Transcripts For ALJAZ NEWS LIVE - 30 20240713

Lawmakers take a stand on human rights. And americas largest cigarette maker is accused of targeting teenagers and misrepresenting the safety of its products. The u. S. Ambassador to the European Union has told the impeachment inquiry in washington that president all trump did want a quid pro quo deal golden sun and told members of congress there was a campaign led by the president himself to pressure her into investigate his political rival biden sonnen said it was communicated to him through the lawyer Rudy Giuliani the ambassador went on to say that he believed u. S. Military aid to ukraine was dependent on the inquiries demanded by trump lets go live now to alan fischer in washington and it was a riveting testimony that we heard from Gordon Sohn Lin today what could this all mean for the president does it a show his impeachment. I think thats almost i dont think you can underestimate just how significant the testimony that we had today was here was court and so on bill and donald trump although a few hours ago were saying he hardly knew the man is close to donald trump spoke to him regularly according to his testimony gave him 1000000. 00 for his Inauguration Fund and was appointed as the e. U. Ambassador saying in front of congress that there was indeed a quid pro quo that donald trump was holding up aid to give to ukraine until ukraine announced an investigation into the 26000 election and also into joe biden and his sons business dealings in ukraine but he did it very cleverly he didnt quite cross the line of pointing the finger directly at donald trump here is what he did do he said that senior officials followed the president s orders and he named mike pence who is the Vice President the secretary of state might promptly or rick perry who is the Energy Secretary and also Mick Mulvaney who is the chief of staff and said they were also aware of a quid pro quo interestingly in the last couple of hours weve heard the statement from mike pence and mike pompei are saying that Gordon Sunderlands testimony is false that he didnt get things right and they certainly were aware of any quid pro quo what is interesting in that is that sunderland was giving evidence under oath the statements issued by pens and pompei or are not under oath and both of them have given no indication that they want to speak to congress about this i think another important thing to mention is that dylan said that trump wasnt really interested in an investigation into corruption in ukraine all he really wanted was someone to stand in front of a microphone professor with the president and say there was an investigation into joe biden who at that point was considering a run for president and would be a significant political rival to donald trump the sunderland sport for many many hours hes actually on his way to brussels now after giving evidence of just seen pictures of him at the airport and i say he walked as close as he could to the line of implicating donald trump without actually going over it. I was adamantly supposed adamantly opposed to any suspension of aid as the ukrainians needed those funds to fight against russian aggression i tried diligently to ask why the aid was suspended but i never received a clear answer still havent to this day 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 very recently as mr giuliani had demanded trump has been speaking out hes furious about i think he made some remarks before boarding and a couple lashing out. Actually just before i came here hes talking in houston with an apple factory and were expecting any 2nd now to get some indication of what hes seeing there he certainly saying that he doesnt know gordon so ill and as i say gordon invested 1000000. 00 into his Inauguration Fund what is very interesting is that having done that someone on the Committee Said to Gordon Sunderland are you aware of what a quid pro quo is and he answered yes i am well he would having done that donald trump is not happy but he says look gordon sandal and says there was no quid pro quo which is not what he said a tall but he said on that basis not implicating donald trump then this impeachment hearing should end its not going to end its going to continue and were going to hear another evidence from another witness in the next though or so thank you very much alan fish every us all the latest from washington joining me now is Michael Isikoff chief investigative correspondent yahoo news joins me from washington so very clear testimony from golden sonnen there that that caylee was a quote. Suggesting that everything we have heard so far about this from president trant denying that there was any wrongdoing saying that its all part of a political witch hunt against him is wrong. Yeah look this was very powerful damning testimony by gordon sohn lend a couple of lines just leapt out. You know from his testimony one we were all following the president s orders that psalms exact words hes talking about the Pressure Campaign that was being put on president s alinsky and ukrainian officials to get them to make these statements about investigations into the bidens an alleged and suppose a 2016 interference by the ukrainians in the president ial election and another one that was pretty significant everyone was in the loop and by that he meant secretary pompei o Mick Mulvaney the acting white house chief of staff said everybody in the National Security Decision Making process was aware of what was going on so thats. Pretty significant because it implicates the secretary of state himself and also possibly Vice President pence who of course if President Trump were removed from office would become the president of the United States but all that said although it was pretty strong testimony for the democrats it wasnt quite the knockout blow that they were hoping for because saddam when you know pulled back from the idea that he knew this was a pretty quid pro quo he said he presumed it was a quid pro quo based on all the conversations he was having but on the occasion when he actually calls the president himself on september 9th after getting this text message from ambassador taylor in ukraine. Asking saying it would be crazy to link Security Assistance to these demands for investigations he calls up the president and innit. Im interested to know that im interested in the morning you made the mission about the point you make there about the presumption that something the republican members of the committee certainly seize upon you particularly cost oil in that question in which you would expect how strongly is that likely to resonate given everything in the context of Everything Else that we have heard the fact that everyone was in the loop as he said and that was surely the highest levels of the Trump Administration wouldnt act to execute a plan that wasnt being orchestrated by the president himself. Well i guess the answer to that is resonate with whom because you know there is already you know a lot of evidence here about what happened then lets just start with the transcript of the phone call the july 25th phone call which weve had for more than 2 months now and you know the president s words are as clear as day hes asking president insulin skeet for a favor to launch these investigations so in that sense weve known the president s culpability from the start of this the question is does it move the American Public does is it such is the evidence such that it adds up to grounds for removal from the present removing the president from office and there the Public Opinion polls continue to show that the country is split on this you get somewhere between 4748 to 52 percent saying yes the president should be impeached and even removed from office but a substantial portion of the public you know 44 to 45 percent says no so if you have that kind of divide you know is that enough to move republican senators and you need 20 of them to vote to remove the president from office when this goes to trial in the senate thank you very much for joining us today appreciate it from washington Michael Isikoff chief investigative correspondent. Journal. Israels Opposition Leader benny gantz has been on able to form a Coalition Government paving the way for the country to go to the polls again israels political system has been paralyzed for months off to 2 inconclusive elections one in april the other in september gadson the incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not get an overall majority so look to god that got of the support of lieberman and his party but he has refused them both and hes now the 2 leaders to Work Together to form a unity government ari force it has more on this now from west jerusalem. Well for hours before the expiration of the deadline for benny gantz to make a Coalition Government he came to the microphones to admit what had been coming increasingly clear throughout the course of the day that he had failed but he put the blame for that squarely at the feet of the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying he had been fortifying himself inside a Transitional Government against the will of the israeli people just to try to avoid prosecution in impending Corruption Cases and he used a particularly personal language in a very strong attack against netanyahu saying that no party leader was above the nation no person had the right to deny the people their vote no Prime Minister own leader could say that my interests are more important than yours and he said that netanyahu had been putting poison into the israeli political process through hatred and incitement and he said that israel now faced its greatest democratic test in its history as now the 21 day period begins where any member of the Israeli Parliament the knesset could theoretically try to form a Coalition Government if they have enough support otherwise israel is off to a 3rd round of elections within less than a year because our would so usually score. Netanyahu needs to remember israel still has a democracy even if it doesnt appeal to him and he should have come to terms with the fact that the outcome of the elections required him to negotiate directly with no blocks or barriers of. Well earlier the right wing politician of a door lieberman whos been seen as the kingmaker in this process said that he hadnt been able to convince either netanyahu or gantz to compromise enough to form a joint unity government the only kind of government that he said he would support with his crucial seats in the Israeli Parliament so what comes next well the only way really that a 3rd election could be avoided is if the threat of that election which is so unpopular with the electorate is enough in itself to try to pressure key players to compromise more or if when netanyahu and we do think it is when theyre finally gets charged by the attorney general in the coming days in his 3 Corruption Cases whether that changes the calculus within his own party enough to try to splinter support away from him theres been no sign of that in the run up to those charges coming in the support has so far been rock solid behind him and so for now this grinding political crisis goes on with no sign of an end perhaps it will only end and maybe not even then if a 3rd round of elections happens in the early part of next year. The last small group of protesters a still holed up in hong kong is besieged Polytechnic University the remnants of hundreds who took over the campus for several days meanwhile International Condemnation is growing and it is in the u. S. Have approved a bill to support human rights in hong kong but china says its meddling and has summoned a u. S. Diplomat in beijing sarah clock reports. In a city rocked by violence and months of protests every day life is carrying on for me to primary and secondary schools have resumed classes after being closed for more than a week some major roads have also reopened but traffic is still congested and some raw lines remain blocked at Polytechnic University in Central California up to 100 protesters are refusing to leave brought police have surrounded the campus ready to mike arrests if any demonstrators try to skype it has been. Flawless for days. Still possibly. The county. Will face that he is going to be. All wrong on a scale. Police. On tuesday around 800. 00 surrounded 300. 00 around the idea of 18 and cant be charged with writing others managed to escape the campus and avoid a wrist some protesters have attempted to flee over the last few hours through the universitys drainage system but they were arrested other attempts were made to a skype of a not but those students were met by police and retreated back inside the campus of the United States senate has backed the prodemocracy protests movement in hong kong and a unanimous vote senate has passed the hong kong human rights and democracy act which threatens to invoke tried sections on the city if the u. S. Considers human rights have been violated we in the United States stand and solve. Darity with democratic protesters who have every right to assemble and petition their government for their rights as citizens of hong kong the bill will now go to the house of representatives the Hong Kong Government has rejected the bill demanding the u. S. Stop interfering in the citys internal affairs these rights are being protected by the basic law of hong kong article 4 basic law protect human rights and we have seen that work all these rights including rights given to anybody working in hong kong reporting in hong kong so these are our self interest to do good so i dont see there is any. Reason for changing that and thats explaining why in our statement we strongly sort of object to any attempt by any country try to sort of inference hong kongs own interest district elections will be held in hong kong this weekend the government has not ruled out postponing that if there is more violence sarah clarke aljazeera hong kong. Most and i have for you on the Program Police in zimbabwe fired tear gas and told that fastens on protesters gathering to listen to the countrys Opposition Leader. And in greece the government now says its going to close down several large camps housing thousands of migrants. Weve got temperatures set to soar across southeast and possible straight here over the next a day or so this area clouds making its way through the bybee so temperatures in adelaide always they often in getting up to 42 degrees celsius and that very hot weather will search into victoria northern parts of victoria concerned about the bushfires now as we go on through the next day or so thursday temperatures here at around 39 degrees theyre not quite as warm for sydney 29 here will see temps around 28 for bris been 23 there for perth this law is the dry across much of australia to trace me not only showers we do get across the southwest down towards the southeast where we have the major push concerns and showers he will be somewhat hit and miss just notice how it cools off as we go on into friday so thats not a bad thing 20 celsius for melbourne at that stage it will be a similar temperature into new zealand over the next day or so its lousy dry here but some pieces of cloud just rolling through it might just catch the odd sharon to southern most positive thinking up here thursday going on into friday the temperature is pretty bad crush us gets up to 21 degrees us respectable 70 and famine high meanwhile across japan its lotty fine and dry but temperatures falling away into the friday. White supremacist violence is on the rise in america he was involved in this whole underground network 8 full time speaks to the victims of recent attacks when he shot me i turned around and he would kill my daughter and asks how an ideology of loathing has found its way into the mainstream can you trawled through line between the rhetoric of President Trump in the conservative media in america to what happened here in el paso license to hate on aljazeera. The headlines now the u. S. Ambassador to the e. U. Has been speaking at an impeachment hearing saying that President Trump did put pressure on ukraine to investigate one of his political rivals golden sun and said it was all part of a quid pro quo to withhold aid and a valuable meeting at the white house. Is ready Opposition Leader benny gantz has been on able to form a government neither he nor Benjamin Netanyahu have managed to arrange a coalition and less than 100 protesters are still holed up in hong kongs besieged Polytechnic University chinas accuse the u. S. Of meddling off the senate has passed a law to support human rights in the territory. Now violent protests have rocks chile for more than a month demonstrators are demanding social and Economic Reforms and as the unrest continues to grip the country a flag has emerged calling attention to chiles largest indigenous community. Theyve been resisting spanish colonise ation for centuries and angry that the constitution of the military has been used to suppress them manual rapido reports now from santiago. Thousands of people continue to march on the streets of cheating the frustrations of demonstrators are rooted in social inequalities many believe are getting worse. One of the most iconic manifestations of this discontent is an indigenous banner belonging to chiles my people is. Gone is a mark which a scholar and one of the original designers of the flag she says the history of this marginalized group is whats made the flag an emblem of resistance among she has demonstrators but get them they get a going to said we should recognize that this struggle is about diverse sick tis said have been excluded women young people sick child diversity migrants who old part of the reality in chile that is being denied. The flag has begun to appear more and more at street protests and it served to highlight one of the many inequalities chileans point to that the countrys constitution doesnt guarantee the rights of Indigenous People of which you were simply putting them up which have always been oppressed and today i identify more with indigenous flag than with a t. V. And flag oh many other flags are also visible at demonstrations representing just about every sector of society is the diversity of to lame protesters and their wide range of demands thats a gathering of support the largest social mobilization in a generation as they seem as if this is his National Flag with holes burned through it says it symbolizes the more than 23 people who have lost their lives in the violence i mean military i want to it would hurt me to see a new constitution written that doesnt consider them a pussy cause because of sexual diversity id be upset if everything we worked for and for for ended in the constitution of the doesnt take into account all of the voices. I write more than 2000 people have been injured in protests since the crisis began 4 weeks ago the calls for justice over the deaths of demonstrators ensures the unrest will continue madrid up a. Scent dog which e to. Well now to Iraq Security forces are saying at least 27 protesters were wounded in the morning clashes in the capital Baghdad Police used tear gas to disperse people advancing on the green zone and government buildings demonstrates is all still occupying the main bridge leading to that area as well as 2 bridges in the capital there also blockading the southern port of a pos or entry point for much of iraqs imported food more than 300 people have been killed since antigovernment protests began 7 weeks ago well in Zimbabwe Riot Police there of the tax Opposition Party supporters with batons and to gas and water cannon they had gathered to lead and Nelson Chamisa to give a speech on the country struggling economy is growing frustration anger at the government over the lack of fuel and medicine as harm metacity explains from the capital harare. They came to hear the leaders speak and see the opposition supporters were met by riot police who made it clear they wanted to attend already organized by Nelson Chamisa the head of the movement for Democratic Change party struggling to deal with the worst economic crisis in a decade they are shortages of basic commodities including fuel and power. Which i miss i arrived he said he wanted to tell us about what his m. D. C. Party plan to do about the economic crisis saying president and his. Government has failed the m. D. C. Is a large movement in this country it cannot be bought by another political party. For that reason we. Are shamed that mr decide to use the military and the police in the way he has done this morning today but the fact of the matter is that going to change is not going to give. Him a seat and its not going to stop the m. D. C. From moving forward with its problems and agenda. The police had earlier given permission for the ready to go ahead just outside the capital Central Business district but the m. D. C. Wanted to gather outside Party Headquarters in the city center the police say the reason why they didnt allow this body to go ahead is because they were concerned they would be violent thats why they deployed in force the m. D. C. The Opposition Party say they will still continue trying to hold gatherings try to hold rallies because they say spacek and said this is an infringement of their rights to express themselves. The police are banned several m. D. C. Gatherings this year human rights with his have often criticized Security Forces Excessive Force when dispersing crowds this year. Points to where we are 14th in terms of sinking and we will leave where we. Are. I dont need to be seen good relations citizen to simply want it. Badly. For years. And this seems to be mounting as the economy worsens but in a country with a history of repression speaking out against government can sometimes be dangerous the part im tossing out isnt that. Well the greek government has announced that it will close down several large migrant camps and replace them with close facilities with a capacity of at least 5000. 00 people each souls are vying to step up deportations of migrants not eligible for asylum this is the latest in a series of measures aimed at tackling severe overcrowding as greece experiences the biggest resurgence of refugee arrivals since 2015. Proceeding with the arrangement of Close Centers not only said they come up with. This but because a clear message needs to be sent to those planning to enter the country legally when they know that they do not qualify for a start up of. The us fading industry has come under fire for allegedly using deceptive marketing practices to attract teenagers new york is the 2nd state now this week to suit the cigarette manufacturers jewel for targeting mynahs company has pulled its fruit dessert and mint nicotine flavors following intense scrutiny but he had reports. They were designed to help adult smokers quit smoking but are now described by many as a Health Crisis affecting millions of young people new york has joined the plaintiffs in the United States taking on its biggest make up of Electronic Cigarettes they accuse jewel of targeting teenagers and downplaying the risks and use of nicotine in socalled of a pig the Company Controls around 70 percent of the market in the u. S. And new yorks attorney general alleges its misrepresented the safety and value of its products in rising numbers our children are vague and we know that no matter how it is delivered nicotine is addictive in its harmful and its especially harmful to our youth and right now an entire lein new generation of americans have become addicted to nicotine jewel labs is accused of conscious public Health Crisis by glamorizing its products and something to mine as earlier this week legal action was launched against the company in california and North Carolina our lawsuit alleges that. Targeted under age californians with its marketing and sales practices of its nicotine addictive theyve been products today one in every 4 High School Students is use east everetts is v. P. Just 2 years ago that number was one in 9. Despite a federal law banning the cigarette sales to those under 18 that hasnt stopped millions of underage youth consuming jewel Products Health officials have linked around 40 deaths and more than 2000 lung injuries to severe vaporing related illnesses in the u. S. This year and the Health Concerns have taken a political turn despite calls to ban flavored isa gretz in september u. S. President donald trump is reportedly backtracking amid pressure from the Tobacco Industry he fears job losses and it could affect his vote in next years president ial election jule lab says it does not intentionally target underage uses and it will cooperate with authorities and Public Health officials it has since announced a series of changes including a new chief executive and a promise to drop the fruit flavored products only to sell those tasting off tobacco but despite juleps promises other Health Authorities and states in the u. S. Say they are preparing to take legal action to mohammed al jazeera now Prince Andrew has announced that he is stepping back from public duties for the forseeable future. Says his links to the convicted a convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein become a major disruption to the royal family Prince Andrew is facing an angry backlash for an interview he did on saturday with a british broadcaster in which he said he did not regret the friendship in a Statement Released on wednesday said he would be willing to help with any investigations by Law Enforcement she. Out is there a dot com for all the latest on our breaking news story the historic and damning testimony of u. S. Ambassador to the e. U. Gordon sol and today more on that a couple of seconds. Of course on sesame is out top story this hour as a senior u. S. Diplomat is saying that President Trump did put pressure on ukraines president to investigate one of his political rivals holdens on the American Ambassador to the e. U. Told the president s impeachment inquiry there was a quid pro quo withholding aid to look into Democrat Joe Biden terms distance himself from the sun lynn and said that he wanted nothing from ukraine was there a quid pro quo as i testified previously with regard to the requested white house call and the white house meeting the answer is yes mr giuliani conveyed to secretary perry ambassador volker and others that President Trump wanted a Public Statement from president selenski committing to investigations of brewery sma and the 2016 election mr giuliani expressed those requests directly to the ukrainians and mr giuliani also expressed those requests directly to us. In all the headlines this hour israels Opposition Leader benny gantz has been unable to form a Coalition Government paving the way for the country to go to the polls again israels political system has been paralyzed for months off to 2 inconclusive elections one in april the other in september down from the incumbent Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu didnt receive an overall majority and so they look to gone on the support of a fake Joe Lieberman in his followers but hes refused both of them in the 2 leaders to Work Together instead to form a unity government. Less than 100. 00 protesters are still holed up in hong kongs besieged Polytechnic University hundreds took over the campus for several days but on wednesday some attempted to escape using the su is streets of the territory have been quiet now quiet for the past 2 days. The greek governments announced plans to close overcrowded refugee camps on the outlying islands to replace them with more restrictive camps on the mainland 20000. 00 people will be moved by the end of this year has been struggling with arrivals across the sea from turkey but local residents on the island say the move will not stop more migrants from arriving those are the headlines this hour faultlines is coming up next looking at how White Supremacy it persists in america. In china cancer drugs can be pretty beautifully expensive some desperate patients travel to india to buy cheap generic versions but what costs 100. 00 days dollars those smuggling to survive on how does iraq. Think a point of fact there are enough going on that you know they are making attack in less than a year the United States has seen 2 of the deadliest white supremacist attacks in this recent history were mourning them far out from under their god in october of 2018 a gunman murdered 11 jewish worshipers at the tree of life synagogue in pittsburgh pennsylvania. Talking about me. And then in august 22 people were shot dead in an attempt to kill as many latinos as possible in el paso texas. And ok. Just 9 months apart these attacks were connected to the ideology of White Supremacy and