Harry crabs off on that so popular and expensive that that imitations in the market that story coming up. The arrow. Would begin in the United States where the public hearings in the house impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump have ended a short while ago and 2 senior white house officials have testified that the president s july phone call with his ukrainian counterpart was unusual and in appropriate new tenant colonel alexander of inman and Jennifer Williams both listened in on the call they have been speaking as i said before the House Intelligence Committee even men the top ukraine expert on the National Security council said drop made an improper demand by pushing ukraine to investigate his political rival joe biden. On july 21st 2001000 present zelinsky won a parliamentary election in another landslide victory and he proposed that President Trump call president salute zelinsky to congratulate him on july 25th 2900 the college heard our listening to on the in on the call in the situation room with white house colleagues i was concerned by the call what i heard was inappropriate and i reported my concerns to mr eisenberg it is improper for the president of the United States to demand a Foreign Government investigate a u. S. Citizen and a political opponent on july 25th along with several of my colleagues i listened to a call between President Trump and president selenski the content of which has since been publicly reported prior to july 25th i had participated in roughly a dozen other president ial phone calls during my closed door deposition members of the committee asked about my personal views and whether i had any concerns about the july 25th call as i testified then i found the july 25th phone call unusual because in contrast to other president ial calls i had observed it involved discussion of what it appeared to be a domestic political matter and the former u. S. Special envoy to ukraine kurt volker says he should have realized early at that president on ukraine were tied to joe biden at the one in person meeting i had with mayor giuliani on july 19th there giuliani raised and i rejected the Conspiracy Theory that Vice President biden would have been influenced in his duties as Vice President by money paid to his son as i previously testified i have known Vice President biden for 24 years he is an honorable man and i hold him in the highest regard in hindsight i now understand that others saw the idea of investigating possible corruption involving Ukrainian Company barista as equivalent to investigating former president Vice President biden i saw them as very different the former being appropriate unremarkable the latter being on acceptable lets bring in alan fischer in washington d. C. For as long day on capitol hill what were the main takeaways from tuesdays testimony. But an important day as well here for so long the republicans have said all were hearing is people who have secondhand information of this phone call here who are 2 people who were actually on the phone call one of them of 10 it colonel alexander vigilant an army veteran the ukraine expert on the National Security council someone who also speaks russian and ukrainian he said that as soon as he had the phone call he was so concerned about what donald trump was asking that he immediately went to a white house lawyer now hes come under attack from republicans saying that because he was born in ukraine and moved to the u. S. As a toddler was actually offered the job of Ukrainian Defense minister then there is perhaps something suspect about tenet colonel that meant what you have to remember is that he is a army veteran who was wounded in the battle in fallujah in 2014 and has a purple heart and also he made the point that the reason he decided to give evidence because is where america does right now jennifer what was also an important witness she said the phone call was perhaps unusual she is top aide to mike pence on the Foreign Policy side so the fact that she was concerned is interesting then we had. Volcker who said that. Joe biden wouldnt have done anything wrong wouldnt have used this position as Vice President to get involved in anything untoward in ukraine that dismantles a key republican talking point and then perhaps what is going to be very interesting and will play out again on wednesday because of whos going to give evidence then was from Timothy Morrison who said that he was told by Gordon Sunderland the ambassador to the e. U. That the ukrainian aid would be unfrozen if the president announced there was going to be an investigation into the 2016 election and also possible corruption by joe biden so Gordon Sunderland is due to give. Evidence on wednesday that little nugget certainly makes his that is testimony much much more interesting not that it wasnt going to be interesting before and certainly another key testimony on wednesday just remind us and what happens once these public hearings are finished. Well we still go a little way to go public hearings they go through we will get what we saw at the end of the hearing today both sides stating their case the republicans through devon in a standing up say this is a farce see you tomorrow and adam schiff the Committee Chairman saying look this is where it all points this is what donald trump did wrong this is why he cannot do this he was looking to get personal benefit from a political decision of the United States government no it goes to the House Judiciary Committee if there is a recommendation for impeachment the house will then vote the committee will then vote if it passes and given that there are more democrats on that committee than republicans you think thats a pretty safe bet it goes to the field house for the house will vote again more democrats than republicans it goes to the senate this is where it becomes interesting theres a trial in the senate and Mitch Mcconnell who is the leader of the republicans in the senate the Largest Party in the senate essentially saying today and i quote it is inconceivable that there will be 67 votes to impeach donald trump and kick him out of office whats important to note is that many people back during the watergate hearings and i know it was a long time ago. They thought that there wouldnt be enough republicans to turn to impeach Richard Nixon the reality was as the case built against him and im not saying the same thing will happen here but is the case against him built more and more republicans felt it was politically unsustainable to back the president and therefore would have voted for his impeachment donald trump commands massive support in the Republican Party many people are tied to his success therefore it seems unlikely they will get the 67 votes and maybe Mitch Mcconnell is right but the republicans are still going to fight against that in the senate in the meantime the democrats are going to keep pushing this through the house allan thank you very much for that alan fischer live for us in washington d. C. Has more about this to kyron higgens professor. Law at Cardozo School of law hes live from new york thank you so much for being with us. As we said it was a long day but a sunny a very important one which of the testimonies that we heard today do you think were the most damning for for the president and why. Lieutenant colonel did when men of course he was the one who said that immediately upon hearing the president say what he said on the call on july 25th that it was inappropriate he went to the lawyers for the National Security council where hes an official he was told by that lawyer to report anything else he heard and he has great credibility as a military man and the republicans only line of defense against him was really to attack his his character to repeat some allegations that his judgment was in question or that he had leaked materials from the n. S. C. Right and what about kurt volker a witness that the republicans had pushed for offered a different and somewhat different testimony then when he spoke behind closed doors how significant is that. Well its he was very good at changing his testimony put it that way he he managed to play dumb he managed to reiterate that he didnt understand at the time the president once doing anything improper what he said today is that well now that hes heard the other witnesses he realizes that there was something improper but his story is basically that he had heard talk about. The company that 100 biden was a director of he had heard talk about ukrainian corruption but he just never put that together with an investigation of the bidens which is really very implausible we know from prior testimony that he was very closely involved with Rudy Giuliani and Mick Mulvaney who appeared to have been the instigators of the investigation into berries and him biden and the crazy Conspiracy Theory about crowd strike in the ukrainians playing a role in the 2016 election and then excuse me volcker spent his testimony today trying to separate himself from those people saying he was not one of the 3 amigos as they call them right interesting do you think kyron hagans that these testimonies these public hearings are going to move anything in. Well in terms of American Public opinion and it may have a marginal effect the democrat base is high is is. You know dug in the Republican Base is dug into their their views but there is a you know a middle faction in american politics they call them the independents. And there are they they do have the ability to swing the election its possible the impeachment hearings alone could sway them this is what happened to Hillary Clinton the republicans conducted hearing after hearing on alleged wrongdoing by Hillary Clinton really with much more merit the democrats are doing the same thing with President Trump and there becomes this effect in among the independents the people who are half paying attention that well where theres smoke theres fire there must be something there because theres such a fuss being made and so they have the power to tip the election in 2016 that might have that effect but in the senate certainly no effect i would think i think Mitch Mcconnell is correct that there are no theres no way that 20 senators which is what it would take are going to turn against President Trump as your correspondent said he is wildly popular with his base and i thank you so much for sharing your views with us Kyron Higgins professor of law at Cardozo School thank you for your time. Theres plenty more ahead on this aljazeera news hour including an argument among our allies as if the west and south korea clash over the cost of american troop deployments past a warning from the pentagon that i saw could be on the rise in syria once again and Tottenham Hotspur are looking for a new manager be here in sports with all the details. To bolivia where at least 3 people have been killed during a security operation to end the blockade of a major fuel plant by supporters of former president ever theyre demanding the return of the leftist leader after he resigned earlier this month and made antigovernment protests reports. Violent scenes once again in the city of hundreds of members of the Security Forces headed to the sink at the gas plant on tuesday supporters of elmore dallas were blocking it to prevent gas from reaching the capital. Several people were killed and many others injured when Security Forces cleared the way and. They are killing our bolivian brothers we want freedom we want a president with our blood we will fight for it with our lives. There are roadblocks in many parts of bolivia and the streets leading to the capital are no exception protesters say bolivias democracy is under threat but protests like this one are preventing gas diesel and some food items from reaching the city. People here say that they want to repeat what Indigenous Leaders back at that he did when he shut down all access to the capitol well theyre saying that they want to do exactly the same right now to force the resignation of interim president johnny 9 years. Back at that is subjective in 781. 00 was to isolate law passed in the fight for independence from spain he was later killed. Under siege was a tactic also used in more recent times in 2003 then president. Was also forced out of office after massive demonstrations that closed the capital with ever more or less out of the country and an interim administration in place Security Forces claim they wont allow the past to repeat itself many say the violence needs to stop. Bolivia is split into it is a good country it will more or less is gone and what are we going to do about it i would like to see people unite and find a candidate for elections stop throwing rocks we are killing one another among the libyans and elections will come and we wont have a candidate violence needs to stop. The attempt of us happened as the interim government is negotiating with a one what i list party for new elections this people that want to have a new process within the must but there are no negotiating with with a government for new elections by the radical people within the party led by a. Person in this people with threats and everything to do with the government some type of consensus appears to be the only way out of the Current Crisis a crisis that has this and the a nation on the edge. The organization of american states mean losses from medical instability and human rights abuses are having a damaging effect on democracy in nicaragua hundreds of nicaraguans have been killed jail before seemed to exile since protests against president Daniel Ortega began in april last year demonstrators want ortega to step down and hold fresh elections. And hong kong dozens of antigovernment protesters remain holed up inside a university despite repeated warnings to surrender some demonstrators have been trying to escape in an effort to avoid arrests following sunday nights violent standoff with police on tuesday hong kongs leader carry those inside to surrender peacefully and i did that those who are under the age of 18 would not be immediately arrested the siege was one of the most violent confrontations since on race began 5 months ago in hong kong lets bring in sara clock for the latest sour whats the Current Situation at the Polytechnic University are they still protesters inside at this hour. There are the latest reports indicate there are between 60. 10 protesters still holed up behind us at the Polytechnic University the callinan campus where we are the entire area has got 24 hour around the clock monitoring by right place this is one of the entrance points where some of those protesters have fled over recent days obviously the right place a surrounding that particular campus now as you mentioned the place of confirmed around 1100 people the press has already left the campus and as you mentioned 600 of those were volunteers one story volunteered to surrender and 400. To 100. 00 were under 18 of those under 18 were going to be charged they simply had their names recorded for the time being now we do believe we know there are pictures bombs still it within the campus a large number of petrol bombs and as eventually got around the clock monitoring by these raw play some tried to flee overnight about filed and as a result they returned back to this particular campus which rigged. Thats to this area and whats happening around here we still have a bit of Traffic Congestion we had those burnt out cars and massive amounts of rubbish titles change umbrellas rubbish bins strewn across the highways in the major thoroughfares around this particular campus some of that has been cleared but we still have trying lines that are being blocked or stopped this where we are now its the hung home. Bus and trying to change this particular spot this is a man and a mine and connection between as from here to china that. So large parts of area are still under lockdown around Polytechnic University macallan campus. And the u. S. Senate has just passed human rights and democracy human rights and democracy act which they see aims to protect human rights in hong kong what can that achieve. Will this particular as you mention has just been unanimously passed in the senate in the us now this fund simply is a way of the us being able to kind of threaten sanctions on hong kong if they believe that the one country 2 systems policy is being undermined now this now goes to the house of representatives and that was where that would be where the wording of this particular act