President directed us to do so everyone was in the loop. It was no secret. Also coming up a nonsi memorabilia going once going to say controversial auction where hitlers history goes to the highest bidder all these emblems that hold these nazi frags and whatever they are they sell all day party i mean it was and still is not support and so in moral and ethical terms i think its highly problematic. To our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and around the world welcome we begin the day with a witness who may have saved himself and at the same time put a presidency in peril today a top diplomat appointed by u. S. President delivered explosive testimony in the impeachment hearings again. The president Gordon Tsonga and u. S. Ambassador to the European Union said that trump directed him to pressure ukraine to investigate trumps political rival former u. S. Vice president joseph biden songlines testimony not only corroborates the claim 1st made by the whistleblower but it also implicates the people who work closest with the president saw him and said the desires and wishes of trump were not a secret and that everyone was in the loop i agreed to testify because i respect the gravity of the moment and i believe i have an obligation to account fully for my role in these events mr giulianis requests were a quid pro quo for arranging a white house visit for president selenski mr giuliani was expressing the desires of the president of the United States and we knew these investigations were important to the president in the absence of any credible explanation for the suspension of aid i later came to believe that the resumption of security aid would not occur until there was a Public Statement from ukraine committing to the investigations of the 2016 elections and are resigned to the president ever tell you personally about any preconditions for anything now ok so the president never told you about any preconditions for the aid to be released no the president never told you about any preconditions for a white house meeting. Personally no it was the president s direction and instruction that a white house meeting with president selenski would not occur until president selenski announced publicly the investigations that the president wanted so right thats correct and you now know that the for investigations the president wanted or as an investigation into the bidens an investigation into the 2016 election i know that now yes. Well donald trump is not the 1st u. S. President to undergo in beach but proceedings 3 other president s have faced impeachment hearings in the past and none have been removed from office only one president Richard Nixon resigned now all 3 cases provide hints to how trumps impeachment proceedings may end or i shall resign the presidency of the. Us president Richard Nixon resigning in the wake of the watergate scandal in 1904 the Democrat Controlled Congress had opened an impeachment investigation into a burglary at the Democratic Party headquarters nixon fired uncooperative aides and defied subpoenas leading the House Judiciary Committee to charge him with obstruction of justice republicans largely stuck with him as he insisted on his innocence. Of people who got to know whether or not their president is a proper well im not a problem i heard everything i got. But nixons Political Support in the public and in congress collapsed as the evidence against him piled up when it looked like the dam was about to break he resigned. More than a 100 years earlier Andrew Johnson was impeached by the house for firing a cabinet member in defiance of the law but the senate acquitted him in a trial. Most recently in 1998 bill clinton was impeached by a republican controlled house for perjury and obstruction of justice he was accused of lying under oath about an affair with the white house in turn i did not have sexual relations with that woman miss lewinsky i never told anybody to lie not a single time never but a special prosecutor amassed evidence that he had conducted an affair and the house voted to impeach clinton. A Televised Senate trial was widely considered to be sorted and personal. Clinton argued he was the victim of political persecution and polls showed a large majority of americans agreed perhaps not coincidentally the senate did not convict him. And so clinton stayed in the white house. Polls now show the american electorate to be almost evenly divided on trumps impeachment and most analysts say the Republican Controlled Senate is unlikely to convict him but if the polling numbers change dramatically that calculation may change. Well im joined tonight by a gentleman who knows exactly what its like to be in the middle of an impeachment for seating Richard Benveniste is a lawyer in washington d. C. He was one of the leading watergate prosecutors he joins me tonight from the u. S. Capitol mr benveniste its good to have you on the show and i want to start by saying some of our viewers they may not be familiar with the john dean moment of the watergate hearings john dean was president nixons counsel he testified about the secret tape recordings in the oval office which changed everything he also said that there was a cancer on the presidency on ascii was todays testimony the john dean moment of this impeachment process. I dont think so todays testimony was cumulative of others in the diplomatic corps who have already given testimony under oath to corroborate the fact that the president of the United States had used congressionally authorized funds for the defense of the ukraine for his personal political objectives that is in order to release funds which he had ordered hello and not distributed to the ukraine the president required that the ukrainian president announce the investigation of joseph biden and joseph biden son in connection with mr bidens sons involvement with a reason a ukrainian. Energy company b. What this is innate in my experience in that whatever you may say about Richard Nixon and that was a lot his. Offenses involved u. S. Citizens and actions against u. S. Citizens using his position and power as president of us here we have the implication of u. S. Foreign policy and with that National Security being misused according to the sworn testimony of several now by President Trump so youre saying mr minister that what the president is is accused of in your opinion is actually more serious and graver than what was ever thrown at Richard Nixon well it is different. Say what you will about Richard Nixon at the end of the day. He was ashamed and apologized for his misuse of his president ial office to date there is no indication that there is anything that will shame donald trump and people about him whether its interesting though you say that i noticed today when mr zonen was speaking we saw new tweets coming from the president i mean it was completely quiet for the several hours when testimony was being given which is unusual for the president as a former prosecutor when you look at the evidence thats been given when you look at the testimony in your mind has there been a nuff presented for articles of impeachment to be sent from the house to the senate for trial well our constitution specifies a great grounds for impeachment of the president and one of which is bribery and i believe theres been a prime aphasia case made in the absence of any defense by the president. Of solicitation of a bride that is release of the funds that were authorized by congress to the ukraine in return for a statement by the ukrainian president s alinsky knew in office that he would authorize or initiate an investigation that would implicate a political rival. For the upcoming 2020 president ial election that is joe biden. Indeed simply the announcement of an investigation hope it might well be enough to blacken the report reputation of mr biden to the extent that he would lose support in the primary elections that are upcoming for the democratic nomination mr minister let me ask you before we run out of time moving forward if the house since the articles of impeachment over to the senate and if a trial takes place and if the president is not convicted and remains in office what do you think that is going to say about the health and the state of the u. S. Constitution. Well its going to Say Something about the american populace because after all the representatives of the people are the ones who vote good articles of impeachment be transmitted to the United States senate and thats not a certainty you know there are other things that might be done there might be a motion to censure the president instead of impeachment but excepting the premise of your point. Theres been a great change in the country we are far more tribal in our politics than we were in the days of Richard Nixon. We appear to be far more accepting of the president. Being untruthful in Public Statements you know one of our major newspapers is the Washington Post its tracks the lies and mis misstatements of fact that the president has made and its in the thousands this point so it really is a print scene than it was in the days of Richard Nixon back 48 years of oh yeah it makes you wonder Richard Nixon would have even resigned defeat had had fox news in 1974 i guess well never know richard or he. Wont talk about that the next time we talk with you mr benveniste Richard Benveniste former watergate prosecutor we appreciate your time in your insights tonight thank you oh its a pleasure thank you. Ari for more analysis in now on the testimony that we heard today on capitol hill im joined here at the big table by rachel rizzo she is a us political analyst and a bosch fellow here in berlin and d. W. News is very own economy he is in kiev in ukraine with that part of the story to both of you welcome nick let me start with you the testimony today as weve been saying it was very damning for the u. S. President and it wasnt exactly flattering to the leadership in ukraine whats been the reaction where you are to what we heard today. Well the government here in prison staying as tight lipped as they have throughout theres very little in this for them to gain by saying anything either way theyll either offend the Current White House and the team or the democrats so they seem to think its better just to try and lie low and wait for this all to pass them by obviously as these impeachment hearings gather pace that may longer be possible in terms of the flattery or the implication they were willing to open these investigations i think is a lot of sympathy here in ukraine for president selenski as the president of a country thats coming under increasing pressure especially from european powers to compromise to russia that u. S. Support is crucial for ukraine basically willing to say anything to really keep the president happy but i think he needs to be judged on his actions and his words he that investigation has not been opened and doesnt look like its going to be open any time soon so i think it does seem that was aware of the danger inherent in this situation from the beginning and while they were trying to sweet talk the president they have held back from opening an investigation that could open them up to. To the charge of meddling in the u. S. Election you know theres a very good point and. What about the u. S. State department do you think that the state department has the capacity right now that you can focus on policies and ties with ukraine considering Everything Else thats going on right now in the trump of ministration you know its a good question but i think that whether or not the state department has the capacity to deal with it might not matter they have to have the capacity to deal with it whats happening with the impeachment proceedings is taking bandwidth from every aspect of the government from congress to the Defense Department to the white house to the state department and so this this proceeding has really thrust to us with ukraine policy and at the forefront of u. S. Foreign policy discussions so the state department its in their interest to ensure that. Something that they are in fact focusing on do you think the u. S. Ukraine policy has been damaged by the impeachment proceedings lets take a question i think as far as long term damage goes we have to remember that is in the u. S. Interest for for us to continue a strong relationship with ukraine right they are a close partner of the United States theyre a close partner of nato the u. S. Government has worked very hard with the ukraine government to help them do things like stop out corruption and we also have to remember that they are at the forefront of the conflict with russia crimea and Eastern Ukraine than their stock by Russian Forces and so if if this if the United States if we let this damage our ukraine policy it would be to our detriment nick the ambassador reportedly said that the president the u. S. President does not really care about ukraine and that he only cares about the big stuff such as the political investigation into the buy that he could use maybe in the next Election Campaign what is what is all of that doing to americas credibility in ukraine. Im not sure that ukraine has many alternatives for allies beyond the u. S. So i think losing credibility isnt going to do much that but i think were already seeing america defected disengaging from ukraine this conference in the normandy format thats planned for the beginning of december where putin and selenski will come face to face for the 1st time with Michael Americal thats really a sign the europeans are taking of the initiative and ukraine coming under increasing pressure now to make those big concessions to make some Movement Possible present because seemingly very willing to get back to business as usual with russia with Vladimir Putins kremlin had the u. S. Being more engaged maybe the ukrainians wouldnt be so willing to make those compromises to make those noises theres a real sense here that a whole generation of u. S. Experts who knew this region. Who had studied in this region in the ninetys when these countries became independent from the soviet union people like fiona hill. That they are not being replaced they are leaving Government People like senator john mccain who died recently who had been a big figure in the might on here all these people had a personal interest in this region are gone and they were placed by people who really couldnt care about ukraines fate to the same personal level so the real worry here that this is the kind of lack of leadership and a lack of interest here thats a very good point nick. This from the you know gordon that he donated a 1000000. 00 to the inauguration and was rewarded with the ambassador position in ukraine republican president s do this democratic president s do this. Other countries do not they reward their best diplomats with the title of ambassador to the United States says money buys access to these jobs. Does that needs to change does and i think you make a good point and going back to what you were saying about him donating to the Term Campaign it does make it interesting that fact as well as the fact that he did fly also on air force one and then trump came back and said that he hardly knows the guy so i just feel like thats interesting and i sort of odd aspect of this whole thing but i do think you make a good point this is not just a Trump Administration phenomenon this happens with republican administrations and democratic administrations and you know most the time its ok but i think this is a really good example of when things can go wrong when you dont have someone with a deep deep knowledge a breadth of knowledge about a certain country that they are going to be serving in things can go wrong and so i do think that the United States needs to rethink how it. And bassett errors and this is a good example that we can point to yeah and maybe some of the president ial candidates will pick that open to their platform for next november we will see. You as political analyst and bosch tailor and connelly our very own correspondent you have to both of you thank you we appreciate your insights tonight you. Just to prove my so in this election i think it does i think youre going to. Be very good just very just very briefly the position clear we will have a referendum throughout. The will of god by that result. Well that was britains political elite holding their 1st candidates debate ahead of the general election thats scheduled for next month and as you heard both Prime Minister boards johnson and labor leader Jeremy Corbyn they drew mocking laughter from the listening voters but twitter its not laughing about the conservative contribution the social media giant issuing a warning to Prime MinisterBoris Johnsons conservative party after the party changed its twitter presence during the debate and this is important to check this out it normally looks like this with a clear declaration that it is from the conservative party but on tuesday during the televised