Its 1400 hours g. M. T. 9 am in washington d. C. Where members of the u. S. House of representatives are convening for a debates and vote thats all but certain to end with the impeachment of President Donald Trump and thats because trumps opponents in the Democratic Party have a majority in that chamber of congress he then faces a trial in the other chamber of the senates where his Republican Party holds power and there are 2 thirds of senators would be required to vote in favor of her moving him from Office Highly unlikely as things stand and trump has again lashed out at the democrats the scribing the impeachment process as an attempted coup in a moments will speak to our White House Correspondent kimberly how if at 1st over to castro whos on capitol hill where the votes will eventually take place heidi but right now we understand there is a debate going on. So just talk us through whats happening now and what we expect to see in the coming few hours. Shorter range so the full house of representatives is meeting 1st they will be discussing some housekeeping measures the procedures for the rules of this debate and then in about one or 2 hours time that is when the debate over the articles of impeachment is scheduled to begin these are articles that are alleged abuse of power and of struction of congress both charges stemming from accusations that trumped abuse the power of his presidency to solicit election interference from ukraine and over the next several hours expect to hear and see some partisan heated debates over those issues with perhaps republicans trying to stall some of these procedures with parliamentary tactics but the rules governing this debate have been passed out of committee and they are strict they say that the debate is limited to 6 hours 3 hours for each party followed by whats expected to be this historic vote to impeach President Trump and that vote is expected to pass along partisan lines no no republican has said they will vote for impeachment and a very small number of democrats have signaled that they are considering voting against it we know at least one democrat though that a congressman from new jersey has said he will vote against impeachment and in fact he is considering switching parties over it really watching those handful of democrats who represent conservative leaning districts where the president is still very popular and they have said to their constituents that they do plan on voting to impeach the president doing so they say out of obligation to fulfill their duty to the constitution to protect american democracy and knowing full well. That they risk this backlash from voters back at home so again by the end of today we expect this historic vote down nearly clear partisan lines to impeach President Donald Trump which would make him only the 3rd president in u. S. History to be impeached to read it and seeing as youre saying this vote is really going to split to be split right along party lines it just shows you how trump and this issue has polarized not only congress but also the American People according to the latest polls. Thats right and those polls have been quite consistent over the last few months even as more evidence has poured out of congress on these allegations of abuse of power that the polls show there is still an even divide about 5050 americans who support impeaching President Trump and those who oppose it and those opinions nearly mirroring exactly the party identifications of those voters and you really see the partisanship and the division be in the country emerging yesterday and today there have been protests 600 protests in cities across the country according to the progressive groups that hosted them that is pushing for this impeachment and today even as within the halls of congress these are these impeachment articles are scheduled to be debated outside were also expecting a protest hosted by correct progressive groups and they are saying that all together between this rally and one is happening across the country that 100000 people have committed to attending the rate they will cross back to you a little later think you for the time being for that update lets now bring in our White House Correspondent Kimberly Halkett so trump could be the 3rd president s can really be impeached whats he been saying and whats on his schedule today as all of this happens on capitol hill. Yes the president s schedule is pretty clear its safe to assume that hes going to be watching those proceedings even as he has throughout this impeachment inquiry been asked if hes following his brush it off saying hes hes working on the things that he needs to do for the American People but given the twitter feed of the president in the last couple of hours clearly this is whats on his mind hes not only tweeting support from various members of congress but this one tweet is particularly interesting that came down about an hour ago can you believe that i will be impeached today by the radical left do nothing democrats all caps and i did nothing wrong exclamation point a terrible thing read the transcripts this should never happen to another president again say a prayer its safe to assume that the argument the president has been making and will continue to make as he speaks to supporters when he travels later today to battle creek michigan to michigan for another one of his great make America Great again rallies is the president is maintaining hes done no wrong doing and so what hes doing is not only making this argument to his supporters but also discrediting the proceedings that are about to take place those 6 hours of debate the pinnacle of that being of course the historic vote were donald trump will have his name added to the history books something that has the president says doesnt bother him but clearly does and weve seen this obsession with his legacy with his reputation with appearances really from day one when the president talked about the crowd size of its inauguration and felt that it had been misrepresented by the media theres no question that this president is bothered by whats happening today and thats why he seems fixated on it as he continues to tweet out those that are in support of him its almost as if the president gets his oxygen from those moments and thats why throughout this presidency as hes continued to be hammered by investigations he has been resilient he feeds off of the support that he gets. Outside of washington from his supporters but what about inside washington particularly this letter that he sent to the House Speaker nancy pelosi just 24 hours before this highly significant votes where he basically accused her of declaring open war on american democracy whats being said about balance. Well nancy pelosi the House Speaker was asked directly about that almost moments after that 6 page letter dropped she said she thought that it was 6 she those were her exact words say it was pretty astounding because depending where you fall in the political spectrum if you dont pose the president many have called this a letter maniacal that it was sort of a culmination of his most vitriolic tweets on official white house letterhead but theres another half of the country that sees this is a president standing up pushing back as he promised to do on the campaign trail and 2016 he promised to drain the swamp to not be a part of the political establishment think its safe to assume if you read that letter hes kept his promise ok kimberly thank you well cross back to you as well a little later thank you for the time being lets bring in Michael Isikoff he is the chief investigative correspondent and yahoo news hes joining us from washington d. C. Thanks for being here with us on al jazeera i know as well that you covered the clinton impeachment process quite extensively so let me let me ask you to compare something here kimberly was just talking to us about the letter that President Trumps sent to the House Speaker nancy pelosi 24 hours ago some people saying he sent a really scathing letter ill take you back to clinton where right before his Impeachment Vote he issued a personal apology before that vote were to take place saying he was profoundly sorry for the Monica Lewinsky affair can you make any sort of comparisons between the 2 scenarios or or what are the differences here. Well i mean you just put your finger on the big difference bill clinton did show some contrition although you know there were a lot of people at the time who. Were a bit skeptical about just how sincere clintons contrition was because at the very same time he was apologizing for his relationship. With Monica Lewinsky he was he and his deputies were absolutely fighting impeachment and and portraying it as a partisan attack on his legitimacy by people who had been out to get him from the beginning and so there is a parallel there. Bill clinton saw. His impeachment as being driven by political by his political enemies and so obviously does donald trump and what do you make of Donald Trumps actual reaction not only the letter that he sent to nancy pelosi but once again tweeting on twitter saying he did nothing wrong. Look thats President Trump im in he arguably overreacts to everything hes a volatile hes got an explosive temper that a lot of people have experienced so nothing surprising it is a bit remarkable though just how obsessed the president is with this process and how public he is d about showing is obsession something that i think. Bill clinton would not have or did not do because he had the political wisdom to sort of hide the degree to which he was incensed about what was happening to him donald trump those and have that filter could trump though emerge in a Stronger Political position if he was acquitted in a senate trial which a lot of people say that is in fact whats going to happen as what happened with clinton because he did emerge Stronger Politically so are americans going to be reacting the same way in 2019 as they did back in 1001000 9. Well you know that is the big question that hangs over this the polls have been pretty consistent over the last few weeks that the country is split on whether trumps conduct. Rises to the level of impeachment and removal and when you pose that question you dont get much over d the 50 percent then thats about the highest because most of the polls have put it a bit below that in the in the high fortys so you know how this plays out politically we dont know at this point you look at the polls and people do are disturbed say they they are disturbed by the president s conduct they realize what he did here was something he cannot admit which is that his request as lewinsky to investigate the bidens was just flat out wrong that was solicitation of of foreign assistance in our domestic collection. The question is how will the public view this after a senator is over and a lot is going to depend on how that senate trial plays out. Will there be an effort to bring in those additional witnesses who actually can speak directly to the president s conduct john bolton Mick Mulvaney mike pump aoe and how the Senate Republicans vote on whether to allow testimony from those witnesses thats going to be you know probably the biggest single thing to watch here that upcoming vote on the rules when the senate trial begins ok well leave it there for now we thank you very much Michael Isikoff for joining us from washington d. C. Lets bring in Steve Clemons hes also joining us from new york and washington apology to see if he is the editor at large for the hill and he also hosts the bottom line thats the show right here on aljazeera as i said joining us from new york and i know that on your show the bottom line youve spoken to Many Americans steve on how splits this has how did how divided this is for americans so so from people that youve spoken to what is the sense that youre getting. Well i think i get from both sides a lot of trump exhaustion exhaustion over impeachment and i think that there are people on the democratic side but also remember political independents matter in this enormously not only for the Public Opinion polls but also as we look towards the final election for the president 2020 because democrats dont elect the president republicans dont independents are the factor and so when you look at those people they have been shifting more in favor of impeachment even though theyre exhausted by this subject and they may not know the great detail the fine traction the fine elements of this case are ones that Many Americans dont know and so theyve gone the tribal direction where where are their party has gone but when you see things like Rudy Giuliani saying yesterday that they had to get ambassador maria on a bitch out of the way so the investigations of joe biden could proceed so in the middle of this its an extraordinary extraordinary revelation by Rudy Giuliani that has not moved republicans and so right now evidence doesnt seem to matter in moving them what they seem to enjoy about donald trump is his muscularity his bravado his pug neisha snus and the way washington is screaming thats what they think they elected others are beginning to ask questions of is this the way the government should operate and is that the way the white house should behave and thats what were having a contest over right now this is theater that is preparing us for the election ahead what what does it tell you that not a single republican or a new none that weve seen so far at least wants to side against something this whole impeachment trial even if they believe that he was guilty of the charges that have been foreign against him. Well i talked to a republican just a few days ago about that very subject and i asked her why there werent more coming on and in that persons opinion they said there are a lot of what we call rule of law republicans who would have been get a bull had the democrats proceeded in an incredibly magnanimous way that the criticism of adam schiff and the stiffness and the rigidity with which he ran the ship almost a kind of resentment in the process that if they had let people in the early. Conversations with witnesses and not block those people that they had been gone overboard in creating a generous atmosphere to potential republicans then those rule of law republicans might have been seduced and i dont know if thats accurate or not i just think its a perspective i havent heard much and i think that there are rule of law republicans that are disgusted and disturbed by what the president did they may debate whether its impeachable or not but it does tell me that theres a sense that democrats didnt act magnanimously in a somber and serious effort to to really chasing the president indict him and potentially remove him what do you mean by that exactly and isnt it an issue for the democrats in particular that they dont have any republicans on their side. Well i think its an issue for the nation i think its very unfortunate that we have you know such a tribal divide between both parties i just think its important when you have something of this scale and stature and i actually think nancy pelosi in a way has been trying but when you when you sort of look at how its not just one side broadcasting or setting rules for the other its the question of in our democracy did you create place for those that oppose you to have a voice to have you know the ability to hear testimony and when you go back a look now i have to say the republicans in the last 2 and they dominated the house they didnt allow the democrats much room either but when youre indicting the president when youre impeaching the president its something i think theres a legitimate complaint among some republicans about this but i think its one of the things that explains why not a single republican has joined the democrats in raising questions you know i was very moved yesterday when senator trent lott who used to be the Senate Majority leader of the u. S. Senate but he was also a house member eventually broke away from being one of the 10 most vociferous defenders of Richard Nixon read the smoking gun tape and then he came on and said he could no longer support Richard Nixon and he voted to impeach the president and so that kind of act has not yet happened and we have i think democrats need to be introspective and say why didnt we do that brought the rule of law republicans over who are themselves we know many republicans are disgusted with. Just a final thought and very briefly i mean do you expect any surprises today any any surprise developments over the next couple of hours as we watch the debate and if not not yeah not from what ive heard i think its going to go like most people have said i was in touch with 3 congressmen this morning 11 republican in 2 democrats and they have not have not heard that im having dinner this evening with 2 senators who are watching this because it will be coming to their chamber and no one has talked in any way about any big moves from. The one that we havent seen signals from already there are 3 democrats who have not said well theres one democrat who said hell vote against impeachment and 2 others who have kept their their views close to the vest but i think beyond that were going to see we largely know how it will play out it will be shocking if some crossover i think it would be you know in a way healthy for the country if it did happen because its a shame when you have something of this import and everyone is on one side or the other ok Steve Clemons thanks for your input well speak to you a little later on q. Just a reminder the top stories right now on aljazeera take a look at the live pictures from the u. S. House which has now begun proceedings leading to a historic vote on 2 articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump so right now the republicans have been trying to hold up proceedings by putting up adjournment motions which are expected to be defeated by the democratic majority. Has already raged against the process describing it as an attempted coup and tweeting his disbelief that he will be impeached today by those he calls the radical left despite doing nothing wrong. Quick look now at other news from across the world protesters are rallied again in new delhi after indias top court has hearings on a controversial new citizenship law until january it says it needs more details from the government the law makes it easier for non muslims from afghanistan bangladesh and pakistan to gain indian citizenship aljazeera said hell raman has more from outside the court in new delhi. Its the final day of supreme Court Hearings before the winter recess in the Supreme Court had a lot to hear today petitioners from. Healing to the court to see if they could have the citizenship amendment thrown out as illegal but the court came back with basically a stay saying that the government now has to present to the Supreme Court a set of rules how this act was going to be implemented and who it would affect they want those rules within the 1st few weeks of january so that they can then invite both the government and petitioners who object to the c. A. A. To present their cases for and against the argument to get the act thrown out and made illegal that is basically what we are waiting for in terms of the new year as far as whats happening across india it still remains tense there are various protests planned we are expecting a large one in mumbai on thursday also later in the week another one is planned for delhi over the historic red fort but if you just take a look at one of the National Newspaper the time of india fresh classes in delhi of course on tuesday we saw clashes in a district in the northeast of the capital werent expecting it people came out onto the street very angry police fired tear gas several were injured and these are the sorts of pictures that the rest of the country is waking up to so very tense in areas like the petition is here were from that state and while a limited part of the internet has been freed up for people there the curfew has also been lifted but its still a very tense situation and i suspect that leading up to january the 22nd we will see more protests and objections to the sea air coming both from Civil Society and opposition politicians. A major merger has been announced in the car industry to create the worlds 4th largest manufacturer fear chrysler and p. S. A. Owners of paizo in france have agreed a 34000000000. 00 high up both companies of assured production line workers that no factory closures are planned. At least 23 civilians have been killed in the latest round of russian and Syrian Government attacks on rebel held areas of northwestern syria shelling in airstrikes and edler province have escalated in recent weeks victoria getting the reports. The attacks to make the proteins are relentless they are intensifying and witnesses say the majority of victims are civilians the paramedics known as the white helmet so there would be minutes to do what theyve done thousands of times during the war trying to save the lives of civilians. Out of a good mood at about 11 oclock in the morning a fighter jet believed to be russian carried out 6 Successive Air raids in the mud johnny and you often areas they targeted displaced People Living in tents longer was killed and 6 others injured in Critical Condition are rushed to hospital in the Civil Defense crystal combing the area searching for survivors. The jamma was one of 35. 00 villages hit by russian and Syrian Government forces in a day province in the last 48. 00 ounce opposition activists say president Bashar Al Assads government appears to be preparing for a ground offensive its a mist to secure the main highway linking the capital damascus with the Northern City of aleppo the increase in attacks is having a devastating impact on people here this mans wife and 3 daughters were killed in an airstrike 4000000 syrians live in adelaide provence which is under the control of hyatt therea al sham an armed group with formal links to al qaida the strikes on the Northwestern Province are in breach of the deescalation deal russia and turkey agreed last september but the Syrian Government says recapturing the province is just a matter of time victoria gates and b. Al jazeera. Has experienced this hottest day on record the average temperature across the country on choose there was nearly 41. 00 degrees celsius that record could be broken on wednesday as its only the start of the Southern Hemisphere summer the soaring temperatures have made things worse for crews dealing with more than 100 bushfires in the eastern state of new south wales. Ship owners are proposing a 5 and a half a 5000000000. 00 fund to research low emission fuels and cleaner engine designs the industry is under pressure from the United Nations to have it c o 2 emissions from socalled dirty fuel shipping associations are calling for a mandatory contribution of 2. 00 per tonne on fuel burn to help develop cleaner technology. Lets return to the impending impeachment if u. S. President donald trump. Looks at the case for and against removing trump from office it all began to unravel when the u. S. President picked up his phone in july a call to the president of ukraine what was said anough for a whistleblower to file a complaint that made it to congress the allegation was that trump was Holding Hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid meant for ukraine which was fighting off russian aggression intil the ukrainian president promised to investigate trumps potential political rival former u. S. Vice President Joe Biden and his son hunter who had worked in ukraine in damage control mode the white house released notes from the call it did more damage because as the notes point out as the ukrainian president is promising to buy more u. S. Missiles trump responds i would like you to do us a favor though he goes on to ask for investigations into a debate Conspiracy Theory about the election and later brings up the bidens the president must be held accountable no one is above the law thats when democrats announced an impeachment inquiry would begin the white house refused to cooperate but several career diplomats came forward anyway they testified under oath that it all really happened colonel Alexander Vin min listen to the call and later reported it to white house lawyers it was improper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government investigate a u. S. Citizen and a political opponent the former u. S. Ambassador to ukraine testified that she was removed from her position because she wanted to fight corruption so the president s personal lawyer Rudy Giuliani pushed to get her removed and our anticorruption efforts got in the way of a desire for profit or power ukrainians who prefer to play by the old corrupt rules sought to remove me what continues to amaze me. Is that they found americans willing to partner with them and working together they apparently succeeded in orchestrating the removal of a u. S. Ambassador others described a small group of people chosen by the president as running a kind of shadow back channel u. S. Policy in ukraine missed it became clear to me that giulianis efforts to gin up politically motivated investigations were now infecting u. S. Engagement with ukraine leveraging president selenski desire for a white house meeting to withhold that systems for no good reason other than help with the Political Campaign made no sense it was it was counterproductive to all of what we had been trying to do. It was illogical it could not be explained it was crazy trumped meeting was going to happen and then came the surprising testimony from ambassador Gordon Sunland who changed his testimony from what he 1st told congress 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 someone was a donor to the president s inauguration rewarded with an ambassadorship to the European Union he was center to the plot and he said that everyone was in a suggestion that we were engaged in some irregular or rogue diplomacy is absolutely false the leadership of the state department the National Security council and the white house were all informed about the ukraine efforts and another state Department Official testified he heard some one on the phone with the president during the luncheon baster silence said he was going to call President Trump to give an update master stalin placed a call on his mobile phone i heard of announce himself several times along the lines of courting song and holding for the president ive entered president from ask so hes going to do the investigation. Master song replied that hes going to do it adding that president selenski will do anything you ask him to do with that democrats say theyve made the case for 2 counts of impeachment one for abuse of power the 2nd for obstruction of congress voted the vote out of the committee and split down party lines with republicans launching very defenses 2 key facts have not changed that are critical to these impeachment proceedings one ukraine in fact received aid and 2 there was no investigation into that guidance i have never in my entire life seen such an unfair rigged railroad job against the president of the United States and threw it on the president remained defiant its a witch hunt its a sham its a hoax a slight majority of americans polled actually support impeachment and removal but not by much and as of now the vote is expected to be partisan which would leave trump in office that could change of Public Opinion does during the trial setting up a high stakes gamble that will impact the president the country and the world. Aljazeera washington will take you back to washington take a look at these live pictures coming in from the u. S. House which has now begun the proceedings leading to that historic vote on 2 articles of impeachment against President Donald Trump right now the republicans have been trying to hold up proceedings by putting up a german motions which are expected to be defeated by the democratic majority and once that vote takes place it is expected to be mostly along party lines showing just how divided this issue has divided congress as well as the nation do join us at the top of the hour right here on aljazeera we have special coverage on the impeachment proceedings well see you then thanks for watching but by. From the al to c. N. N. London through cost center to special guests in conversation this is the chance to stop the revolution unprompted uninterrupted we need to do away with the way it stops conversation where should i land meets i can be this is the beginning of friendship this is the beginning of love. Getting somewhere who can really break through the barrier studio it be unscripted on aljazeera hi im Steve Clements and i have a question what is the dangerous and murky deep state the president keeps talking about lets get to the bottom line. When you hear the term deep state what image does it conjure up is that a secret illuminati that controls everything around us so who are they President Donald Trump has been claiming that there is a vast deep state conspiracy against him for years now like when he said this last month in kentucky we are finally putting america 1st. They. Are trying to resist any changes to their failed policies. They believe it is their right to rule over you and to redistribute your welfare all around the world no thank you no thank you thats why we ended the powers. So in Donald Trumps mind what is the deep state is that the quote failed ruling class or the so called corrupt democrat politicians
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