Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWSHOUR 20240713

Controlled by the Republican Party of donald trump and the Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell has proposed some rules that would trigger a quick a trial lets look at what those are initially he gave them we were discussing this a moment ago he gave each side 24 hours which would be split over 2 days for their opening arguments thats now been pushed out to 3 days as i guess was saying presumably 8 hours a day witnesses cannot be called until the opening arguments and even then it will be left to a vote and whats important to remember there is that the republicans as we say are in control so they would have significant powers to block any witnesses called by the democrats this is what they wanted to do and another change to the initial rules Mitch Mcconnell will now allow transcripts from the house judiciary impeachment hearing the house hearing to be submitted mcconnell has promised that this will be a fair even handed process 1st. The senate will hear an opening presentation from the house managers 2nd we will hear from the president s council 3rd senators will be able to stick further information by posing written questions to either side through the chief justice and forth with all that information and i and the senate will consider whether we feel any additional evidence or witness witnesses are necessary to evaluate whether the house case has cleared or failed to clear the bar of overcoming the presumption of innocence and on doing a democratic election democrats not happy with this though they are accusing the republicans of rigging the impeachment trial in order to cover up Donald Trumps an edge crimes they say the proposed rules wont allow any new testimony or evidence i believe the most important decision in this case is the one you will make today the most important question is the question you must answer today will the president and the American People get a fair trial will there be a fair trial i submit that this is an even more important question than how you vote on guilt or innocence because whether we have a fair trial will determine whether you have a basis to render a fair and impartial verdict it is foundational the structure upon which every other decision you will make must rest. Well as a list was happening the white house issued a statement here is it in pots. Very trumpy in tone the democrats are in also a judge they have no case in this latest political stunt proves that the idea that the counsel to the president has to turn over protect to documents and confidential information is ludicrous and to imply he can represent the president of the United States in an impeachment proceeding is completely absurd kimberly how could a White House Correspondent with more on that the democrats are not a jerk and this life will put latest political stunt proves that can you explain to obvious kimberly what this apparent stunt is yeah its a bit new i try to make it real simple essentially the president s attorney pats a polonia the democrats have argued it cant have argue and defend the president because theres a conflict of interest officially it comes down to this as the president s you know one of his primary lawyers he was very instrumental in trying to block the documents from leaving the white house and going to capitol hill and you remember one of the articles is obstruction of congress so what this is about is essentially democrats are saying this this lawyer obstructed congress he is not only representing the president but he was complicit in all of this thats a conflict of interest he needs to be removed as you just read there in the statement the white house responding saying utter joke this is a political stunt so this remains to be seen it appears that this may be a lot of noise that ultimately that the president s attorney will be able to continue continue arguing this case but certainly democrats are trying to make the case that he shouldnt be on the floor of the senate at all so does this come down to and one of our earlier guests sort of suggested this kimberly process over substance that this is the way the republicans will attack it by going off to the process and what they feel is is and has been unfair. I think it would be safe to say at this point that both sides are guilty of that because in this particular case it would be the democrats that are making the argument about process at the end of the day much of what weve heard already in the u. S. Senate is just the reverse of the accusations that we heard by democrats so essentially this is a highly partisan exercise despite the fact that both sides will deny that they are really working for the integrity of the u. S. Constitution in the United States weve seen both sides politicize this and i think that the statement that you read out is just yet another example of that every side is trying to gain a point in all of this because at the end of the day what this is a trial but its not a typical trial in fact some of the jurors in this the senators are running to replace this president so obviously they would have a vested interest in seeing his demise so when we hear the arguments from the u. S. President s defense team this is one of the points they brought up that this is not only about trying to undo the results of the 2016 u. S. Election its about trying to have an impact on the 2020 u. S. Election ultimately at the end of the day because we do have a pretty good idea unless there are any big surprises how this is going to go that it appears the president will ultimately be acquitted that it will be the American Public that will have to weigh in but again we havent seen a whole lot of movement in terms of where americans stand they dont seem to be any more against the president or less against the president as a result of this impeachment inquiry in fact its pretty evenly split on whether or not the president should be removed from office according to yet more poll numbers. Kimberly how come im glad weve got you with us to explain all this because i think i get a bit caught in the weight sometimes with all the hear all the complications kimberly how could that White House Correspondent. Ok up to capitol hill she had her tans these days been following developments there high she had what do you take us through. And again simplest possible terms what actually happens today day one sorting out the rules that seems. Lets begin with day 0 just last night here in washington there was an uproar when Mitch Mcconnell the Senate Majority leader published what he said would be the motion for the rules of this impeachment trial in the senate and bet was uproar because under those rules the both sides both the House Democrats and the white house lawyers would only have 2 days to make their case in opening arguments over 24 hours they had 24 hours to fill over 2 days. Just seemed absurd to the democrats who said well that could be like 12 hour days in 2 days each day begins at 1 pm we could conceivably be in session on to 1 am 2 am 3 am so they said that this is ridiculous there was another reason why there was uproar there was also a suggestion that the evidence that the house had gathers over the course of their inquiries would not automatically be made available in the senate as as evidence that would be a vote on that this morning both of those have now been amended by Mitch Mcconnell now each side has 24 hours over 3 days to make their opening arguments. Eventually the all the house materials will become admissible in evidence for the senate trial so this can be looked at in many ways but but as far as the scheduling is concerned what were looking at now is the democrats beginning their opening arguments on wednesday they have been wednesday thursday friday to make their arguments. And then technically the republicans would go after them the right of the white House Counsel would go after them that could begin on friday or it could begin on saturday but they would have 3 days after that to make their case of the time frame has been elongation so thats one thing which is being welcomed here but there are several narratives here those to consider on the one hand you could say oh this is great for the democrats Mitch Mcconnell is showing some flexibility on the other hand theres a theory well that maybe this is partly because the narrative that the republicans are putting forward is the socalled moderate republicans those swing states who face challengers in the Upcoming Elections theyre the ones who said to mcconnell look you cant have these rules so they look very good no now mcconnell is very cognizant of the fact that he needs to make them look good because he needs them to win in the 2020 election so its not clear whether this was some sort of choreography in order to make the show that the more dont republicans are taking this seriously so when they go into the election they cant be accused in a swing state of just not just papering over glossing over the potential for impeachable trump all this is a sign that mcconnell is more flexible flexible than he seems given history perhaps the former is more likely she have where do we stand with regard to potential witnesses because this was another contentious point leading up in 2 days here and day one. Right so now whats going on right now is discussion about amendments that Chuck Schumer the leader of the democrats and the son of the Senate Minority leader is introducing to the its not original motion so what we have so far a structure or has introduced a motion thought more documents to be put into to be to be to be used in the trial of documents that the House Democrats were able to get their hands on documents specifically discussing the white houses dealings with president selenski a few crane for example that the deliberations about joe biden and then home to biden and so on the trumps from side is about whether ukraine interfered in the 2016 election theyre asking for documents related to a list which was to House Democrats couldnt get the Senate Democrats are saying this is a trial now we need all the evidence and we also expect Chuck Schumer to introduce amendments in order to call for more witnesses they say look there are a lot of key witnesses that the house couldnt get hold of couldnt couldnt crossexamine we want to crossexamine them now as part of this trial its almost certain that im not going to make you know going to get them at this point anyway Mitch Mcconnell has been very clear and he has the votes it would appear that any discussion of documents of witnesses will only occur all through the initial arguments take place and the crossexamination is taking place sometime next week thats when Mitch Mcconnell says well discuss more documents more witnesses until then were not going to and it seems Mitch Mcconnell has the votes for that especially since hes climbed out on the timeframe for the opening arguments so what were looking at right now is sort of theater its basically going through the motions to show that the democrats are doing all they can to hold the President Trump to account but frankly would almost certain that everything happening right now will we its a foregone conclusion the democrats will fail in these in these in these amendments to Mitch Mcconnells rules thank you she have pretends he more what she had on capitol hill a little bit late. Or as proceedings carry on meanwhile alan baron is still with us former special impeachment counsel to the u. S. House of representatives joining us from washington see actually alan as i say all of that 10 you actually tell us a little bit more about what you did in that position as special impeachment counsel the and during what time period well this is spread out over. About 20 years i was in private practice then i would come in as a special counsel. Handle the investigation and then the trial and then go back into private practice so i wasnt working in the government for that 20 year period. And you know essentially it was a lot like preparing for trial in the private sector you did your legwork of going out interviewing witnesses gathering documents putting together your trial plan. And then organizing the presentation now the one wrinkle thats very different than the private sector is that you have the impeachment managers these are the members of the house who. Participate in essence you are you their counsel but you end up doing an awful lot of the legal work because many of them although they may have law degrees havent practiced law in any meaningful way adam schiff is the large exception he is a very experienced trial lawyer and a very good trial lawyer were you involved in the clinton impeachment. I was hired dare i say it by another network n. B. C. Has an on air analyst is just wondering because because you know the comparisons come up at the moment obviously that was how many years ago was that 22 years ago that was almost 20 years yeah its a very its a very different situation now with what this president is charged with obviously and as you were saying a little bit of a feeling it was more about process it was certainly in these early stages process of a substance well in now were talking about the president and pietschmann is the republicans because when they start getting into the facts of what the president did they dont want to go there that it doesnt look good there at all so they want to talk about process that you know this wasnt fair that wasnt fair i must say this the clinton impeachment was basically it was described by one commentator as a train wreck and i think thats pretty close to accurate i mean his conduct was reprehensible but it didnt in any way involve. The government it didnt involve. Any any any foreign implications it was a shabby affair that he lied about what were dealing with here i would suggest is extremely i mean dangerous here is a president for his own private interests is holding up a nearly 400000000. 00 in a military aid to a beleaguered ally being attacked by the russians and hes saying youre not going to get it until you do a political favor for me i mean theres really no comparison this is so much more serious. So i just think the stakes are so much higher if this is allowed to stand where are we for the president. To follow mr trump its a very scary proposition but where where does it all potentially lead to and i say that in the context of the fact that while snow is an holsapple it is highly unlikely that this process will be seen through to the point where the president is actually removed that happens and he isnt removed and whats that all been for what effect does it have i think it hopefully will become a serious. Aspect of the campaign for the presidency in a few months from now. The democrats will im sure not let this die you know as if it were some ancient history they will be pressing to say that this President Trump jeopardized of the ally and American Foreign policy for his own interests by withholding money that the congress had appropriated that is unprecedented and i believe that that is the implications of what has come out or not for this proceeding because i think its almost a foregone conclusion that the Senate Republicans will not convict him but i believe it will become a serious issue and they will not be the democrats will not be appealing to the hardcore Trump Supporters nothing is going to move in but there is a large number of voters that are not hardcore Trump Supporters but who may have voted for him last time and there are the independents i think weve got a little bit of a reflection of the movement in that constituency in the votes where they were by the democrats took over the house it was a huge swing and i think that is what the democrats are counting on that when it comes to the 2020 election that constituency is up for grabs and can be persuaded on the basis of what will come out at these proceedings alan baron a pleasure talking to you thank you so much for your time on this historic day in washington. Just to put some numbers on what alan and i were talking about about this likelihood of president actually being removed this is how it would need to work a 2 thirds majority that would be 67 votes in the senate required to convict donald trump and remove him from office this is why its unlikely there are 100. 00 senators in the senate 2 from each of the 50 states the republicans have got the majority of got 53. 00 there the blue states for the democrats come to 45. 00 and then youve got the 2 yellow ones we put in theres independent senators Bernie Sanders and angus king they caucus with the democrats so that brings the democrats up to 47. 00 effectively that still means that 20 republicans would need to turn against donald trump and so far none of them have said they would. Agree with us here in the studio system professor of Political Science at texas a and m. University in doha does that weigh heavily on you when you think about this the fact that we are going through a process which we and i keep pointing out its not impossible but 20 republicans is a lot to swing over i mean generally weve been saying that its highly unlikely not impossible but unlikely i would almost go as far as say would be impossible and one of the key differences with easons for this is one of the things that weve talked about how the republicans the folks a lot of process one of the particular reasons it strikes me theyre doing this is because in the clinton impeachment is a good contrast one thing thats been mentioned by some of the republicans is that in previous you had a concrete crime you had a felony crime of perjury which people go to prison for 5 or 10 years when in this case even the democrats mentioned that well we dont have a concrete crime. That both for the general public and for public is in specifically this becomes a pretty big issue were going to throw president out for what and then what do we have if we dont have a concrete crime what do we i mean immigrants of some democrats say that we have obstruction of congress and also power right now out of structure of congress the republicans have generally been saying if and this even came up in say some of the Opening Statements if this was obstruction if basically the president wanted to go to the courts or wanting to invoke vegs secular privilege is obstruction of congress then president obama president bush president clinton president bush basically almost any president going back to probably court Calvin Coolidge as community. In terms of abuse of power this case the obviously the main sort of difference of opinion over the ukraine call and so forth so for the democrats are saying that this was a call that was used for a for Political Campaign purposes and that this is a that endangered an allied state and this is an issue the republicans say on the one hand in terms of giving aid and trying to influence other countries this is what trade this is how Government Works the idea is this is an abuse of power if it would be an abuse of power again pretty much any president since roosevelt would be guilty. But also especially in the Political Campaign the democrats tend to say that he did this specifically to attack a potential political contender joe biden the republican response is to say. Being a political contender doesnt necessarily defend you from being investigated for corruption as you were previously a politician one cant just say im going to run for president now you cant try me or you cant investigate and. I suspect this is whats going to come out especially in the in the Senate Hearing so that weve discussed the idea of ok are they going to have witnesses one thing that some republicans have suggested is a we may be happy to vote for witnesses well bring in some democrat witnesses and we will also call in joe biden we will also call in hunter biden and we will talk about we will have them under oath for things about corruption which i assume the managers from the house more than democrats necessarily want ok so the democrats have to try to put forward their argument and try and turn the focus of 20 republicans in the event that that doesnt happen whats the next best thing the democrats can get out of this and i guess were looking ahead 2202228 is. My goodness and this is this strikes me as the previous comment it was mentioning that the democrats hope that this will be enough to try and bring over independents and some more moderate republicans over to voting against room for whoever the democratic nominee is going to be the risk with that though and this is something we see say if we look to see if the kavanaugh confirmation in the Supreme Court in their activities me actually. Strengthen unity among republicans including the moderate ones in that they may be looking and saying ok we have no concrete crime we have none of this and yet the democrats seem to be completely willing in effect one of the pieces of rhetoric thats been coming through is saying that why is trump being impeached because he committed the Impeachable Offense of beating clinton in 2016 that effectively the argument is the i mean i think it was Laurence Tribe one of the lawyers that the democrats of reference points out he was calling for trumps impeachment 2 weeks after his inauguration but their origin is theyre just trying to theyre trying to steal an election and that might be enough to bring some the republicans over to say yeah this they made it and when the reasons why they hammer on this idea of this is ridiculous this is a sham trial is to say this is this is basically sour grapes by other democrats which may have a electoral and it always come back to that ive got a great thank you so much for your time do appreciate it and come were going to look at a little bit of other news now and this is happened in the last few hours lebanon forming a new government this is off the hezbollah and its allies reached a deal to end 3 months of political deadlock president michel aoun has signed off on 20 new cabinet ministers off amazing with the now Prime Minister his Government Faces lebanons worst economic crisis in decades thousands of people of course have been out on the streets in recent months to protest against corruption and call for an overhaul of the government and as you can see from these live pictures they are still out on the streets of beirut. Wasnt that im a loyal. To him we will endeavor to answer their demands to ensure that we have an independent judiciary to bring back stolen money to fight corruption to protect the poor social classes from high taxation to tackle and employment and to put in place a new electoral law that brings everyone together and their one National Identity that the street has asked for. Lets go to the straight there is correspondent whos been out there in amongst the protesters for weeks for months now they know whats your take on how theyre feeling tonight after this government of technocrats has been forms. That are done a few can hear me but the problem is we cant hear you at the moment just a little problem with your microphone so well come back to you a little later on right now well go to Lauren Taylor shes in our london news center looking at more news from around the world. Thanks somalia set now on his impeachment trial is underway the u. S. President is more than 6000 kilometers away in switzerland attending the World Economic forum the theme this is summit is sustainability where scientists warning of catastrophic consequences if more is not done to avert the Climate Emergency despite this trump used his speech to criticize climate activists calling them prophets of doom jonah howell reports from davos. He didnt come to davos to talk about Climate Change but with the World Economic forum pushing climate and environmental risks to the top of the agenda not even donald trump could ignore it. This is not a time for pessimism this is a time for optimism fear and doubt is not a good thought process but to embrace the possibilities of tomorrow we must reject the perennial prophets of doom and their predictions of the apocalypse among those prophets of doom the u. S. President presumably counts teenage swedish activist grettir totenberg her debut on the world stage was here just a year ago now shes one of the worlds most famous climate activists and everyone is listening our house is still on fire your inaction is fueling the flames by the hour. And we are telling you to act as if your loved your children above all else think. Of the trump certainly has done nothing to put out the fire but the worlds most famous climate skeptic did say the United States would join a Global Initiative to plant a trillion trees the scale of climate ambition is was optimism and light oh its far away from enough i mean its clear that right now we are in a climate merge and c so what you need from the United States is an understanding of the situation and the risk to that country and its citizens and a rapid phase out of Greenhouse Gas emissions and not drilling for all of this new oil and gas and coal. With Climate Change leading discussions among corporates and governments protesters were never going to be far behind several 100 spent 3 days marching towards double of only a much smaller number who are allowed to gather in town in the short term if we dont get some of them had to support good projects thats great and at the same time to build alternatives we know for example that almost 2000000000 people in the world dont have access to energy to decentralize Renewable Energies the way the corporations are going to make money that way so its not happening its pretty extraordinary that protesters in significant numbers have been allowed to reach this close to the most protected areas at the heart of davos the signal one assumes from the World Economic forum that all sides are being heard in the climate debate even if as great a ton bergen others have said simply be heard is nowhere near enough the message to governments banks and businesses know if you care about your childrens futures joho aljazeera davus. And hes 36 civilians have been killed after armed groups attacked villages in burkina faso it happened in 2 villages near bassam logo in the north of the country 3 other people were also wounded the government has blamed a quote terrorist group. 27 people have been killed in syria during government airstrikes on it province and the aleppo countryside its been confirmed children are among the dead syrias last rebel held area has been hit by shelling for the last 4 days forcing tens of thousands to flee United Nations has called for an immediate end to the hostilities. And his 10 protests have died in the last 2 days of escalating protests across iraq the Prime Minister has warned that blocking roads and educational institutions have nothing to do with peaceful protests or they started in october but demonstrators say they will continue until the government meets their demands of a report from the capital baghdad. Running battles have continued between protesters and Iraqi Security forces they threw molotov cocktails and rocks and the Police Responded with tear gas and bullets after the weeklong deadline expired they have been coming out to numbers to talk major highways its a simple strategy disrupt life so people in power take notice but there are more though theres. Nobody we dont want anything over in the corrupt Political Parties to leave because of their many some people are dying how long can they stay the same or. The mahomedan caught some who are in multiple bridges across the capital have become battlegrounds although dozens have been wounded in 2 days of clashes many here say they will fight until they feel real change. Of that one i dont know how you will not retreat shoot us with live ammunition stun grenades tear gas we will not give up we will force you to leave whether you like it or not. Activists say government heavy handedness and intimidation tactics only strengthen their resolve. This is the blood of a martyr he was hit in front of us with a tear gas canister in his mouth all his blood is on the highway now whoever wants to carry on with their daily work let them see this blood and imagine that the next one who. Diaries could be their brother or father. These were the scenes in basra in 48 hours the mission might escalate in has resulted in more deaths over 100. 00 protesters wounded and a further 88. 00 arrested in baghdad the the car karbala and bus are more than 500 people have been killed and over 25000 wounded since october. It took 48 hours after the latest escalation for the outgoing Prime Minister to calm and as usual protesters their demands are being worked on and also gave them a warning that the more you admitted you move to more you the material i am if you have the support of the people then why should you deprive people from going to schools why should you cut off the streets or people cannot reach their shops this is not right this has to stop with no concrete steps taken to deliver jobs basic services or candidates which are not seen being good by corruption or abuse of power the protesters are unlikely to see the government response seriously many iraqis are undeterred and say they will stay in the streets the government can either kill them or leave their divorce and the protests some of the coverage out of the fact that the Russian Police have opened a criminal investigation after a fire broke out in a siberian a sawmill killing 11 people most of the victims were laborers for most pakistan blaze broke out in a single story wooden building rented by an Unnamed Chinese Company it was used as a dormitory for the workers Emergency Services but if the fire was caused by a short circuit in haiti. The former head of the Global Police Agency Interpol has been sentenced to more than 13 years in jail in china after being found guilty of bribery wrong way disappeared during a visit to china in 2018 when he was still leading interpol the agency later said hed resigned the court says more admitted receiving 2000000. 00 in bribes in his previous jobs where he the Chinese Government although his wife insists the charges were politically motivated the trial was one of the most high profile of president xi jinping is anticorruption campaign. Theres a growing over a deadly new virus that originated in china and is now spreading to other countries a case of the corona virus has just been confirmed in the United States and others have been reported in south korea thailand and japan doctors in china say the strain has killed 6 people in an infected almost 300 more asian brown has more from hong kong. China is tightly controlled state media says the mysterious virus has now spread to some of the countrys major cities it is our artists here in addition to more deaths new infections including hospital workers. Who are higher than for the 1st time confirmation that this respiratory virus can be passed from person to person not to fool some cases happened in 2 places one in guangdong the other one where human to human transmission has been confirmed. The disease was 1st identified in wu hand late last year the majority of the confirmed cases of the virus in china are here but a handful have also been identified in other parts of asia where authorities are ramping up their defenses with a mandatory screening of their passengers from move this week china becomes a nation in motion as people travel home to mark the new Lunar New Year but many are also traveling overseas and from will hand its now possible to fly to 40 International Destinations which is why i say some experts this outbreak is going to be more than just chinas problem china has been here before 17 years ago another virus called sars Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome claimed the lives of around 800 people almost 300 of them in neighboring hong kong that 1st chinas leaders asserted there had been only a handful of cases but later admitted providing false information about the epidemic a city mayor and Health Minister revenge 3 sacked professor so really open to not Hong Kong University was one of the 1st scientists to decode the sars virus he says the city has improved its Disease Control work but he and other scientists were racing to understand this new virus if it were very efficient or not right now we only know that theres a limited human to human transmission but what does that mean we need data to actually come up before more our career estimation so its a race against time to i agree we need. More information pharmacies are stocking up on face masks the growing Health Emergency across the border now replacing Media Coverage of the young going protests demanding political reform and while there is no panic there is deepening concern adrian brown aljazeera hong kong. Indias Supreme Court will begin hearing appeals against the countrys controversial new citizenship bill on wednesday 100. 00 challenges will be heard many describing the act as unconstitutional and discriminatory it fast track citizenship for persecuting religious minorities from neighboring countries and excludes muslims so raman reports from new delhi. From east to west from north to south india has seen protests big and small many extremely noisy. Indians have come out in large numbers angry at the law passed last month granting citizenship to people from persecuted religious minorities from neighboring countries but not if theyre muslim opposition politicians Civil Society activists young and old and many students have been at the forefront of Peaceful Demonstrations of turned violent in states mainly controlled by the ruling b j p party of Prime Minister and remote police have been blamed for numerous deaths and injuries in order pradesh the death of this young restaurant worker walking home after a shift caused outrage and prompted an investigation into police violence. Protests have taken various forms. In song adar to these Creative Minds gathered to explain how they feel about the events of the past few weeks. As india its not necessarily this or that community akbar to religion. I just stick together. In kolkata opposition politicians have made their position clear. Regardless of religion they say the reality of the National Register of citizens the m. L. C. Of the citizenship Amendment Bill the c. A. V. Is becoming clearer thanks toward the end sure we had engine cams and in those detention dams 60 percent of people in those would engine dams what normally in those so this entire story about an odyssey and c b is not really dont tend to get on it affects everybody it affects indian citizens. Prime minister Narendra Modi is clear about what the citizenship is marquard to give. The muslims who were born on indian soil or whose ancestors are children of mother india they have nothing to do with the citizenship law or the National Register of citizens neither are the muslims being sent to any Detention Centers nor are there any Detention Centers brothers and sisters this is a white lie. And its here at indias Supreme Court that the final decision will be made the chief justice of india will hear almost 60 partitions objecting to this the citizenship law the government will get its chance to explain the details of the legislation and that we expect to hear long given the debate will center around what the law is discriminatory or whether its fails to live up to the spirit of indias Secular Democratic constitution. To live the millions indeed identity and the right to live here is being questioned who continue to fear for the future. At least 3 peace officers and one protest have been injured during antigovernment demonstrations in colombia hundreds of people have gathered in the capital to rally gets the president social and economic policies under some reports from bogota. Unions and student groups are back on the streets here in the capital both back in a number of cities across the columbia these are the 1st demonstrations in the new year after that Major National strike that practically all this city and other places in colombia throughout this amber people are flocking here in downtown. And its expected to have. A major gathering sense from. Back in december there was a lot of violence and that response that has been seeing has happened this isnt far from the police that you may hear took office here in both the times january 1st. A sense that shes implementing a new. Year where you obvious by the 3rd riot police will only be the last resort. To lies in the. Volunteer theres civilian mediators and not harm the police and there have been some clashes here. Did they hear him but so far the protests that have been. Sparse. And mostly peaceful. Thats all from me in the team and im going back now to doha lauren thank you so much for that is important of course to keep up with the rest of the days news and that includes lebanon which has a new government ending 3 months of political deadlock but the people they are back out on the streets. And a correspondent in beirut who has seen so many of those protests are they happy with what theyve heard. Theyre angry theyre not satisfied with been speaking to them and they tell us we feel very insulted we feel that we have been dismissed we have been raising our voices for the past 3 months demanding change demanding a new leadership and the new government according to them is just a different version of the old one yes some of them maybe specialists theyre not politicians but they were named by politicians appointed by Political Parties and loyal to those Political Parties so they feel that the new Prime Minister of lebanon in many ways a light to use it try to defend his cabinet his 1st address to the nation promising the people that we will work to try to saw the economic crisis in the country as witnessing its worst economic crisis in 3 decades people have been losing their jobs their salaries have been slashed. By those that is on the rise the banks have opposed the good souls on how much money you can withdraw if you can transfer money abroad there is a look put it to a crisis so people feel that this new government really is not going to change much because it is the same political powers who have been governing this country since the end of the civil war in fact many of these politicians were warlords in the civil war so anger in the street. In some areas there are protests in other areas across the country people are trying to block the roads even playfully but i must say there is a hub security presence across the country both the army and internal Security Forces are out in force. Ok thank you for the update zain what are out on the streets of beirut there after a new lebanese government was formed. Back to washington d. C. Now things a little bit quiet on the senate floor but there is. And were going to talk to share pretends about this in a moment but right now the democratic leader in the senate Chuck Schumer is seeking an amendment to subpoena documents from the state department and this follows and she have if you can hear me maybe you can. Explain this more to me bet they we had a vote in the senate not long ago just what we were talking designer actually over the democrats demand for the new evidence to be included in the trial what happened in that vote and what does it mean. The democrats lost what 1st amendment that was proposed by Chuck Schumer was to get various white house documentation about deliberations and conversations with the ukrainian president about what they said on their own the on the phone what what they said about joe biden potential allegations of corruption against him to Biden Joe Biden son and so on they had a vote on that and as expected the democrats didnt have the votes the republican stayed completely unified 53 republicans voted against thats thats the majority of they have in the senate 5347. 00 that was rejected no documents from the white house extra documents new documents of the democrats say were withheld from them during the house inquiries at least for now those will not be entered or or subpoenaed by the senate now theres another of them at this time as you say for the state Department Records and so on were expecting a bunch of these amendments to carry on over the next several hours will introduce an amendment saying ok we want some of this theyll be a debate up to 2 hours of debate and then theyll be a vote out and were expecting each time for those amendments to fail on the senate floor and the republicans to stay unified this is actually pretty much what we expected this is sort of theater really in some ways just to show that they tried to get these these documents. At this stage we would expect him and also on witnesses Mitch Mcconnell the Senate Majority leader has made it clear any vote or any decision on getting extra documents with witnesses will only happen after the Opening Statements also the crossexamination of the white house lawyers and the house managers then they can be a debate and a vote on whether to bring in extra documents and witnesses not before so this is a rather symbolic process thats happening right now and as expected the republicans are remaining unified as a bloc 5347 ok thank you she had her tansey explaining the latest developments the 1st vote that weve seen in this impeachment trial in the u. S. Senates a lot of analysis to come on this one of course even with it only being the 1st day and most of it being about the rules and the process but were going to talk about it now with Patty Culhane and her panel in washington. Hey there kemal this is quite a day to be in washington and what happens over the next few days could have a huge impact not just on the United States but on the entire world so i have a stellar panel to help break down whats happening and whats next let me introduce you to jeff hauser hes the executive director of the revolving door project at the center for economic and policy Research Jason nichols is a professor of the university of maryland and a Democratic Political analyst and this is Jack Kingston a former republican republican congressman from georgia gentlemen thank you very much for coming back so im interested you know thats very interesting theory about Mitch Mcconnell so Mitch Mcconnell comes up with this resolution and says this is going to be the rules everyone knows Mitch Mcconnell doesnt put anything on the floor unless he has the votes then he changes the rules but you dont think you think that was planned i think Mitch Mcconnell has 2 key audiences he has donald trump and then he has the skittish members of his caucus and i think that there are 2 types of skittish republicans there are those who are up for reelection in light blue to purple states so cory gardner from colorado Susan Collins from maine arsenic sally in arizona joni ernst in iowa but she also has some senators who are never going to stand for reelection again so they dont have to worry about a primary they dont have to worry about trump getting their base upset with them they are free to do their own thing there to vote their conscience and that includes Lamar Alexander from tennessee and richard burr from North Carolina so you think using mcconnell was always going to change his plan it was to give Susan Collins he needs at least he paul if theyre going to stick with him on the key votes throughout the process he needs to give them something to show that they have had a moderating impact mcconnells rules that the whole thing is not a fix that mcconnell is not fixing the outcome of this trial and they have trouble and so i think he made a little bit of a strategic concession today that doesnt really make much to do with the fairness of the old. Im a trial toward an end of getting those votes back when he needs them down on jack were talking about witnesses and if we forward breaking news in lebanon you dont think theyre going to call witnesses but heres where i have to push on this the American Public want the republicans majority say they want witnesses so how and theres always been witnesses there are every impeachment trial in the history of the senate how can they politically not have witnesses well a lot of it is going to be methods in and i think the message is the house had all year long theyve had 2 years theyve been at impeachment ever since january 2017 and they had plenty of time because what this is it is not up to the senate to prove the case for the house it literally is but when it says in the constitution dry this senate has the sole duty to try as in now that they had tabbed actually they are actually limited to what the house gives them so you know all this. On a minute so i think its good but the the house did not do its job i think it sets an impeachment a no impeachment they did not do their job in when president clinton was impeached we had the starr report a 3rd party who said he broke the following laws there was a crime the House Democrats have not shown a crime they talked about bribery well why isnt bribery one of the articles but when you talk let me say that i thought it all had separated you know i. Just want to make sure jason was awake here and. Let me say this. If there are witnesses i think that wouldnt you agree they should be a fact witness only absolute and this witness if you are following the clinton impeachment procedure you would go with the witnesses who testified before the house there were there were 3 witnesses do. The clinton testifying for the again when we look at the you know historical precedent matters when you look at Andrew Johnsons impeachment trial there were 37 new witnesses that did not present before the trial the house so again we have historical precedent on that on our side and sort of that well lets talk about historical precedent was above partisan ok here it is well there are days where there are and weve never been in territory in a partisan impeachment. That over to legitimize that is very hard is that impeachment that was you know there are going to that was a little bit of that was rolls and and felt it was a good ringback thing and i will say this it was a good thing that. Lott and dash will were able to Work Together in terms of establishing the rules ok and thats something that you know we havent been able to work out and part of it is because Lindsey Graham said he was going to go with the rules from 1988 or 999 excuse me and then decided to go left you know i decided to do something completely different he did. Not know about if you were a. Lawyer i was fascinated by trumps attorneys that they didnt talk about the law at all they kept talking about the process and i mean these are the tweets weve heard from the president since the beginning do you expect that to change do you expect that theyre going to make a Legal Defense for the most part no i mean the old proverb is that when youre a lawyer you argue the facts unless you dont have the facts in which case you argue the law and if you dont have the law is make a show out of it and so theyre basically at making a show out of it and i would just want to go back to something that congressman kingston said which is is this a partisan impeachment i believe that the 40 seats that the democrats gained in 20 teen were about putting a check on donald trump and so those are largely. Historically republican districts that flipped and so Republican Voters are formally Republican Voters are being represented in this process and they spoke by electing democrats who would then impeach President Trump and so i think that this jose says were flacks both historical democratic voters and a lot of former i think that will sell on the 32nd sell by 2nd very diluted the reality is that regardless of what we say twist and turn all you want the bill clinton impeachment from the very beginning of the adoption of the inquiry was bipartisan ok the. Appointment of ken starr that moving forward was bipartisan this is a 100 percent partisan. Ok it was already lost on all of these leaks from an impeachment is 1st of all political process we have to acknowledge that it is a political process if it were something that had to do you know that was judicial it would be handled by the Supreme Court but its not its handled by the senate because it is a political process so you have fallen understand now its 5 you know what i want to get to is the politics of this for an International Audience because if youre looking at this from outside youre thinking this is a president who is deeply unpopular with independents with that hugely unpopular democrats his Approval Rating is in the negative the majority of people want to impeach they want to see an actual trial so explain to the audience why these republicans are sticking with him in lockstep ok well number one i would have to say respectfully those stats might be true in new york in maryland and. I can tell you the democrat seats in 20 of them or one by donald trump that jeff just alluded to thats where the battleground is here this is all politics and in those seats the. President s approval numbers are trending up as soon as the democrats have a nominee regardless of who it is that person will become targeted and get the criticism that donald trump does and then youre going to see a lot more parity in terms of the whos not but let me let me say this. Right now the economys going well historically low africanamerican unemployment has store a clearly low with women unemployment historically low hispanic he said it was the rightly unpopular president doesnt matter in this popular president says hes the like whats worse get harder the economy is working for the majority of americans we are at peace that is a very significant thing you were going to get out of the no no no theres a lot of people on the left who were just hoping he would stubbed his toe in north korea or in syria or most recently you were going with the bad guys its been a threat over the 30 or 40 years out here it didnt go ahead in December Donald trump was bragging about bring it on i want to try i want im sure biden and joe biden to testify but ill let you call anyone you want because i have nothing to fear but whats clear is that the Republican National committee and the Trump Reelection Campaign have hired very good pollsters and they know that the more facts come out and the more National Attention there is to these allegations the worse for trump has done a 180 he no longer wants a trial he wants this over as quickly as possible and maybe its largely partisan now but what does trump fear and i have to imagine that trump fears that the movement to remove him could become less partisan over time if he didnt fear it he would have an opportunity to embarrass joe biden and hunter biden he would have the he could definitely get joe biden to be compelled to testify as in return for getting john bolton and other witnesses that democrats want the only reason trump fears witnesses is that trumps polling shows him that he has a lot to fear. And then let me ask you this you voted to impeach president clinton when you were a member of the house its a very very heavy vote to take do you believe that President Trump used his position to try and pressure ukraine to get dirt on a political rival absolutely not the transcript he asked and well and really do you want to ever. Know it was it but it was a direct. Challenge to you on that was a direct question to the let me let me go through the litany but he said to you do i favor though yes do us a favor i believe as an american i think we all would when were our foreign aid goes to another country we should make sure it doesnt hand go in the hands of corrupt leaders overseas so yes when you were talking about what is ahead it was all in favor remember you got to say it. Are 2 distinguished analysts were there but all weve heard from democrats for 2 and a half years guilty russia guilty russia miller a fuck you now im sure you guys were saying no no slow down ok i made a break right now im going to bring this up again because you brought up in the last hour muller didnt clear the president he said it was in his position to ask for him to be impeached but we all have a couple minutes left so i want to go to a thing that i think could change the entire trajectory of this because i think conventional wisdom right now is that things are going to happen the republicans are going to bat it away if 4 republicans are convinced to join democrats one i want each of you to take this on what does john bolton do see burn the house. Im skeptical that john bolton burns out because i think in the long run hes a republican in the republican establishment is not quite there i think other witnesses will be more revealing than bold and i believe his testimony will be pretty underwhelming i think hes going to say that he did not. Agree with what was going on but i dont think he doesnt want to give democrats a win he is fiercely partisan. And he is a war hawk and i dont think that he is somebody who wants to see democrats win even though he may have his issues with President Trump did oh and i would say the reason his name is coming up doesnt have anything to do with this testimony as much as prolong in the trial the longer you prolong it the more it looks like theres a cloud hanging over donald trump and thats what Chuck Schumer wants for these 3 pivotal races that are out there right now and that doesnt help jones in alabama but it does hurt democrats republicans who are in purple estate so why does he even if hes innocent why dont doesnt he call it because it prolongs the trial. Trump wants this thing over with so he can get back on the campaign but thats not what trumps sense well thats what thats what the connell says but thats not what trumps. Shift you shift as he was a can say i had you know jason because of a fight or those trump said is he wants witnesses and i dont know anybody who wants to be cleared who doesnt want witnesses and more importantly even though were having this conversation about witnesses we need to talk about documents thats something that you and other members of congress during the clinton trial you target on harakah in the senate as you can see as you can see that this is a very passionate debate that its going to continue to be passionate and bottom line is nobody knows how this ends but were going to be here to follow along with it so well be back in a couple of hours spread out thats the latest from washington. How do i make law here what she has extended coverage of president Donald Trumps and pietschmann trial at the u. S. Senate it is just past 20. 5 pm in washington d. C. Where the senate has been deciding on rules governing how the trial will work the chamber is controlled by trumps Republican Party and the senates Majority Leader Mitch Mcconnell has proposed rules that would trigger a quick trial the house broke with furnished by cutting President Trumps Council Inquiry into an