up the integrity of our voting systems so that a foreign government or actor cannot change a vote tallies the promise of one person one vote is only effective if each vote is cast free of foreign interference americans decide american elections at least they should now what if electoral corruption is even more insidious than what happens when the invitation comes from within our framers understood death threat to george mason noted at the constitutional convention that impeachment was a necessary tool because the man who has practiced corruption and by that meanes procured his appointment in the 1st instance could seek to repeat his guilt in june of last year president trump was clear that if a foreign government offered dirt on his political opponent he would take it a statement deeply at odds with the guidance provided at the time by is own f.b.i. director. the formal federal elections commission and chair and our constitution written some 233 years ago 'd in no uncertain terms in admonished is that any person holding office of profit or trust it admonishes against them excepting of any president from a foreign state but president term did more than take the foreign help in 2019 as he had done in 2016 this time he not only asked for it in the july 25th call but when he didn't get the help from ukraine and presidents in the form of the announced bill in best a geisha and he withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funded military aid and a coveted white house meeting to increase the pressure on ukraine to comply and later he demonstrated no remorse and continued to encourage ukraine to conduct the political investigations he wanted even asking other countries to do so the consequences of these actions alone have shaken our democratic system what message will we send if we choose not to hold this president accountable for his abuse of power to listen listen to reelection interests interference in our. upcoming election the misconduct undertaken by this president may lead future presidents to believe that they too can use a substantial power conferred on them by the constitution in order to undermine it nothing could weaken the integrity of our elections more and no campaign finance law or statement by a future f.b.i. director could stand up to the president of electoral misconduct set by the president of the united states if we do not say clearly that this behavior is unacceptable and more than unacceptable impeachable we also undermine our global standing as a country long view it as a model for democrat democratic ideals worth emulating. we have for generations been the shining city upon a hill that president reagan described america's not just the country but also an idea but what worth is that idea if when tried we do not affirm the values that underpin it what will those nascent democracies around the world conclude that democracy is not only difficult but maybe that it's too difficult maybe that it's impossible. and who will come to fill the void that we leave with a light from that shining city upon a hill is extinguished the autocrats with whom we compete who value not freedom and fair elections but the i'm ending rule of a repressive executive autocrats that value not freedom of the press and open debate but this information propaganda and state sanctioned lies vladimir putin would like nothing better the russians have little democracy left thanks to vladimir putin it's an autocracy it's a thug ocracy the russian story line the russian narrative the russian propaganda the russian view they would like people around the world to believe is that every country is just the same just the same corrupt system there's no difference it's not a competition between autocracy and democracy no it's just between autocrats and hypocrites they make no bones about their loss of democracy they just want the rest of world to believe you can't find it anywhere why take to the streets in moscow to demand something better if there's nothing better anywhere else that's the russian story that's the russian story that's who prosperous by the defeat of democracy that's who wins by the. defeat of our democratic ideals not other democracies the autocrats were on the rise all over the world i think all of us in this room have grown up in a generation where each successive generation lived with more freedom than the one that came before we had more freedom of speech in association freedom to practice our faith this was true at home is true all over the world and i think we came to believe this was some in the unit will offer nature only to find it isn't only to come to the temple realization that this year fewer people live in freedom that last and there's no guarantee that next year people will live in more freedom than today and the prospect for our children is even more in doubt turns out there's nothing immutable about this every generation has to fight for it we're fighting for it right now there's no guarantee that this democracy that has served us so well will continue to prosper we will struggle to protect this idea and even as we do we will struggle to protect our security in more tangible ways support for an independent and democratic ukraine which is the literal bulk work against russian expansionism in europe is essential to our security russia show that would have voted ukraine in 2014 and sought to redraw the map of europe was our commitment to ukraine's independence and sovereignty just an empty promise. or are we prepared to support its efforts to keep russia contained so that they and we may all eventually enjoy a long piece russia is not a threat i don't need to tell you to eastern europe alone. ukraine has become the defacto proving ground for just the types of hybrid warfare that the 21st century will become defined by cyber attacks distant from ation campaigns efforts to undermine the legitimacy legitimacy of state institutions whether that is voting systems or financial markets the kremlin showed boldly in 2016 that with the malign skills it honed in ukraine they would not stay in ukraine instead russia employed them here to attack our institutions and they will do so again indeed they have never stopped will we allow the primary country now fighting russia to be weakened placing our troops in europe at greater risk and opening the door to greater interference in our affairs at home if we allow the present united states to pursue his political and personal interest rather than the national interest we send a message to our european allies that our commitment to a european free and a whole is for sale to the highest bidder the strength of our global alliances relies on a shared understanding of what that alliance stands for one built on the rule of law on free and fair elections on a shared struggle against aggression from autocratic regimes we are countries built on a commitment to our people not unyielding loyalty to a president who would be king a president has a right to hold a call with a foreign leader yes and he has a right to decide the time and location of a meeting with that leader yes and he has a right to withhold funding to that leader should the law be followed and the purpose be just but he does not under our laws and under our constitution have a right to use the powers of his office to corruptly solicit foreign aid prohibited foreign aid in his reelection he does not. he does not have the right to withhold official presidential acts to secure that assistance and he certainly does not have the right to undermine our elections and place our security at risk for is own personal benefit no president republican or democrat can be permitted to do that now let me turn to the 2nd article of peach mint which charges the president with misusing the powers of his office to obstruct and interfere with the impeachment inquiry the evidence you'll hear during the house presentation is equally undeniable and damning president trump issued a blanket order directing the entire executive branch not to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry and to withhold all documents and testimony is order was categorical it was indiscriminate and historically unprecedented no president before president trump has ever ordered the complete defiance of an impeachment inquiry or sought to obstruct and impede so comprehensibly the ability of the house of representatives to investigate high crimes and misdemeanors the president. was able to block agencies across the executive branch from producing any records or documents to the house investigative committees despite duly authorized subpoenas the white house continues to refuse to produce a single document or record in response to a house subpoena their remains in full force and effect. the department of state and office of management and budget that apartment energy the department of defense continue to refuse to provide a single document or record in response to house subpoenas that remain in full force and effect it is worth underscoring this point the house has yet to receive a single document from the executive branch agencies pursuant to its subpoenas not a single piece of paper. email or other record has been turned over not one. positive get a drink of water let me let you know for your timing i have about 10 minutes left in my presentation so the end is in sight president trump has also successfully blocked witnesses 9 of them under subpoena from testifying witnesses with firsthand knowledge of the president's actions including his closest aides some of whom were directly involved in executing the president's improper orders these witnesses include mick mulvaney and robert blair russell vaught the acting head of the office of management and budget michael duffy a senior official and the president's chief legal advisor on the national security council john eisenberg among others the managers will present in detail what these officials knew about their role in executing different parts of the present scheme there is no dispute. nor could there be that president trumps or substantially obstructed the house impeachment inquiry that obstruction continues unabated today even as we stand here at the start of the president's trial and the president has been able to do so only because of the uniquely powerful position that he holds as our commander in chief no other american could seek to obstruct an investigation into his own wrongdoing this way no other american could use the vast powers and levers of his government to conduct a corrupt scheme to benefit themselves and then use those same powers to suppress evidence and bar any cooperation with the authorities investigating them not a police chief not a mayor not a governor not any elected official in the country and certainly not any non elected official in the country all those folks watching us from around the country you know what would happen to them if they defied a lawful subpoena they got a subpoena commanding them to appear you know what would happen to them. because they're not above the law they'd be arrested they'd be detained they'd be incarcerated they would be forced to comply they're not above the law and neither away and neither is the president and yet. despite the fact that he is not above the law the president's extensive and persistent efforts the president the house heard from courageous witnesses who did obey lawful subpoenas and we gathered overwhelming evidence house built a formidable case that forms the basis of these articles the 2nd article for obstruction of congress is not simply about president trumps decision to obstruct a congressional investigation or even an impeachment inquiry it should not be misunderstood as some routine dispute between 2 branches of government nor should it be reduced to the notion that the president was simply protecting himself for fighting back against a partisan or overzealous congress the charges in the 2nd article are much more serious and urgent than that. first the president's attempt to obstruct the inquiry so categorically and comprehensively is part and parcel of the president's furious effort to conceal suppress and cover up his own misconduct from the very 1st moment his actions were at the risk of coming to light president trump sought to hide and cover up key evidence even as a scheme to pressure ukraine was still under way as the house presentation will make clear the president's coverup started even before the house began to investigate the president's ukraine related activity. the president learned early on of the existence of a lawful whistleblower complaint from within the intelligence community that would ring the 1st alarm he deployed the white house and justice department to intervene in an unprecedented fashion to conceal and then withhold from congress for the 1st time ever a credible and urgent whistleblower complaint even though the law requires that it be private provided to the congressional intelligence committees once the impeachment inquiry was underway in late september the president used the immense and unique power at his disposal to direct and maintain at every turn the categorical defiance of congressional scrutiny even as the attack the inquiry itself and its witnesses the president offered multiple and shifting justifications obstructing for obstructing the house's inquiry each of them deficient while his actions and statements powerfully reflect is own consciousness of guilt 2nd the ramifications of the president's obstruction gobion the sinister motives of simply covering up his actions his of struction strikes at the heart of our constitution it threatens the last line of defense our founders purposely enshrined in our system to protect our democracy. if presence can obstruct an impeachment inquiry undertaken by the house and evade accountability in the senate for doing so they usurp an essential power granted exclusively to the congress and for a reason presidents could seize for themselves the power to neutralize and nullify the impeachment clause in order to shield themselves from any accountability and if congress is unable to investigate and a peach a president for abuse of their office our democracy is essential check on a rogue president that failed it would no longer protect the american people from a corrupt president who presents an ongoing threat this is the outcome every american should be concerned about and one that the founders warned us about through the impeachment clause the framers of the constitution empowered congress to thoroughly investigate presidential malfeasance and to respond if necessary by removing the president from office this entire framework depends upon congress's ability to discover and then to thoroughly and effectively investigate presidential misconduct without the ability of congress to do that the impeachment power is a knowledge if you can't investigate it you can't enforce it you can't apply it what we confronted here in the 2nd article of impeachment is therefore an impeachable offense aimed at destroying the impeachment power itself when a president abuses the power of his office to so completely defy house investigators and does so without lawful cause or excuse he attacks the constitution itself he confirms that he sees himself as above the law his actions destabilize the separation of powers that defines our democracy and preserves our freedom and establish an exceedingly dangerous precedent. and he proves that he is willing to destroy a vital safeguard against tyranny a safeguard meant to protect the american people just to advance his own personal interest in covering up evidence the house presentation of the 2nd article will therefore focus on 3 core areas that confirm the president's obstruction and require his removal from office 1st the singular importance and role of the impeachment clause for our democracy and why an effort by a president to obstruct impeachment inquiry is in and of itself an impeachable offense 2nd why the president's extensive effort to cover up evidence of his misconduct is unprecedented in american history and without lawful cause or justification and finally why the president's obstruction poses a direct threat to our system of self governance with consequences for all americans today and in the future and for both chambers of congress over the coming days you will hear from the house managers details of this scheme and the effort to hide it from congress the articles of impeachment that the house presented go to the heart of those efforts and let me share a few key tape takeaways the house of representatives has found that using the powers of his i office president trumps a list of the interference of a foreign government ukraine in the 2020 us presidential election he did so through a scheme a course of conduct that included soliciting the government of ukraine to publicly announce investigations that would benefit his re-election harm the election prospects of a political opponent and influence the 2020 us presidential election improperly and to his advantage. president trump also sought to pressure the gum to crane to take these steps by conditioning official united states govern acts of significant value to ukraine on ukraine's public announcement of these investigations and engaged in the scheme or course of conduct for corrupt purposes in pursuit of his personal political benefit in doing so president trump used the powers of the presidency in a manner that compromised the national security of the united states and undermined the integrity of the us democratic process he thus ignored and injured the interests of the nation as part of the house's impeachment inquiry the committees undertaking that investigation serve subpoenas seeking documents and testimony deemed vital to the inquiry from various executive branch agencies and offices current and former officials in response and without lawful cause or excuse president trump directed executive branch agencies offices and officials not to comply with those subpoenas president trump thus interpose the powers of the presidency against the lawful subpoenas of the house of representatives and assume to himself functions and judgments necessary to the exercise of the sole power of impeachment vested by the constitution in the house of representatives. is george washington and his troops were treated across the delaware river in early 17 december 17th $76.00 they were read the words of thomas paine published that month in his pamphlet the american crisis these are the times the try men's souls the summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will in this crisis shrink from the service of their country but he that stands by it now deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. 17 days later george washington crossed the delaware leading to a decisive victory for those who had come to shape our promising young country. as much as our founders feared an unchecked chief executive able to pursue his own will over the will of the people they also feared the poison of excessive factionalism that could divert us from a difficult service to our country as george washington warned in his farewell address the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restraint now our political parties and affiliations are central to our democracy ensuring that good and bad political philosophies alike are considered in the marketplace of ideas here the american people can choose between the policies of one party or another and make decisions about their political leaders up to and including the president of the united states based on the degree to which that person represents their interests and values that is not factionalism that is the foundation of our democracy but when a leader takes the reins reins of the highest office in our land and uses that awesome power to solicit the help of a foreign country to gain an unfair advantage in our free and fair elections we all democrats and republicans alike must ask ourselves whether our loyalty is to our party or whether it is to our constitution if we say that we will align ourselves with that leader allowing our sense of duty to be usurped by an absolute executive that is not democracy it is not even factionalism it is a step on the road towards tyranny the damage that this president has done to our relationship with a key strategic partner will be remedied over time. and ukraine continues to enjoy strong bipartisan support in congress but if we fail to act the damage to our democratic elections to our national security to our system of checks and balances will be long lasting and potentially irreversible as you'll hear in the coming days present trump has acted in a manner grossly incompatible with self governance his conduct has violated his oath of office and his constitutional duty to faithfully execute the law he has shown no willingness to be constrained by the rule of law and has demonstrated that he will continue to abuse his power and obstruct investigations into himself causing further damage to the pillars of our democracy if he is not held accountable he cannot be charged with a crime so says the department of justice there is no remedy for such a threat but removal from office of the president of the united states if impeachment and removal cannot hold him accountable then he truly is above the law we are nearly 2 and a half centuries into this beautiful experiment of american democracy but our future is not assured as benjamin franklin departed the constitutional convention he was asked what have we got a republic or a monarchy he responded simply a republic if you can keep it a fair trial impartial consideration of all of the evidence against the president is how we keep our republic that concludes our introduction. the majority leader is ready to show just college. suggest we have a recess until 10 minutes for. at which moment will reconvene show that you call the chair without objection so we're. it's coming up to 2030 g.m.t. after 3 30 pm almost in washington d.c. where the senate impeachment trial of donald trump is underway and has just for a 20 minute break adam schiff chief prosecutor in the trial has been giving the democrats opening arguments for the past 2 hours now most he said that the u.s. president acted corruptly in an attempt to cheat and win this year's election at the heart of this case of course against president is that phone call with ukraine's president during which he allegedly pressured him to investigate his rival joe biden now the democrats have 3 days off to which defense team will give its rebuttal trump is all but certain to be acquitted because of course 20 senators from his republican party would be needed to vote in favor of his removal and so far none have said they will let's take a listen to what adam schiff has said so far the president was the key player in the scheme everyone was in the loop he directed the actions of his team he personally asked the foreign government to investigate his opponent these facts are not in dispute ultimately the question for you is whether the president's undisputed actions require the removal of the 45th president of the united states from office. live to heidi on capitol hill for us heidi you know tuesday was already a test of insurance for the senate as 13 hours of debate then where already 2 hours into this a 20 minute recess hard on the night of we expecting today. not as long a night as yesterday think only there's a limit to how long these opening arguments can be that's already in the rules itself 24 hours but stretched over the course of $43.00 days 3 days rather for the democratic prosecutors the house managers who you just heard from so we're expecting this to wrap up at the capitol by about the end of business state day all right so talk us through the highlights of the opening arguments of the democrats we've heard from adam schiff any any new testimony any new evidence from what we've been hearing in the past couple of weeks. right not new evidence but certainly we're seeing this effort from adam schiff who is the lead house manager here in crafting these arguments and shaping them that a way that is compelling not only to the 100 senators who are listening who are the jurors but also to the american people and shift has been very transparent in saying that he is making these arguments for those 2 different audiences how the way that he opened these opening arguments is really a challenge and a warning to those senators who are watching because as you said at least 20 republican senators would have to defect from their leader president trump who of course is a republican himself in order to vote for his conviction and removal and shift a sense of them essentially that history is watching and the american people are watching on that 1st point you heard him opening though these statements making references to the founding fathers of the united states quoting alex. under hamilton saying how this is the very scenario that the founders of the united states most feared that the president and the accusations are from the democrats that the president is acting like a lawn ark like a king in trying to get a foreign government to help him cheat democrats say to win his upcoming re-election and then to say that the constitution protects him in not cooperating with the investigation thus far so say making that argument to the senator is really a guilt trip laid out before them saying that history the expectation would be for them to be open minded in hearing this evidence and of course reminding them that the american public is watching and that of course many of them are also up for reelection themselves in this coming election heidi we saw at susan collins cross party lines during the president's debate on tuesday do you sense do we expect any more defections you think that could change the game here. it absolutely could and it only takes a few defections to drastically reshape how things will unfold we need 4 democrats and 4 republican senators to cross the aisle in order to address this question of whether or not new witnesses are called now that question will not come up at least for the next 6 days because as the rules as approved have laid out is that until midweek next week we'll be hearing a continuation of opening arguments that will be followed by questions the senators can make in writing to the 2 sides and then either the trial will rapidly conclude after that portion with a vote or democrats are hoping to convince those 4 moderate at least 4 moderate republicans to agree to compel new witnesses to offer their testimony and there are at least 4 that democrats say that the american public have a right to hear from you who have been silenced thus far and that includes national former national security advisor john bolton and the acting was white house chief of staff mick mulvaney who under the president's own orders did not cooperate with the investigation portion of this impeachment but democrats say that they may have he insight into the thinking of president trump them what is what his motives were the accusation here is that he had the corrupt motive of trying to gain an unfair advantage in the upcoming election and that he that he pressured ukraine to make these announcements about his potential political rival in that election joe biden while withholding u.s. security aid which they say the democrats say endangered national security but it's all about what the motive was very difficult thing to prove here and democrats are cognizant that they don't have that smoking gun they don't have a person saying you know this is what the present. and explicitly told me was his thinking and there there's there's some hope among democrats that these new witnesses might have that but they're also saying they might help to find the president to be in a sense they may be his defenders but ultimately the argument from democrats is that the american people should have the information available to them and of course that the senators deciding the fate of the presidency of president trump should also have this information thank you very much for the moment how does your cost your life for us on capitol hill where president will trump is in the air right now flying back from switzerland where he was attending the world economic forum in davos and he's. here's some of what he said in davos before taking off. to hopes it's a disgrace they talked about their tremendous case and. their tremendous case they had no case it's all a hoax it's a con job of he's a corrupt politician all right live to our white house correspondent kimberly harkat complete looking at twitter it's clear the white house is keeping tabs on these impeachment proceedings and what the democrats have been saying tell us about the reactions. yeah well speaking of twitters stephanie gresham the white house press secretary tweeting the american people see this for the partisan sham that it really is so we've been hearing from the press secretary but we've also been hearing kind of some of the talking points from the white house sent to us on background a couple of the points that the rapid response from the white house has been as adam schiff laid out his road map for the argot for the arguments that the democrats are making number one from the white house they're saying that the president was rightfully concerned about rabbit corruption that's plagued ukraine and they point to the fact that dr fiona hill in the house in korea a member of the national security team at one point now no longer but she did testify that there was rampant corruption so the white house making that point another point they're making is the underscoring by the ukrainian leader of lattimer's alinsky that he felt at no time to be under pressure and in fact the u.s. president has tweeted during this testimony well he's flying back on air force one again just the 2 words in all caps no pressure so the president again maintaining no wrongdoing in his conduct and call with the ukrainian leader and finally one last point i want to make folly is this 3rd point coming from the white house saying that this case made by the democrats they say is based on hearsay and on assumptions they point out that those who are testifying about the president's conduct they say never had any actual firsthand contact with president donald trump and kimberly president. please with the case his legal team has been making judging from his tweets and reads weeds how important is it for him and the republicans that this is all wrapped up before you know february 4th and that all important state of the union address. good question and in fact the president was asked this in davos before he set back to the united states and there he said he doesn't see a problem even if this trial is still ongoing for him to address that joint session of congress state of the union address he seems to be relishing the fight which is a kariya characteristic trait of donald trump in fact we've heard from his campaign manager brad parsky all he's saying that this trial is not only fair to the president's also fired of the president's supporters as we heard how did you cast her there saying that the democrats are making the case to the american people the truck campaign manager claims that they've been conducting focus groups and ordinary americans aren't even paying attention to all of this it just seems to be more noise coming from washington so they claim it's benefiting trump's reelection it's going to be a long time before we find out if that's actually true but certainly these are some of the arguments being made by the president's supporters all right kelly thank you very much for that kimberly white house correspondent there let's not discuss this further with alan baron who's a former special impeachment counsel to the u.s. house of representatives is live from washington d.c. thank you so much for being with us and thank you for your patients. first of all what do you make of the democrats' opening arguments adam schiff and his team seemed to carefully built their case with prepared remarks choreographed video will this make a difference. well i had the privilege of working with congressman schiff on 2 judicial impeachments some years ago and i thought his presentation today was absolutely masterful and i think it will be studied in the future by later generations as to how best to present an argument in this context i thought it was compelling i think the republicans or whistling in the dark and they can feel confident for one reason only it will take 20 republicans to cross over to go with the democrats in order to convict president trump and remove him from office by way of impeach oven pietschmann that's not going to happen or the likelihood of it happening is so remote that they can feel very confident they can say whatever they will however the real game is being played before the american people the hard core scrub supporters are not going to be moved from where the other and those who lows tromp are not going to be moved one way or the other but there is a very large constituency in the middle these are people who may have supported trump the 1st time around but now are somewhat disillusioned as reflected in the democratic successes in the. 2018 congressional elections where they took over a great many seats that have been 0 by republicans and i think there are a lot of independents who have not yet committed one way or the other but i think the more they see of the corrupt and i don't think there's any other word for it corrupt activity this president will feel he's got to go we can't but put him back into office for 4 more years but alan baron what evidence the house manages the democrats relying on really given that they haven't been allowed access to white house documents and witnesses those documents that they wanted subpoenaed but didn't get what evidence they have relying on when making all these occupants. well i think that the evidence they had 17 witnesses testify they did get some documentation from sunline and others i don't think anybody seriously contests what in fact happened to go to motive he was really not that the president was really just worried about corruption in general it didn't have anything really directly to do with the bidens well you can or give you that but the facts are really not in dispute and i think that yes they would like to get more evidence because i think they believe that the more they get the even deeper the hole that the president ends up in but there's no doubt about what fundamentally happened both with regard to the ukraine and with the withholding of the aid in return for this so-called investigation that trump wanted and also with regard to blocking the investigation by the house by withholding witnesses and documents on a massive scale which paprika to block the house's investigation nobody can argue that the facts are very different to what we know the rights of be interesting to see how this all plays out in and sank you so much for speaking to us on baron a former special impeachment counsel joining us now from washington. we are monitoring of course impeachment trial and we'll go back to it as soon as that recess is over but for now let's take a look at other stories making headlines around the world u.n. human rights experts are calling for an investigation into new allegations that saudi arabia's crown prince was involved in hacking the phone of amazon boss jeff bezos the kingdom has described the accusations as upset making a cage chastity tats. 15 months after the murder of saudi journalists. in the kingdom's consulate in istanbul the fallout continues jeff bezos the boss of the world's largest online shop amazon also owns the washington post the newspaper khashoggi wrote for he's now at the center of a hacking probe un human rights experts including agnes kalmadi who investigated coup showed g.'s murder scene say they've looked at forensic analysis that points to dart of being stolen from bases foreign in 20 itin that happened after bays also received whatsapp messages from the personal account of the saudi crown prince mohammed bin some on possibly the experts say to try and influence articles in the washington post the guinea shola expert who conducted a forensic investigation concluded the reason medium to or high certain g. that do show also the hijacking was a videophile send to me stone. account or by the crown prince on the sidelines of the world economic forum saudi's foreign minister quickly denied the reports and the kingdom is calling for an investigation well i think is exactly the right way the idea that the conference would have jeff bezos of photos absolutely silly. as baze also supported g.'s fiance following his murder in 2018 relations with been some man soured baze also security team alleged last march that the kingdom gained private information from his fine involving text messages between him and a former t.v. news presenter this latest analysis implicates the crown prince for the 1st time i think that it's hard to believe that if they had this successful capability and were brazenly willing to use it against one of the most powerful people in the world that they would stop there the saudis have been accused of other hacking attacks but baze also is by far the most high profile person involved and these latest allegations are expected to only worsen relations between the world's richest men and the kingdom a strategic ally of the u.s. nicola gage al jazeera i heard there from the un special rapporteur agnes column on when she spoke to al-jazeera here's more from that interview. any show to expo to conduct an. investigation concluded reason medium to high certainty that are so awesome the hacking was a videophile send to me stove top web site. and account by the crown prince we subsequently david kay and i asked independent expert to review the findings all the initial team of experts and they too i've reached a similar level conclusion as the. forensic study i wouldn't want to point out that the fact that he saw a d.c. court for a forensic expert wheeze an incredible means and disposal to reach 100 per cent. so teach you a certainty order so also the action that should be a wake up according to all of us here that 20 are confronting a technology and and an industry that is extremely difficult to trace even reason best and highest resources at our disposal those allegations place. the crime trends and the center of a campaign on the hacking surveillance and intimidation that's a fair saying in my view based on mine were created to the killing of democrats showed him those allegations today reinforced the call and i have made for several independent investigation into the mastermind behind the killing of casualty and particularly an investigation into the nature and extent of their responsibilities at the highest level of the state including by mohammed bin salman . short time ago jeff bezos the owner of amazon and the washington post tweeted a photo of oneself with jamal khashoggi fiancee from when they were unveiling a plaque last october marking the one year anniversary of g.'s murder and it had the hash tag jamal the wall street journal meanwhile is reporting that saudi officials close to crown prince mohammed bin salman have said they were aware of a plan to hack into businesses phone but not of any attempts to blackmail him the newspaper ads that sourdough khatami a former advisor to the saudi royal court was involved in the hacking effort as part of a broader intimidation campaign against jamal when i speak to jodi westby about this she's the c.e.o. of the consultancy global cyber risk and she joins us live from washington judy very good to have you with us so it's alleged that jeff bezos is foley was hocks through his what suffolk county just explained to us for is how the systemic the possible what sort of spyware is used for this type of activity. the consultants indicated that malware was sent through a video file using what's app it has whatsapp as we know is in christian into into messaging program that's very popular doesn't have anything to do with the security of whats app it was the video file that was sent as a bio whatsapp to mr bees that apparently contained the malware that when that was opened then it would have entered into his phone via that message right and the saudis anyway some close to the crown prince now saying that there was a hacking effort a spot of a broader intimidation campaign against. but not an attempt to blackmail jeff bezos himself interesting that they would say that don't you think. well i think people are wrong to link this hacking to jamal khashoggi i don't think that i think the saudis were implicated in the hacking it's good they're kind of admitting that but i think it had to do with there with the crown prince's very keen efforts to have amazon web services a stylish a web center in saudi arabia in january of 2018. amazon announced his interest in saudi arabia in may of 2018 mr b.'s those had met with with the crown prince and then the hacking occurred shortly thereafter i don't. know he wasn't killed until july of 20 or excuse me october of 2018 so between may and october there's a big gap right but the u.n. special reparatory column on has said that the hacking allegations are relevant as well to the ongoing evaluation of claims that the crown prince was involved in the matter of jamal khashoggi i think she's making an assumption that there are 2 are linked i don't think they're linked i think he wanted to know jeff bezos thoughts about whether he was going to pick saudi arabia is an amazon web services center it was very important to him i doubt very much that jeff bezos was having communications with jamal khashoggi or about jamal khashoggi i think he was having communications though with this top team about where they were place this middle east center all right i think they just jumped to the conclusion it would be jim marcus shoki all right the university of toronto based citizen law has published research also suggesting that an actor in saudi arabia used this model where also to to surveil omar abdel aziz was a close associate of the shoji i just want to ask you how you know how often do do the sides of actions happen from from whether it's. the government's. well it happens all the time we know the malware is out there and it's used by different bad actors for different purposes remember the united states was spying on angela merkel and had access to her cell phone and it caused to create a lot of problems between the u.s. and germany so certainly what this case highlights is the ability of nation states not only to conduct cyber attacks but to conduct surveillance or cyber attacks on the leaders of the country as well as its economic leaders and certainly mr bizos as a global economic leader with the valuation of amazon and how much it contributes to global economies right the f.b.i. saying it's continuing to investigate this phone hacking i mean what do you expect this do to lead to an investigation from the f.b.i. . well they will continue to investigate and we'll see what they find out i believe the f.b.i. consulting investigation was properly done i think the evidence is very credible that there was a hacking and what i don't think is clear is the motive behind the hacking jodee thought it certainly indicates that there are going to finish your thought piece it certainly indicates that business leaders as well as government leaders are now in the crosshairs for cyber attacks based for whatever reason ok thank you for speaking to us jodi westby from cyber risk joining us today from washington d.c. thank you for your time. not to levanon and they've been scenes of chaos on the streets of beirut after fighting in iraq protesters are venting their anger about the formation of a new government the cabinet met for the 1st time saying it would work to end months of political and economic crisis by the protesters say it's nothing but a rubber stamp for the thai political system they accuse of ruining the country rocks were thrown at police mental side back with tear gas and gunshots were also heard zina hunter was in the middle of the action in central beirut when that protest was at its height and she says it's the most violent she's seen since the rest began in october. confrontations continue running battles between anti-establishment protesters and anti-riot police at times we need to move back because of the smell of tear gas it's very difficult for us to speak while smelling the tear gas as you can imagine you can see very heavy heavy security presence civil defense volunteers ready to evacuate the wounded there have been a number of of injuries since this since this confrontation began which i can describe as the most violent confrontation since this campaign to overthrow the ruling elites began to to make a turning point really approximately a week ago when antiestablishment protesters said that we are going to start a week of rage we are going to step up the pressure on those in power because they're not listening to us that they're going ahead. and they created a government does not meet our demands so anti-riot police have been trying to contain the unrest for 2 hours now. both sides really very. very defiant and i can tell you that a few 100 anti-establishment protesters are involved young men you see them throwing rocks throwing whatever they can find they've told us that they have nothing to lose they come from the impoverished city of tripoli in the north of the country which is something you know worth mentioning because these are people who came here. to vent their anger in front of parliament in front of parliament building there's a security cordon around parliament building and one they were managed to break through one of the. one of the barriers earlier a few about an hour ago but they're still very much defiant even though a number of them have been have been detained by anti-riot police so that the clashes the battles are continuing the most violent confrontation in central beirut in the past few days this area has really been a battleground but this is the most the most violent we have we have seen and also spoke to protesters and is what 2 of them had to say. we're here because our voices haven't heard yet why this by this corrupt parliament by this corrupt government during the broken us into sacks and groups of religious groups and they killed us during the same war lords took over the government and they dropped us now after a $100000000000.00 debt our banks are closed we cannot import goods these people $400.00 days into this almost audited. these people haven't listened we're here to tell the fine old you know what point of defense for this corrupt regime to tell these officers these are brothers and sisters were telling them to stop stop killing our brothers stop killing guess you guess on them we're telling them we're with you on this like this corrupt regime you gave. us protesting peacefully just won't get the result we sit on 3 months with us in this funding and we have no result yesterday therefore government which none of the citizens or the people who are getting on it none of them want to watch always say. i'm not sure we can say no on some of the people still support those political parties in power recess silverback to day 2 of president don thompson sturrock impeachment trial in the senate unless listening cabinet officials executive branch agencies and the office of the president this effort threaten the security of ukraine and its military struggle with russia and compromise our own national security interests because the president cared only about his personal political interests. in the spring of 2019 the people of ukraine elected a new leader the lot of mir is alinsky who campaigned on a platform of rooting out corruption in his country this pledge was welcomed by the united states and its allies but the new government also threatened the work of president trump's chief agent in ukraine rudy giuliani. as president selenski was taking power mr giuliani was already engaged in an effort to convince ukrainian officials to announce 2 sham investigations the 1st was an effort to smear former vice president joe biden the 2nd was designed to undermine the intelligence community's unanimous assessment that russia interfered in the 2016 election one obstacle to mr giuliani's work was ambassador marie event of it a 33 year veteran of the foreign service ambassador you have on of each had partnered with ukraine to root out the kind of corruption that would have allowed mr giuliani's lice to flourish in order to complete his mission mr giuliani 1st needed him bassy of on a bitch out of the way and so in early 2019 mrs giuliani launched a public smear campaign against the ambassador an effort that involved mr giuliani's allies in ukraine the president's allies in the united states and eventually president trump himself please remember that the object of the president's ukraine scheme was to obtain a corrupt advantage for his reelection campaign as we will show the president went to extraordinary lengths to cheat in the next election that scheme begins with the attempt to get ambassador ivanovich quote out of the way unquote by all accounts and that city event of it was a highly respected and effective embassador.