the man who was bin laden s number two in al-qaeda, the man who took over as al-qaeda s leader after bin laden was killed by u.s. navy s.e.a.l.s. the string of attacks and murders attributed to ayman al-zawahiri is stomach turning. he was the ideological mastermind behind the term of al-qaeda and groups like that towards indiscriminate mass murder of civilians anywhere including muslims all in the name of islamic piety. and how he got there now looking back at it seemed like a straight shot, but if you sort of dropped in on him at any time in his biography you wouldn t have known he was going there. by the time he was 15 years old he was a committed radical who wanted to try to impose islamic theocracy by force. he formed his first terrorist cell when he was all of 15 years old. when islamic militants did assassinate egypt s president at a military parade in 1991 ayman al-zawahiri was one of hundreds islamic radicals tried and imprisoned for that crime. he was tortured for ye
this week the house select committee investigating january 6th wrapped up its summer series of hearings with the season finale of sorts. in a primetime event, they presented devastating evidence detailing the hours donald trump spent refusing to act as a angry mob tried to stop the certification of the 2020 election by force. even when it was clear the insurrection would not achieve its aims, did the commander-in-chief collin s meg army to step down? no. even a dalia later, never before seen outtakes show the president was unwilling to admit that the election was over. the bombshell hearings left me with plenty of questions. will the former president or anyone else in a position of authority ever be held accountable? will congress have the courage to strengthen the election system that trump and his allies sought to undermine. and we ll be hearing sway voters as they head to the polls in the midterm elections? we ve got a great lineup to talk about it, including minnesota s s
toward a civil war. president biden, meanwhile, is expected to address the threat of political violence head on as he hits the road today. the white house says the president will call out the far right for its dangerous rhetoric and challenge the republican claim that it is the party of law and order. we re also following major developments out of ukraine, where officials in kyiv say russian forces are in retreat as ukraine launches a counteroffensive in the south. president zelenskyy says, quote, we will chase them to the border. major news out of ukraine. we ll get to that in a moment. boy, it really is something. and you look at the poll numbers. first of all, fascinating it is joe biden s poll numbers that go up, willie, as democrats seem to be doing far better in the midterm elections than expected. the same group of people, donald trump, lindsey graham, those type of people, who challenged the 2020 election, or with lindsey, went back and forth, back and forth, th
plan to assert the will, usurp the will of the american people and remain in power. it was an explosive prime time event. the house select committee held its eighth public hearing, laying out what former president trump did and did not do while a mob of his supporters storm the capitol on january 6th. good morning. and welcome to way too early. on this friday, july 22nd. i m jonathan lemire. thanks for being here. we have a lot to get to this morning. including president joe biden testing positive for covid. the president is said to be experiencing mild symptoms, we ll talk it a medical expert about this later in the show, and provide an update on the president s condition. but we begin with last night s dramatic january 6th hearing. we learned that as violence raged on capitol hill, former president trump sat cloistered in a private dining room watching as as the chaos unfolded. using never before seen evidence and testimony, the committee laid out the case that trump no
to the un. tonight with the context, victoria coates a former advisor to the us energy secretary and long term trump staffer and anand menon, director of the thinktank uk in the changing europe. hello. welcome to the programme. it is a crucial night for the january 6th committee. this will be their eighth hearing, maybe the final televised hearing before the report is pubished in the autumn. and this is the point at which the committee mustjoin the dots for their prime time audience. through seven previous hearings, the committee has laid out a case, that the former president was at the center of witnesses, including former trump and white house officials have testified the president knew he had lost but continued to pressure state officials, lawmakers and thejustice department to overturn the result in his favour. and when it failed, when vice president pence refused to help him, he called on the mob. we fight like hell, and if you don t fight like hell, you re not going to