports there was anothe ir domesticident in 2011, this time between kimberly and the couple's then 17-year-old son, lliam. the "post" reports the teenager used a baseball bat to brutally beat his mother, leaving her unconscious with a fractured skull.

the man to lead the pentagon in the last 6 months mark esper is a full mom's industry lobbyist who will replace acting defense secretary patrick shanahan and all the headlines see don's leading protest group says it has accepted a plan for a transitional government but forward by ethiopia's prime minister ahmed is called for the sudan to immediately form a joint military and civilian government for the next 3 years. and at least 3 people have been killed in syrian government as strikes on rebel held areas of the country's north rescuers found 2 children among the dead syrian government has been . since april. in georgia protesters of gathered outside parliament for a 3rd day in tbilisi the protest has been peaceful often violent clashes on thursday between police and protesters the unrest dotted one russian politician said it gave a speech in the georgian parliament in russian those are the headlines this hour that for myself and the team here in london there will be more news coming from doha off the soapbox mexico that's next. the countdown to the 2020 us democratic primaries has begun. televised debate sees candidates go head to hea

mark esper. currently the secretary of the army, this is the civilian head of the army, he and the other civilian heads of the services will meet with shanahan later today, according to ryan brown. they will discuss a transition ahead. this comes at a busy time. not only do we have the iran tensions heating up, shanahan was expected to go overseas in the coming days. in a few weeks, he was expected to travel again to asia, which has been a priority of his. this now will have to be worked out, staffed, there will be significant changes i suspect on the secretary's steenier staff, these are all people shanahan brought in. the pentagon will move on, the u.s. military will move on. the u.s. military is expert at one thing. military come and go. people have a job, they move on, they leave, they get promoted. they retire. so the military will absolutely move on. policy and operations will be uninterrupted. but we are now six months plus without a permanent secretary of defense for the united states. >> that's really -- such a good point, barbara, we're seeing this, it speaks to a lot of the issues the trump administration has had. yes the military

shanahan is out. another acting secretary is in. his name, mark esper. >> a lot of actings. >> has your acting secretary of defense stepped down and now another acting secretary of defense must take his role? well, then, come to darius lighthouse's acting secretary school of acting. "salutations." i'm darius lighthouse. are you on the brink of war with iran and now you need to act like you know what you're doing? then enroll in my school today. you'll learn such "acting defense secretary" techniques as "mixed messages." we're ready for war! we don't want war! we're ready to strike! we don't want to strike! you do the hokeypokey and you turn yourself around. that's what it's all about. "persuading allies." sorry what we said about nato. angela merkel, looking good. is that a new pantsuit? hey, macron. oo-la-la. parlez-vous iran? so sign up for darius lighthouse's acting secretary school of acting today. and you can trust me, because i'm not only the theater's director. i've also been understudying eric for years. ( laughter ) >> it's "the late show

now the defense secretary next chairman of the joint chiefs, mark millie and mike pompeo are all from the army. shanahan's last day is friday. shepard? >> shepard: thank you. now patrick shanahan was one that replaced jim mattis. remember, it was november of last year that jim mattis resigned. frankly the reason was a simple one. the president wanted to withdraw troops from syria and afghanistan. jim mattis thought that was a terrible idea and he quit. so incame patrick shanahan. patrick shanahan with not a lot of experience in this sort of thing at all came in and said famously the pentagon will not be known as the department of no. he was largely in lock step with the white house, especially john bolton. mike pompeo, the secretary of state. there were complaints that john bolton would go and talk to his subordinate, going around the chain of command. let's talk about where we've been and where we're going in a very important department especially given the high tensions in the middle east. michael o'hanlon is here for analysis from the brookings institute. michael, thank you. >> shepard, good to see you

the decision comes as mr shanahan publicly addressed allegations of domestic violence involving himself and his ex—wife. the army secretary, markp in as acting defense secretary, at a time of rising middle east tensions. now, some heart wrenching pictures of a starving and exhausted polar bear. she's wandered miles from her normal home and habitat, and has given local residents quite a surprise. the bear has been seen walking through the siberian industrial town of norilsk. she's belived to be very ill and weak. experts will arrive on wednesday to access the condition of the bear and decide its fate. —— to assess the condition. yesterday on newsday, we brought you a special report from china's remote western xinjiang province, where we uncovered evidence that more than a million people are being held in camps, where they're being educated about life in china. many of them are uighur muslims, and our correspondentjohn sudworth has been talking to senior figures from the islamic community about the claims their way of life is being literally wiped off the map. at the id kah mosque, xinjiang's largest, china's supremacy over faith

acting secretary shanahan is defending himself against those allegations. what is more important is mark esper coming in. mark esper is a classmate of michael pompeo from west point, they are friends, and this would do two things. demonstrate secretary pompeo's working relationship with the president, but also demonstrate that esper has a more hardline view consistent withjohn esper has a more hardline view consistent with john bolton and secretary pompeo, where the president may be a little less hardline. so we have a group of hawkish people when it comes to the issue of iran now surrounding the president? i would say with mark esperin president? i would say with mark esper in the job, it is certainly the case that may have pushed those important positions more to the right. you have come back from the region, do you think the united states and toronto —— united states and iran are coming closer to conflict? it is my experience that no—one once more, it is preferred that this a set of diplomatic and everybody is concerned that a wrong slip, a bad mistake, something like we saw with the

donald trump has nominated the army secretary mark esper to be the next secretary of defense early this week acting defense secretary patrick shanahan withdrew his nomination after facing questions over his personal life as it will take over on sunday if confirmed to be the 3rd man to lead the pentagon in 6 months russia has suspended flights to georgia following protests in the capital tbilisi on thursday they were sparked by the visit of a russian politician the opposition has accused the government of being too friendly with moscow the speaker of parliament has resigned and some protesters are calling for an early election. polls have just opened in mauritania's presidential election with around one of the half 1000000 people eligible to vote could be the country's 1st peaceful transition of power in decades 6 candidates are vying to succeed president mohamed odeh busies who took office after coups in 2008. a human rights activist based in chechnya has been freed on parole after a russian court granted his early release of was sentenced to 4 years on drug possession charges in march his supporters say the accusations were exagger