of interest to people. all right, well this has been going on for a number of hours with you guys been use. how does the whole story from an international perspective to try to claim for global audience how this could impact the life. this is an important part of the world and how to do this very good that bringing the news to the world from here. a ah

for my u. s. president donald trump has been indicted by hush, money payment made to an adult film star just before the 2016 presidential election . ah, i'm carry johnston. this is alex. is there a lot from day or so coming up, we condemned the detention of mister gore's college in the strongest in the strongest terms, condemnation from the white house after us journalist is arrested in russia and charged with espionage. an al jazeera investigation on covers a money laundering scheme implicating some of the southern africa's largest banks. and we look at why more palestinians and garza relying on charity to help them break their fast during the holy month of ramadan.

ah, former us president donald trump has been indicted by a grand jury in new york after an investigation to alleged hush money payments made by his former lawyer to an adult film star. this is said to have happened just before the 2016 presidential election. it would be the 1st time a former us president has been charged with a crime. kristen slimy begins our coverage from new york adult film star, stormy daniels and her alleged sexual encounter with donald trump is at the center of the criminal case against the former president after she threatened to go public about the affair in the final days of trumps. 2016 presidential campaign trumps, then fixer michael cohen paying her $130000.00 to keep quiet. cohen, who testified before the grand jury has said he made the payment at trump's

direction. and in 2018, i pleaded guilty to violating campaign finance laws for which he served time in prison. not really that, right. what this is, is that accountability. i don't want to see anyone including donald trump invited, prosecuted, convicted incarcerated, simply because i fundamentally disagree with them. this is all about accountability . he needs to be held accountable for his 30 days, the former president has always denied the affair. he also initially denied any knowledge of the payment, but now says it took place as a legitimate legal expense ah. under new york law, it is the falsification of business records, not the payment itself. that would be trumps crime a misdemeanor. and only if prosecutors can prove he made the payment and falsified records specifically to hide the affairs from voters or the i r s. would it be

a felony or more serious crime that could come with jail time? the falsification of records for the purpose of committing tax evasion would be the addition, tional specific crime to elevate falsification of business records from a misdemeanor to a felony. so he need, he needs a thing like that. complicating any prosecution koans former legal adviser, a trump ally told the grand jury cohen couldn't be trusted, know, listen if they want to go after donald trump and they have solid evidence, so be it. but michael cohn is far from charlotte evans, president trump has described this case as a witch hi, but it's far from the only criminal investigation he's facing in georgia, prosecutors are looking into his alleged attempt to overturn jo biden's victory in the state in 2020, and several government bodies are investigating his alleged role in the attack on the u. s. capital. on january 6th,

2021. the case marks the 1st time in history that a u. s. president has spaced criminal charges. kristin salumi al jazeera new york or donald trump has himself reacted in a statement he called the indictment, political persecution and election interference at the highest level in history. he blamed it on what he called radical left democrats, engaged in the witch hunt, to destroy the make america great again movement. and he said this which hunt will back fire massively on joe biden. mike, hannah joins us live not from washington, d. c. so might fast moving developments with this. what is the very latest you can tell us is indeed that when he mentioned the piece on his social media page, that donald trump is just written among those many sentences as well. he said that this is an attack on our country, the likes of which has never been seen before. it's likewise an ongoing attack on

our free and fair elections. now to put this into a context yesterday 24 hours ago, unexpectedly the same social media page, donald trump wrote, i have gained such respect for this grand jury and perhaps even the grand jury system as a whole. so 24 miles is a long time because the grand jury has now indict to donald trump despite the fact that he had gained such respect for it. what happens next? well, the indictment will be served on donald trump's lawyers. he will then be given the option to surrender to a manhattan court, or if he doesn't, he could well be arrested. but then you've got a situation that trump remains in florida as he is at present. there has to be an extradition deal done by new york with the state of florida. so there's a lot of aspects inside here come through as of indicated that he may surrender, he way appear in that man had some court. what will then happen is that he will be

fingerprinted, he will be processed, his photo will be taken, and then the formal charges will be laid. and it's probably only at that point that we will know exactly what these charges are at the moment. or we know from many media reports and from trump's lawyers themselves is that the grand jury has agreed on an indictment, the content of the statement, the nature of the charges, not known at present. and where does this leave trump that in terms of the well going for president? well, it's a major issue. there's 2 sides to look at it. donald trump himself appears to relish the possibility of fighting a campaign with these charges hanging over his head. we've already seen in recent days, him attempting to get his supporters out to the street as he put it because of these pending charges announcing premier surely that the indictment had been issued even though it had not at that particular point in time. but then of course,

as detractors would argue that this just points to his failures as a person, and that he would not get the vote. should he stand in that ongoing 24 election? i must add as well that should he be convicted or even put into prison, that does not prevent him from running for the presidency. this is a particular quirk in the united states. you can't vote. a few feller know if you're in prison. however, you can run for president because the constitution doesn't say anything about convicted felons not being able to run for president. in fact, there have been at least 2 occasions in the past with somebody in prison has attempt to the presidential race. that is an extreme supposition. that's an extreme case. obviously we does know what the charges are. we don't know what a sentence would be. should he be found guilty of those charges? those are all factors that need to play out in the weeks and months ahead. 900 in washington, d. c. thank you for staying with this. now that spring in adolfo franco, he's

a lawyer and the republican strategist. you joins us from washington, d. c. welcome to the program. so firstly, what do you make of the fact that this has actually happened this extraordinary, isn't this? it is extraordinary, but it is an extraordinary sad day for the country overall, despite one's views. one way or the other of donald trump, this is this is entering new territory for the united states. and it is depending on your point of view. and i certainly have one political persecution when you have that sense in america. it's 1st, so it's extraordinary. i actually thought it might not happen considering some of the late developments in terms of the grand jury deliberations of last. ready week and mr. collins, testimony and, and so forth. it seemed to have a pause, but it was otherwise. donald trump can still stand in the presidential election as we've heard. does that work for him or against him in the eyes of voters? well, i think certainly we'll see how this plays out. we haven't seen the details of the

indictment, but certainly in the short term, it has already been paid dividends since the president trump announced a couple of weeks ago that he was on the verge of being indicted. so it's very clear that this will further help him in the primary. there is no question. i can't imagine any of the declared, the few declared. ready republican primary candidates for president that will not come to his defense as well as the ones that are undeclared governor to santa former vice president pants and others. ready already the republican reaction has been very, very strong, much more strong. the democrat reaction so far has been outrageous and calling for congressional investigations and labeling at a political persecution in the country entering into a stage of becoming really a banana republic. where does this leave his rivals? as you mentioned, for the republican nomination,

it puts them in an awkward position, doesn't it? it certainly does it at ready was very difficult for any of the credible candidates or possible candidates for the republican nomination and 2024. already had difficulties distinguishing themselves from president trump. they had been approaching this gingerly, little bit on the age issue and that type of thing. but they all support the trump policies. so it was always already a difficult task. now you have political martyrdom in many ways. on the republican side, i'm talking about republican primary voters, so it becomes very, very difficult for them. they have to support and will support president trump in this process. at least initially as it plays out longer term. we shall see if republican potential republican candidates can start to say, all of this was unfortunate. it will cost us in the general with independence and try to persuade hardcore tromp supporters to switch allegiance only to win the

general election. but that's very, very difficult to do. ok, now many democrats and some republicans might say, look, this reveals poor current to lack of humidity yet. you know, trump is a lose, he lost the election. why would you want him to be the candidate with all this extra baggage going on? well, there are a couple of things going on in the country. first of all, i think the opinion polls show it when you have a president at 38 and one poll, 38 percent approval rating, and the vice president at 36 percent approval rating. and, and 64 percent of american people saying that funding president biden shouldn't run for reelection. you have a week president, there's no question. so there is a vacuum. so there is a yearning for the trump years. those were actually very good years in terms of their prosperity, the economy. we were at peace that that agenda was working for most americans. so there's that contrast that president biden can't run away from his record. why

president trump is because of that. he has a 4 year record people attack donald trump, the person behavior, etc. but the policies are enormously pop. ready with the american people, and again, you might have some appeal with other candidates saying they'll pursue trump policies, but there's a fear, there's only one genuine, donald trump, and therefore, i think he will garner support among republicans and possibly among independence and democrats in this indictment and eventually, whatever trial or whatever, and to his next, if it falls apart, it will then be perceived as political persecution and can really put him in a position to win the white house in 2024. though, if a franca will leave it there, we very much appreciate your time. thank you. thank you so much. let's speak to gabriel at his under his outside the manhattan district attorney's office in new york. so what's happening where you are now than?

well, we're waiting. we're waiting to see if we're going to hear any statement from alvin bragg, the district attorney here in manhattan. or if we will actually get to see that indictment, that apparently was signed by the grand jury. why haven't we seen it yet? and that's because it's under seal, and that's normal under grand jury procedures such as this. whenever the grand jury issues an indictment, it does not. that indictment does not go out in a press release immediately. it is not immediately public information. it would entail district attorney ivan bragg to ask a judge to unseal that and make it public. and as of now that has not happened. so what are we waiting for now? here outside the min at da's office is we're waiting for eventually. ah, donald trump, to arrive here to potentially be a rain that is the next step. when could that happen? any time really?

normally in proceedings like this, after someone is indicted, the district attorney will call that person's lawyer advised them that they were indicted. and then they will make an arrangement or go into negotiations about when that person there was a guide, it would arrive here to, to have their 1st court appearance that could be potentially as early as tonight or tomorrow or within the next couple of days. we simply don't know right now why we don't know a lot of information is because this is very much a private matter and what i mean private, i mean it is not public. this is not held in open court. this is a grand jury. that is, everything is done in secret, so we're waiting here to see if we can get more information from the district attorney alvin brack. but he's under no obligation to give more information at this point. it's just a matter of, if he chooses to at this juncture or not. and at some point, i mean how likely ali to see donald trump in handcuffs or anything like that. what

was that not lucky to have does. it doesn't quite work like that in these kind of cases. normally under indictments, someone would come in and it's so it's called a procedure. you know, donald trump has come out and said, i'm going to be arrested. he is said, i will, you know, there's from supporter saying he is going to be put in handcuffs. not necessarily the case. these are and this is unprecedented, of course. but i can tell you normally and grand jury proceedings like this when someone is indicted, assuming the person is willing to come to the court house, give their fingerprints and do an arraignment, which donald trump and his lawyers said that he would be prepared to do. they would not necessarily be put in handcuffs, so you know, unlikely we'll see him in handcuffs, but event. but of course these are very untrue, unprecedented times. but normally in a grand jury indictment like this white collar situation,

crime such as this alleged crimes such as this, you would not see donald trump in handcuffs. nevertheless, donald trump is certainly a showman. and he wants to make this part of his campaign going forward because he is said he views this as political persecution. we know donald trump, of course, he is a showman. so there is certainly a lot of people commenting and speculating that he will want to arrive here at this court house to show that he is in his words being politically persecuted. and so we don't have to simply wait and see, there is a huge security apparatus that is taking place right now in lower manhattan, where i'm at right now between the secret service the f b i, i and the new york police department, other helicopters buzzing up above, as you might be able to hear right now, they are preparing to make this as sick here. as a handover, if you will,

as possible. when donald trump potentially arrives here, will he go through the front door? will they drive him to an underground parking lot? will they take him through a back door? will donald trump demand to go out to the front steps of the da's office and give a press conference? we just do not know right now, and that is the big uncertainty. i should say. the normal procedure here under grand jury indictments is the person. in this case donald trump would arrive here at the da's office, would go into the da's office would give fingerprints. take a mug shot, a photograph after that procedure is done, the next step would be they walk down a hallway for their 1st court arraignment with a judge. they would be arranged in front of a judge be told of their rights and, and that a grand jury indictment against them. and then they would be free to leave. that is the normal procedure. and that could happen as early as friday. we think. but again,

it could, this is an arrangement, this is a negotiation between the district attorney's office, the judge and donald trump's lawyers moving forward. but at some point he will, donald trump, will have to be arraigned in front of a judge and or his lawyers. gabriel, for now thank you for that. of and he is now caught in russia has ordered the detention of a u. s. journalist on espionage charges even gush cabbage wicks for the wall street journal. would be held for 2 months in pre trial detention. he told the court, he was not guilty. the wall street journal says it's worried for his safety gasket, which was initially detained in the city of catherine book, and then brought to moscow. the white house says all us citizens in russia should leave immediately. this espionage charges are ridiculous. the targeting of american

citizens by russian government is unacceptable. we condemn the detention of mister girl glitch in the strongest in the strongest terms. we also condemn the russian governments, continued targeting, and repression of journalists attains, organized more from the state department in washington, dc on the us government action pack. well, the 1st priority, according to the principal deputy spokesperson took the damp hotel, is for the usaa embassy in moscow. to gain consular access to mister girth clevic, this is something that is guaranteed by international treaty. but as we have seen, in the recent case of the w. n. b, a player, brittany griner. it was very difficult for consular officials to get to see miss griner while she was being held in prison for the better part of a year. it's also been very difficult for us officials to meet with paul whelan,

the former marine who had been convicted of espionage and is being held for 16 years in a russian prison. so that is the 1st priority. it is worth pointing out that girl clevic was detained while he was on a reporting trip to your counter and berg, about 61600 kilometers east of moscow. and the consulate there was not informed that he had been detained until he turned up on thursday. now, it's also a question, and officials at the state department and at the white house don't want to answer this question. will evan garage greevich be considered wrongfully detained? that's an added layer of urgency to an american's case when that person is being held by a foreign government for whatever reason. and certainly being charged with espionage is perhaps a much more serious charge in terms of diplomatic relations than in the case of

brittany griner being found with the small amount of vog hashish in her ra, traveling luggage. now we're just gonna go back to our top story of thought, donald trump's indictment and speak to gabriel at his own. do again. he's outside the manhattan district attorney's office in new york. we understand you have some new information yet just within the last minute and a half or so we have just gotten official confirmation from the manhattan district attorney's office. it's a brief statement and i'm just going to read it word for word. it says this evening we contacted mr. trump's attorney to coordinate his surrender to the manhattan da's office for arraignment on a supreme court indictment, which remains under seal guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected. so that is official confirmation from the manhattan district attorney's

office, that the indictment has been handed down against donald trump. they have advised us as to trump's lawyers and that the official indictment, as i mentioned it's a few minutes ago to you, is under seal, which means it is not yet been made public. the official indictment and then of course, guidance will be provided when the arraignment date is selected. that would be the date. when donald trump needs to appear here and be arraigned in front of a judge and also give fingerprints and a photo to the manhattan district attorney's office. so this statement, the 1st full confirmation from the manhattan district attorney's office that donald j. trump has been indicted by a manhattan grand jury historic because as we've been reporting, of course, this,

donald trump now becomes the 1st u. s. president in history to ever be indicted for criminal charges. now it's important to point out in can not be said enough. an indictment is not, i repeat is not necessarily a conviction. what an indictment is. it's a group of $23.00 grand jurors. he's a regular citizens that were presented evidence from the manhattan da. and said that donald, there is enough evidence that donald trump, in this case, should go to trial for his alleged crimes. that is in indictment. he will now potentially now the next step is go to trial. and that is where a jury will decide if he's guilty or not guilty. deborah, and his on the with that breaking up that thank you. i'll, does eras investigative unit has uncovered

a money laundering operation involving hundreds of millions of dollars in southern africa on the cover, journalists infiltrated gold smuggling gangs. he helps him, bob was leaders obtain us dollars despite international sanctions imposed on them. but in the 2nd of our 4 part series gold mafia, we uncover how the money is illegally moved through some of south africa's biggest banks. alexander james report, down con is a form of money launderer. he fears for his life and his speaking exclusively to out there is investigative unit from a safe house. he says his role was to forge paperwork to disguise the money laundering as legitimate transactions in the office. we had a strong and in the strong room, rid boxes upon boxes of bank stamps. we had boxes of passports with boxes of id documents. head of the operation is dowdy brother. mohammed con. his street

name is mo dollars. his financial services firm served as a front for the laundering. he sort of held up as the sort of shadowy figure that control money laundering until africa that everybody wants to find wants to locate, want to discuss funds to catch when to prosecute, wants to use. we've obtained a trove of thousands of documents that reveal fake invoices from fictitious suppliers address to move dollars, clients, no goods, no services, purely just money's running. and i can tell you that with 100 percent certainty, because i done the logo, we conceal the identity of one of my dollars form of business partners, my whole mechanic known for money lot. the thing is because will be a 1000000 in profit, the day transferring to different countries to different places and you've got other connections to do that to ensure the skin success. the laundry is bright

employees. at south africa's banks. you look after us, you push to all our payments. no questions asked wonder specific company and we'll met your salary every month in cash. a ledger records, kickbacks paid to staff at sas fin bank, who are responsible for processing foreign payments. we were actually the executive management team of the assessment for t x pro sitting department. you can put it in that way. mormon was c o, off of it, company. without them knowing the ledger records bribes, paid to employees at other banks to for vin maker is a senior manager at the compliance division off standard banks of africa. and also is the key complicated to the south african reserve bank. i can make a phone call for you not do individuals in eps or it would put whatever you tell

them to put on the let it for you and they would stamps. muhammad con, told us that all the allegations against him were false, and based on manufactured evidence, he denied bribing any one in the south african banking sector. vivian nike denied involvement in a money laundering syndicates. sas finn said it was taking vigorous action against former employees. absa passed on our findings to its forensic investigative unit, and standard bank told us it takes a 0 tolerance approach to fraud and criminality. alexander james al jazeera and you can watch the 2nd of our 4 part series, gold mafia, smoke and mirrors. the full episode will be ed on al jazeera, at 1200 g m t on friday, palestinians in garza living with food insecurity, poverty, and other hardships caused by the israeli blockade. the poorest industry post

struggling during the muslim holy month of ramadan to break their daily faust. soup kitchens are stepping in to fill a growing need those lena buckling reports in a soup kitchen and gaza volunteers prepare food for struggling families, breaking their fast. ah la la la la la mulatto saba, in our 7 years of charge to work people's needs and poverty have increased due to the siege on garza and many people don't have food at home. well, the idea of the soup kitchen is to offer prepared means to people to alleviate their difficult situation in awe. every day during the fasting, month of ramadan. better luck this charity kitchen and drove off offers meals to as many as 170 families living in poor condition. the world bank says the poverty reading garza is more than 50 percent. many people depend on charities to access food, especially during this month. after ramadan,

the soup kitchen will continue to operate twice a week. would you mind? i do allow when i'll be online in every day, i come and get food because we cannot afford to cook at home. we take the food from hair and break off fast with it. now the situation is bad on escape. we can't buy anything. a cook. we should receive money from the ministry of social affairs, but so far it hasn't come through a nanny. people say the increase in food prices and the worsening humanitarian situation caused by the decade long israeli, an egyptian blockade has left them struggling to make ends meet. but during this month of giving community kitchens prove much needed comfort to those most and meet lena barclay and jessica ah, this is out there. and these are the main stories now. donald trump has been

indicted by a grand jury in new york alleged at hush money payment.