Out a nationwide Vaccination Program trying to stem and Measles Outbreak that has already claimed more than 60 lives. But into these are 3 legal experts called by us democrats have testified that President Donald Trump has committed impeachable offenses but a full scholar invited by the republicans said the evidence was insufficient trump is accused of abusing his power to push ukraine into investigating his political rival joe biden hi joe castro reports now from washington d. C. You swear or affirm under penalty of perjury some of us constitutional scholars have weighed in if President Trumps ukraine scandal isnt impeachable then nothing is and professor gary hart did President Trump commit the impeachable high crime and misdemeanor of abuse of power we 3 are unanimous yes the 3 law professors called by democrats rang in unison alarm bells that the countrys democracy is under threat by the president s actions what has happened in the case today is something that i do not think we have ever seen before a president who has doubled down on violating his oath to faithfully execute the laws and to protect and defend the constitution this president has attacked each of the constitutions safeguards against establishing a monarchy in this country in the simplest possible terms the president put his personal game ahead of the National Security interest its better to be on t. V. Than by for. The 4th scholar said if trump had tried to force ukraine to investigate a political rival in exchange for military aid it would be impeachable but the scholar wednesdays sole republican witness testified the case against trump has not been proven this would be the 1st impeachment in history where there would be considerable debate in my view not compelling evidence of the commission of a crime more than a dozen white house and state department professionals have testified that trump used the power of his office to pressure ukraine to open an investigation into joe biden a potential political rival in the upcoming us president ial election the House Intelligence Committee drafted a report saying there was overwhelming evidence for this including trumps own words in a phone call with the president of ukraine thats not politics as usual at least not in the United States or not in any mature democracy trump. The law professors called by democrats represent the liberal left but he declined to testify himself and refused to send white House Attorneys to represent his case for innocence what theyre doing is a very bad thing for our country its of no merit. And the Republican Party has never been more unified ever trump is counting on republicans who control the senate to acquit him of wrongdoing in an eventual impeachment trial. Castro aljazeera washington. Is the former u. S. Justice Department Official and the host of talking feds podcast he joins me now from our in california could have you with the on the program now how much of it is about sort of the the legal housekeeping that we need to see in here in terms of todays proceedings i mean we need to hear constitutional and legal argument about whether the evidence presented by the Intelligence Committee stands up to scrutiny what was your reading of todays events. Yeah that was certainly the intention and i did the facts seem so clearly established as now a matter of saying is this impeachable or not and the case i think from the start had been fairly overwhelming the scholars tried to give the case for why it was so pretty much everything they they said it was very hard to quibble with and even these so called republican witness basically admitted to impeachability just said maybe it hadnt been proven or things were moving quickly on the other hand we already had an overwhelming case of facts that the republicans and pro trump forces which are the same thing here had been content enough to resist even though its right in front of their faces so whether that whether a testimony of academics changes anything is you know a risk and far from certain but probably a move that the democrats needed to make an analogous moves were made in previous impeachments indeed i think we knew that they would sort of be procedural debates and interruptions but how partisan is this Committee Hearing going to be and how much sway will that be to look at the facts and deal with them in a legal way that is digestible really for the u. S. Public. 2 different questions i just cant imagine so hell a greater degree of partisanship i mean i think things were divided along partisan lines in the clinton impeachment but everybody understood the facts and the need to confront but here only one side seems to see this as important and grave how how will it proceed from here i expect you know its just along party lines as it did for during the overwhelming presentation of facts before the Intelligence Committee and the republicans i think are telegraphing their content to make it a procedural circus and not to take it seriously and if they do it that way and particularly in the senate the democrats efforts to make it a serious National Sort of civics discussion are limited indeed i mean how to interpret the law and the codes to choose should is an issue and i find that quite interesting because references often made to the Founding Fathers and what they thought the parameters were of the lol and investigations should be sort of based on an 18th century circumstances the constitution has never really been updated and that will do you see that as sort of a hindrance than a problem in this sort of scenario. I mean i dont it is a constitutional democracy and that sort of obey songs to the original meaning is common on both sides and here the you know arguments about what the what the founders meant i think is equally authoritative so so really that the argument will be on both sides this is the sort of thing the framers intended or not the sort of thing the framers intended and i know it might seem a little unusual for people from from other countries but thats common currency here and it cuts very much in favor i mean the feature of not just abuse of power but the attempted intervention of a foreign power is just on all fours with what the. Founding fathers the framers had in mind originally and there been very few impeachments out there so wanting its important to know the meaning of what they had in mind when it was incorporated. In terms of the next few days in youll rippin you know what should we be looking at full all waiting to hear either from those that are giving testimony all from the committee members. A couple things the 1st is whether the democrats will try to expand the least the 3rd count the socalled obstruction count this happened with nixon to broader than simply the ukraine episode and to incorporate the similar efforts during the mall or claim as well thats one and then and then 2 will be whether the republicans will continue a sort of concerted effort as best i can tell to make a kind of parliamentary circus and tie the chair in knots will they abandon that or stay the course it does make things look silly but their calculation maybe theyre trying to make a mockery of things is actually in their political interest that something we should look for one way or another well thanks for your insight well look forward to certainly seeing and hearing what happens in the Committee Hearing for the moment harvey levin thanks for joining us thanks for having me. Now the nato summit has ended with leaders uniting behind common commitments despite the meeting highlighting bitter divisions on several major issues leaders managed to agree on issues like russia and china and settled a major stumbling block when turkey dropped its objection to nato has baltic defense planned but behind the public display of unity cracks was showing as trying to hold reports there for what little and where the summit was held so good morning i think were ready to start if you can find your seats this gathering of nato leaders had one objective a show of unity to mark 70 years of the worlds most successful military alliance one for all and all for one instead it was a public display of differences that began the day before on tuesday u. S. President donald trump was on the combative form number one point from his not only will macron on nato strategy budget payments and trumps unilateral withdrawal of u. S. Troops from Northern Syria this way. There is one of the greatest party years ago. But trumps views are no longer those of a president seen as preeminent leader of the alliance now some allies here including the british french and canadian leaders see donald trump as disruptor in chief apparently sharing a joke at his expense during tuesday nights reception at buckingham palace. Trump response on being asked about the canadian Prime Ministers comments. And soon afterwards he tweeted that there was no need for a final press conference. Emanuel macron meanwhile continued to press his case for change you know to me who is our enemy how can we act together against International Terrorism in particular these are all subjects that were not sufficiently settled. About something or that. Budgetary and Financial Issues as always for the kill a lot of thought if the voices of reassurance were left sounding a bit thin. Always been able to overcome these differences and then unite around the record tossed to protect the Founding Fathers and thats exactly what to do today the question it all raises is central to what nato is and what it exists for what happens to an alliance built on collective defense when that collective commitment that spirit of unity isnt just solid as some would like it to be nato member turkeys president ridge of tired early one had earlier demanded that the kurds abandoned by trump in Northern Syria be recognized as what he called terrorists or hed veto Alliance Efforts to bolster eastern defenses against russia this was a threat that represented a fracturing of nato central accord is what trump and macron do seem to agree on but many others dont that russia is no longer the enemy it was and while nato is focus has widened to include china Cyber Security hybrid warfare the alliance cant hide from the difficult truth that multiple challenges mean multiple conflicting interests undermining the unity theyd come here to celebrate going to aljazeera at watford north london now russias president is accusing the us of viewing space as a potential theater of war blood amir putin says the Rapid Development of americas Space Command has prompted moscow to ramp up its own sector but putin insists hes against the militarization of the cosmos donald trump has said that he wants the u. S. To dominate space. Now the pentagon says a u. S. Warship has captured a vessel with missile parts believed to be linked to iran the seizure was made in the northern arabian sea and the crew has been transferred to the yemeni coast guard washington accuses terran of illegally smuggling arms to who the rebels fighting the yemeni government. The head of a japanese medical aid group has been killed in an attack in afghanistan tetsu anneka muhtar was shot dead along with 5 members of his team when their car was pushed he had been awarded an honorary afghan citizenship for his years of charity work no group has claimed responsibility for theater. Meanwhile the International Criminal court will decide whether those involved in the war in afghanistan including the u. S. Should answer to allegations of war crimes a panel of judges ruled against a similar request made earlier this year finding it was unlikely any of those involved would cooperate lawyers representing victims say theyre united in wanting an investigation tony burke spoke with relatives seeking justice for 4 been killed during the conflict in eastern afghanistan. This was a bedroom that became an Execution Chamber the night Afghan Special forces stormed a family home in jalalabad suspecting it to be an eyesore terrorist cell the operation ended with the death of 4 brothers hands tied behind their backs and shot at close range. Mohammed millet zuyder describes the way his nephews were killed in cold blood. Sidique joannes eben supports a hill while were not i saw members one was a judge another a lawyer and 2 were money changes the government has not given an explanation as to why they were killed and to the families knowledge no one has yet been charged with a crime. We want all those involved to face justice the one who shot that the one who gave the orders and the one who gave the wrong intelligence they need to be hanged in front of us then we will know justice has been done. The villages of jalandhar in eastern afghanistan want justice as well to avenge the deaths of 70 friends and relatives who died in a bomb attack as they prayed in a mosque the perpetrators are either eisel all the taliban ready girl lost 10 members of his family in the blast. But i wasnt in the mosque when i came home i found the bodies of my family including my little son i fell unconscious it was truly horrible and has devastated our village in a country that has suffered for decades of conflict justice has been in short supply. The International Criminal courts chief prosecutor for 2 bensouda wants to end the climate of impunity in afghanistan and start an investigation of war crimes a request has been refused by the i. C. C. His own judges on the grounds that none of the main players will cooperate and the process will be lengthy and costly shes appealing that decision and has accused the taliban of targeting innocent civilians and the Afghan Government of torturing prisoners but she also says that the United States may be guilty as well the United States is concerned that if this i. C. C. Investigation goes ahead it will also focus on the role of the cia in afghanistan its black ops and socalled black sites where prisoners were subjected to controversial some say inhumane methods of interrogation and treatment we spend sudha says there is information that members of the u. S. Military and Intelligence Forces committed acts of torture cruel treatment rape and Sexual Violence against conflict related detainees. The u. S. Has defended its actions in afghanistan and has responded by attacking the i. C. C. Its threatened to prosecute its investigators and take retaliatory measures against any country that cooperates with the investigation in eastern afghanistan theyve been bombed from the air shot on the ground and no investigation is about to change that. It was that i think were caught in the middle when Government Forces on the other side of the fighting were the ones who suffer our houses are destroyed our loved ones are killed we want it to end. Its not clear if the i. C. C. Investigation will ever get off the ground and achieve anything but what is clear is that all sides have blood on their hands and most people in afghanistan want something more than justice they want peace tony berkely al jazeera eastern afghanistan. Was plenty more ahead here on the aljazeera news hour including angry reactions in china as the u. S. Congress calls for sanctions on communist Party Officials for their treatment of weak of muslims also White Communities working in a quarter mile of forest fair its very existence is under threat. And the best heavyweight boxers are about to battle it out in the clash on the do more with that story and to. Get into asia pacific now and some our is rolling out a mass Vaccination Program in an attempt to stem its fast growing measles crisis 62 people have now died from the disease with more than 150 new cases appearing every day immunization is now compulsory under a state of emergency imposed last month our correspondent jessica washington joins us now from the capital here jessica it seems that the message from the off our ts is now coming right from the top thats right to hell we just heard from the samo and Prime Minister his message is for people to stay calm in these tragic circumstances while of course acting on those demands to make sure that people do get vaccinated we have just heard that the number of cases has actually increased to more than 4200 the message from the Prime Minister is that from these tragic circumstances there are lessons for from for some our children learn but that they are doing the best they can in the circumstances. Lesson is. That we are more countries now people are more conscious now than before that by coming and have your children vaccinated is the only way and more. If one of your children is sick and shows. Missiles then the best way the most sure way to take it. To the hospital. That jessica youve been following the Vaccination Program what have you seen. So how today on thursday is very much about these mobile vaccination drives and we have heard that since that began just this morning its only been a few hours more than 2000 people have been vaccinated so the message prior to this massive Vaccination Campaign was for people to visit those clinics but today on thursday those clinics a shut down and people are being told to stay at home and wait for these mobile vaccination medical professionals to come to their houses now a part of todays efforts the focus is about making things as easy as possible for those medical pe