Of a partisan crusade. That began before president troubled youve been nominated let alone for it. The constitution. And. I dont think they suspect that that would ever go president. In the senate at the same. Also coming up today Queen Elizabeth revealed the new u. K. Governments to do list for 2020 the top priority will be no surprise miss the. Mountains on time. So i can come up. With my governments priority is to deliver the United Kingdoms departure from the European Union on the 31st of january and. To our viewers on p. B. S. In the United States and all around the world welcome we begin the day with donald j. Trump the impeached president of the United States last night the u. S. House of representatives took a rare solemn and very partisan step approving 2 articles of impeachment which accuse president drum of abusing his power with ukraine and of obstructing congresss duty to investigate that abuse almost every democrats and not a single republican voted to impeach the speaker of the u. S. House nancy pelosi declared the impeachment of victory for the Us Constitution but in an unexpected move she refused to say when the articles will be sent to the us senate for trial according to the constitution senators are to act as jurors and deliver a verdict on whether or not to remove the president from office but the constitution does not say when a trial must take place and it does not give any hint at what to do about a Senate Leaders such as Mitch Mcconnell mcconnell is a republican and has already said the Republican Majority Senate will not convict the president so when will the trial begin nancy pelosi says as soon as shes sure that trial in the senate will be fair and if the a 230 the nasal 1907 present is one. Article one is adopted and just minutes later this 2nd article for obstruction of Congress Went as planned for the democrats on this vote the yeas are 229 the nays are 198 present is one article 2 is adopted. Hundreds of kilometers away at a rally in michigan President Trump reacted to his impeachment. With todays illegal unconstitutional and partisan impeachment. Do nothing democrats and they are do nothing all they want to do is focus on this what they could be doing are declaring their deep hatred and this for the american voter. This lawless partisan speech is a political suicide march for the Democratic Party have you seen my polls of the last 4 weeks. Back in Washington Democratic had Speaker Nancy Pelosi accuse the republicans of being purely partisan she threatened to delay the impeachment trial until she could be sure it would be handled fairly in the senate. We have legislation approved by the rules committee that will enable us to decide how we will send over articles of impeachment but we cannot name managers until we see what the process is on the senate side and i would hope that that will be soon so far we havent flown what will they are to us so hopefully it will be when we see what all this will form or. Can a trial be fair want to talk about that and more tonight here at the big table with me is bourse foreman u. S. Politics analyst in Political Science at bard college here in berlin hes also author of the new book democracy in crisis bourses good to see you again so how long do you think the u. S. House could hold on to these. Articles of impeachment i mean is it possible that a trial never takes place at this point everything see seems possible there was a lot of debate of bode different strategies of the republican the Democratic Party may be waiting to also bogged down senators in their campaign trail so its highly polarized situation its been that before and now its driven to a new point and so we dont exactly know whats going to happen and what do you do weve got republicans in the u. S. And its you have said publicly that they are not impartial and theyve said that they will not vote to convict donald trump so arent they by saying that arent they violating their oath of office are they violated the constitution at least i mean the Founding Fathers had something in mind with the impeachment process as a mechanism to ensure that certain things wouldnt be possible and there was an assumption that yes there is a need for individual politicians to put the common good above their own individual interests if that is only the president then there can be a mechanism in place if that is a majority of the of the represent or of the of the senators thats a problem i was looking at both articles today much of the text of the 2 articles of impeachment was actually taken from the bill clinton impeachment articles but there is one important difference maybe we can pull that up and show the viewers in article one abuse of power this phrase was was added it says President Trump by saying his conduct has demonstrated that he will remain a threat to National Security and the constitution if allowed to remain in office if he stays in office a bourse that it implies that the crimes he committed are still happening and that trump is a threat to the 2020 president ial election well if thats an interesting observation because that hasnt been discussed much but yeah its of. Its reflecting and its observing the things that have been going on so far but obviously the election hasnt happened and this is about potential influence on the 2020 alexion so yeah its a moving target so to speak. The house is convinced because of ukraine that mr trump will try to do whatever it takes to win the next election lets talk a little bit more about the constitution the authors of the constitution they may have foreseen impeachment for president such as donald trump but i dont think they could have foreseen the hyper partisanship that we see right now in congress can the constitution work in this type of environment i think institutions are only as good as the politicians that run the institutions so to speak and if you have every institution can be hollowed out i mean theres been a myth i think american democracy to us particularly stable only because of its institutions it requires politicians to stick to the rules basically and if that doesnt happen then even the best constitution will have withstand a very shaky ground and when you wrote your book democracy in crisis were you thinking about that hyper partisanship and this impeachment process when you were writing the book well i wish i could say that the case i mean what were writing about in this book is the yes hyper polarization that led to gridlock i think a lot of dissatisfaction on both sides of the aisle really with politics and establishment politics was gridlock in congress the fiscal cliff 2013 different processes that happened after and before the Global Financial crisis so put a relation has been a longstanding issue in the ninetys the culture wars and the story goes on and on so there is a blockade in the american political system in part you could say this is exactly what the constitution was trying to establish new kate so that theres always. A shift and a balance between the different powers but what were seeing now i think is that the separation of powers as the core piece really or one core piece of the american constitution is being threatened and lets look into the future weve got the election coming up next year today the u. S. President hinted that he is not going to abide by the rules for the president ial debates which are scheduled to happen in the fall of next year and already were seeing huge cracks in the structures that help with a peaceful transition of power in the United States do you think its possible that we could be talking about a major crisis leading up to election day next year if weve got a u. S. President who says i dont recognize these rules anymore. Lets assume the best. But yes theres again the institutions are only as good as the politicians and theres there have been states of emergencies before where certain constitutional provisions have been bypassed so this can all be so but. This would be if a fundamental threat to american democracy there was a hope that doesnt happen boris formant political scientist with bard college here in berlin as always boards we present your insights thank you thats. 2 times in 2 months yes that describes how many times the world has watched the u. K. Parliament begin a new session today however the political power in parliament was definitely in favor of the conservatives and boards johnson after last weeks general election johnson enjoys a Strong Majority and can easily move his agenda forward it may not surprise then that today when Queen Elizabeth laid out the governments agenda in a speech written by the Prime Minister she said that delivering breaks it is the number one priority johnson now has the votes to pass his bill to take the u. K. Out of the European Union parliament is set to vote on that bill tomorrow today the queen made it clear that britains departure from the e. U. Is now imminent might governments priority is to deliver the United Kingdoms departure from the European Union on the 31st of january my ministers robredo shortages nation to ensure the United Kingdoms exit on that date and to make the most of the opportunities that this brings all the people of the United Kingdom. Boris johnsons government is not the only one planning to leave a union scotlands 1st minister Nicola Sturgeon today wrote to jobs and demanding the right to hold a 2nd referendum on Scottish Independence scotland she says wants to leave the United Kingdom because the United Kingdom is leaving the European Union scotland made very clear last week that it does not warrant a 20 government led by Boris Johnson taking his 8 of you to undo in a path that we havent chosen but that is the future we face if we dont have the opportunity to consider the tentative of independence and it is a very different future to the one in prospect when scotland voted no to independence in 2014 there has been a Material Change in circumstances nicholas sturgeon there saying there has been a Material Change well talk about this and a lot more im joined tonight from the highlands of scotland by journalist andreas will fundraises good to see use so we are coming off of that general election last week in the u. K. Does nicholas sturgeon does she really have a mandate to push for another independence referendum in scotland. Well brant it has been pointed out that the s. And p. Only got 45 percent of the vote share in scotland in this general election and not all of the voters that would fit for the s. N. P. May support independence they may have rooted for their local m. P. Because they like that a little m. P. But on the other hand the s. N. P. Government of scotland and 1st minister nicolas sturgeon pointed out that they had they previously had 35 m. P. s they now have 48 out of 59 and p. Hes here in scotland and at the same time the tories the conservatives lost 7 of their 13 and he is so they think that that indicates that there is a change and voters opinion polls suggest that there still is a very small majority of people in scotland who oppose independence that are pro unionists however as we heard earlier she the 1st minister has now sent a request to london for to transfer powers to scotland for a 2nd independence referendum yes hes made that request british Prime MinisterBoris Johnson is likely to reject that request and surgeon she says that she expects that to happen so what do you think her strategy is here then. Well indeed the Prime MinisterBoris Johnson has already rejected this request in Parliament Today pointing to the fact that even the s. N. P. Conceded and 2014 when the last Scottish Independence referendum was out that this was the opportunity of a generation now i think it seems likely that Nicolas Duggan and the s. N. P. Government here in scotland are hoping to win this case by making an argument as she outlined in her paper published today and theres been a distinct. Distinct history here in scotland that scotland joins the union in 1707 when the 2 parliaments unite it she points to different institutions here in scotland different laws a Different Court system Different Police a Different Health system and even a Different Church so a very distinct nation she says and she she makes the case that it should be for the people of scotland to decide the future of this nation which they did back in the referendum in 2014 that referendum was supposed to be the referendum of a generation and now were talking about it again do you think that once bracks it actually begins once brags it is happening that another independence referendum in scotland that that referendum will become inevitable. Well inevitable is a strong word but what i think even bunnicula sturgeon said. That if the westminster government of Boris Johnson continuously rejects a 2nd independence referendum this will only increase the support for such a referendum here in scotland as people kind of say well were not being taken seriously by westminster that may be well be the feeling amongst some independents support us and there are some voices even within the conservative Party Andrew Mitchell m. P. Tory m. P. And form a government minister said that he thinks there will be a 2nd independence referendum probably not next year and 2020 as this study in would like but possibly after the u. K. Finally does leave the European Union and tiredly you know and raise you know it is interesting if you look at these 2 polls you have a majority of scots who say they want to stay in the u. K. And you also have a majority of scots who say they want to stay in the European Union those 2 realities have to diverged at some point. Are we going to seem Public Opinion tip in favor of Scottish Independence do you think i mean something has to give here. Indeed 62 percent of the scottish electorate voted to remain in the e. U. And 2016 in the e. U. Referendum and i think this is possibly also rooted in history there there was this old alliance this alliance by scotland and france in the middle ages which lasted until the 18th century and since then there has really been much more of a. And internationalists a european perspective here in scotland then there maybe has been in parts of england i dont know whether this whether which which argument winds here i im not able to tell you today what i do think its going to be may well be an issue if there is continued rejection from westminster for the people of scotland to decide their own future not may not play in their favor well we appreciate you trying to look into their crystal ball none the less tonight for its journalism wolf joining us from the highlands of scotland and thank you. Thank you. Remembrance ceremonies and bright flight plants here in berlin and tonights 12 peals of the bell at the church for the 12 People Killed 3 years ago today when an islamist extremist rammed a truck into a busy Christmas Market in the heart of the german capital. Dozens more people were injured many of whom continue to suffer from their injuries the attacker. Was known to German Authorities at the time as a potential terrorist a Parliamentary Committee has been investigating the case opposition members of the committee have now presented their interim report and some of their findings are danny. 3 years on candles and flowers still commemorate the victims of the attack. A Parliamentary Committee is still trying to discover why authorities werent able to prevent it opposition politicians make serious charges and i felt that we simply have to point out that German Security agencies completely misjudged the threat their assessment of unease amery was incorrect to a great extent they failed to take his plan seriously even some time. Soon after the attack authorities describe damrey as a lone wolf a small time drug dealer who picked up radical ideas on his own some members of the Investigative Committee say that theory no longer holds water and his family had close ties to Germanys Islamist scene and the authorities were well aware of his activities so far i noted fear was one of the most dangerous potential terrorists of 2016 so no one seriously disputes that it was a hot potato that they ar