Difference they have information i think a take it its as if the president has learned absolutely nothing from the past 2 years of investigations into russias interference with 2016 elections. Also coming up tonight voting has begun to choose britains next conservative party leader and its next Prime MinisterBoris Johnson closer than ever to being the 11 of the reasons why the public feels 80 that you know. From us as a as appreciate it because to if you will monthly in daily language but i could. See you our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day asking has us president just thrown open the 2020 president ial election to foreign spy in a presidency saturated in trumps defiance of president ial norms and standards it is difficult to be shocked by anything we hear from the oval office but that is exactly what the u. S. President has done it in a screws of interview with a. B. C. Newss George Stephanopoulos he said that he would be open to information from Foreign Countries that could hurt his political rivals in the next election and trump added he doesnt agree with the head of the f. B. I. The man he appointed that foreign offers of the electoral kind should be reported to the f. B. I. Well today the value of among democrats calling for trump to be impeached increased a few deaths of bells and there are more politicians saying openly that president truck represents a threat to the National Security of the country and the constitution that he was elected to protect today pushed back saying campaign help from Foreign Governments is comparable to Holding Meetings with World Leaders such as Queen Elizabeth lets start with that talk in the oval office that has stunned much of the world your campaign this time of foreigners if were russia china or someone else offers you information upon it should accept it or should we call the f. B. I. I think maybe you do both i think you might want to listen i dont theres nothing wrong with listening if somebody calls. From a country norway we have information on your home. I think id want to hear that you want to kind of interference in elections not in the fear and say have information i think id take it if i thought there was something wrong id go maybe to the f. B. I. If i thought there was something wrong but when somebody comes up with a researcher they come up with up a research oh lets call the f. B. I. The f. B. I. Doesnt have enough agents to take care of it but you go and talk honestly to congressman they all do it they always have and thats the way it is its called Research Research arts and talk about that im joined at the big table here by julian smith shes the former deputy National Security adviser to former us Vice President joe biden shes in berlin this year as a fellow at the boss academy its good to have you back on the program you know you have been on the inside. For our viewers tell us is it common practice for a sitting u. S. President to accept campaign help information from a Foreign Government that he could then use against his opponent in a National Election no i mean the short answer is obviously no its completely unacceptable and inappropriate for a sitting u. S. President to seek or receiving criminalising information on any sort of political opponent its also inappropriate for Anyone Running for office whether its for congress whether its for us president that is absolutely unacceptable now you can meet with foreign leaders thats a common part of the job as the american president and as holders of office across our government they do that on a regular basis but it is not in any way acceptable to have the president make the statement that he did ultimately what he has done is he has opened the door and he has welcomed other countries to essentially interfere in our election hes undermining our democracy. And hes undermining the Intelligence Community not to mention his own f. B. I. Director who said that anyone who would be approached with this type of incriminating information should call the f. B. I. Trump somehow believes thats the wrong approach so its troubling there are examples of u. S. Campaign teams seeking information about by going abroad but we need for them to do knocks on your door at the white hells theyre taking the initiative there and along bills should be going on absolutely i mean we saw the reaction across washington today as you noted at the opening of the segment there are increasing calls now for impeachment i think the American People have been shocked by this particularly in light of what happened in the 26000 election where theres ample evidence that there was russian interference for the same president now to stand up and say his quote was ill take it is absolutely astounding and deeply deeply worrying about what could come in 2020 or so you listen to once held Speaker Nancy Pelosi said today about this. Intelligence community with great confidence is put forth that the russians intervene or interfere and election thats an assault on our democracy and assault on our democracy this president says its a hoax he supposed that he takes an oath to protect and defend the constitution but i guess it doesnt include him in terms of being. To be held accountable to obey the law. You mentioned 2020 i mean what do you think this means for the 2020 election well i think all of us should be worried about the extent to which this president has an open mind and could in fact be amenable to receiving any sort of intelligence from a foreign entity again given our history and 20161 would hope that we were fortifying our defenses right now against any sort of attempt to interfere in our election whether directly or indirectly and yet todays statement really gives i think many of us pause and great concern about how the president s going to behave viz of the Foreign Intelligence Services and foreign leaders in the run up to this next election you wrote an op ed piece which appeared in the New York Times this week in titled if trump wants to take on china he needs allies and he should start with europe we can see it right there theres a section from your article that we want to highlight for our viewers you write on the subject of china the europeans feel like theyve been relegated to observer status Trump Administration officials theyve made few efforts to breathe on their china policy the Trump Administrations approach which includes threatening to limit intelligence sharing with any ally that proceeds to build its next generation of mobile infrastructure with who a is a losing strategy europeans you write are tired of taking orders from trumps america. I mean is it really that simple that the president of the United States thinks that he can come to europe until the europeans what they should do and he thinks theyre going to follow through well i think unfortunately with the Current Administration they want to talk to europe about china but they have essentially one or 2 topics theyre worried about the. Investments in that the chinese are making in europe so the Trump Administration wants to talk to europeans about investment screening thats wise they also want to talk to europeans about while way and their efforts to build these 5 g. Networks because americans believe that there are some security vulnerabilities those are fine subjects for conversation but the way in which the Trump Administration has gone about it is they have essentially threatened the europeans to say if you go ahead and work with weiwei on 5 g. Were going to halt intelligence sharing and thats rubbed many europeans the wrong way theyre saying wait i thought we were going to Work Together as partners on china as we do with many common challenges and now youre kind of barking orders that us demanding that we make this immediate change and its undermining our ability to Work Together i mean china presents so many challenges what does that mean of the end of the day this is the approach is hurting the u. S. Its hurting europe and its what strengthening john well essentially its giving china the upper hand what china wants to have happen right now as the russians do as well they like when europe and the United States are bickering and divided and cant really agree on approach thats good news because china cant keep going on with its efforts to undermine International Institutions transatlantic resolve and unity and so trumps approach in my mind is not only hurting americas ability to work with europe on china but its really undermining the wests ability to tackle these Political Economic technological challenges that china poses to all of us and youre not advocating trying to find agreement or consensus on every issue would you write in your piece we want to show our viewers a segment here you write working with europe will not be easy the 2 will never be. Perfect whats. China especially when it comes to Security Issues europe doesnt have anything resembling americas forces in asia nor does it share American Security commitments even inside europe there will continue to be different approaches to china i mean so agree to disagree but agreeing that together youre stronger than just following america 1st for example i mean do you think trumps going to come around. Thinking this way im skeptical im skeptical that trump really sees europe as a partner in dealing with the challenges that china poses but i do believe that if we were smart about this we would try and find a couple of areas where we could Work Together wed strengthen our trade relationship wed cord made our policies on things like chinas human rights abuses or wed come up for with some alternatives for china silk road project that its pursuing around the world what do you hear here in europe from policy makers regarding the credibility of trump policy i mean its he were to change course would leaders here in europe would they give him the benefit of the dail well i think if trump were willing to start without threatening our allies i think that be a good start but to be honest theres a lot of mistrust in the relationship right now a lot of this administrations a number of the actions have undermined trust in the relationship and it would be hard to chart a new course that said i would hope that the administration would give it a try because theres so much europe in the United States despite our differences could be doing together right now visa via china youve been here in europe for almost a year now right im going to go back to the states what would you say the factor. Has done to us. European relations the scene in just the short time youve been here i mean have you seen you know changes have you seen the the price of trumps policies being paid here absolutely i mean theres a lot of doubt about the value of this relationship on both sides feel and take americans are questioning why do we have these nato allies why are they spending enough on defense europeans are asking do we even share common values anymore were not working together on iran were not working together on climate our trade relationship is in tatters so the relationship is ailing both at the the elite level really on a leaders level the relationship between merkel and trump for example is not great but what i worry about is kind of the lasting damage thats being done at the public level where trust at that level also seems to be eroding and i hope that this wont be something that with us forever i hope that with change in leadership on both sides of the atlantic well see this through before we let you go how do you explain to the germans and the europeans the the whole election process in the United States you know were a long way away still from the 2020 president ial election and already you know thats almost all you hear in the u. S. Now is this horse race right now you know your old boss you know right now the other democratic contenders but does that really help the public good i mean you know elections dont work that way here in europe at all right no absolutely not you know i mean its hard to explain why we have a process that essentially now has become a 2 year process and so we spend a lot of time going through and in this case many many different candidates certainly on the democratic side so its hard because its apples and oranges our systems are very Different Things and i want is that right you say its made of atoms thats right to it as myth as always we appreciate you coming in and sharing your insights were going to things and come back again one more time at least before you head back over across the atlantic thanks thanks. Well how much longer do they dare to hope in sudan that burst of positivity we reported recently didnt last long snuffed out by the Army Crackdown last week on protesters more than 100 people were killed and all they were and are asking for is a transition from military to civilian rule a demand that has become deadly and has resulted in a standoff between military rulers and their civilian opponents is that if. Any if any agreement needs to include i dont know in international guarantees. And had this up and were only prepared to discuss an agreement that leads to our proposal of a civil government that will do that without discussion of any other issues. Where the United States has appointed a new special envoy to promote a democratic resolution to sudans political crisis veteran a diplomat donald booth is in khartoum along with the u. S. Top envoy for africa. There are Holding Meetings with the transitional military government and key figures of the protest movement will then fly into addis ababa and meet with ethiopias Prime Minister and senior officials of the African Union who are also mediating in this crisis. Mediating i have my colleague joins me now and she has reported from sudan most recently just before the Army Crackdown change so many things its good to have you back here at the big table. How important are the mediators right now in in getting these talks going again and in stopping the momentum which has turned negative. I mean the mediators are really essential for any negotiation that can take place on the ground in sudan right now because the opposition the forces of freedom and change and im alliance which is an Umbrella Group made up of various smaller opposition groups has said that it wont negotiate directly with the military transitional. Council that they need a mediator they are sort of watchdog because they say according to them that throughout these negotiations would which have been going on for well into 3 months now they say that the military goes and says one thing but then their actions on the ground then contradict what what theyve what they say and that theres simply not enough trust for them to directly negotiate so it really does depend on the negotiator in this case. And the Ethiopian Party he has even proposed that the negotiations go to a decent but this proposal has been rejected by the military. Trust im wondering what is the Opposition Alliance how does it see its chances moving forward considering that more than 100 people were were just killed for peacefully demonstrating i mean they certainly are defiant but i think the bigger question or the bigger concern is how much trust and how much kind of credibility they enjoy on the ground i mean theyre certainly still the very important part of the negotiations they certainly reflect a lot of the demand still their demands have in all fairness not changed since their inception as a group but for the longest time throughout these 3 months their leverage was the physical existence of the sit in in front of the Army Headquarters which was dispersed violently on june 3rd and we just heard the spokesperson actually for the 1st time admit that the military was actually responsible for this disperse or which begs the question what leverage what leverage do they have but they have at the same time they were able to successfully execute a 2 day general strike. Across the country which brought the country to a standstill power im wondering how much power the they have i mean theres the internet blackout right now in the country were seeing tactics that weve seen before in this part of africa where the where the military for example doesnt want to let the people have a voice it is the Opposition Alliance is now at the mercy of the military more than its ever been i think its always been at the mercy of the military as as you said but i think with this with the military actually admitting that they were in charge of this what we just saw just a moment that is its its not that its an improvement its unprecedented they have actually said like we were responsible for this but quote unquote some mistakes were made and that they were looking into it but of course no one would accept that somebody who has just admitted to be a perpetrator then go ahead and investigate their own crimes i think this this this last and last may have given them more power than one might think and i thin