14/02/2017 Outside Source

Hello, I'm Ros Atkins, this is Outside Source.

Straight to Washington because President Trump's National Security

adviser, Michael Flynn has resigned after he allegedly misled officials

over his contacts with Russia. The white has said he did nothing

illegal. There is not a legal issue, but a trust issue.

Nevertheless, once again the Trump administrations ties to Russia

are once again in the spotlight, we'll be live in Washington.

The half Brother of North korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been killed.

Kim Jong-Nam is believed to have been assasinated at Kuala Lumpur

And if you want to get in touch at any time:

In the last 24 hours we were asking if President Trump's national

Now the questions are, did Mr Flynn discuss US

sanctions with Russia before Donald Trump took office?

Let's do an Outside Source Reality Check.

Sean Spicer is the White House press secretary and he gave a press

On the issue of legality, he was clear.

The issue isn't whether or not what he discussed, there has been a

complete legal review and there is no issue. The issue is whether or

not he failed to properly informed the vice president or not being

honest with him, or not remember it. But that is the issue. When he lost

trust with the president, that is when the president asked for and

received his resignation. What General Flynn discussed

with the Russian ambassador matters because it could have violated this

law which states that a US citizen "who, without authority

of the United States, directly or indirectly commences

or carries on any correspondence or intercourse with any foreign

government or any officer or agent thereof, with intent to influence

measures or conduct. Anthony, I know you are not a

lawyer, is the press secretary correct to say there is no legal

case to answer? The reference to the Logan act from 1789 is a reality

that it hasn't been used to prosecute anyone ever. It has been

used to threaten people with prosecution, so it does have a

little bit of teat, but to go and said General Flint violated this

particular law and they will throw the book at him, that would be

remarkable over the history of this 200 J history of this law. It is

safe to say they are probably on firm ground and there has been a

tradition in the transition coming in and reaching out to their foreign

colleagues to introduce themselves, start making connections like that.

The question would be whether General Flint did more than that.

Repeatedly, Sean Spicer said what General Flint did was in line with

what would be expected of someone coming into this post, is that

reasonable comment? Introductions are expected, but if we get to see

what the actual content of these calls are, and there have been

requests to release the transcript. We see General Flynn was selling the

Russian ambassador, don't worry what President Obama is doing now, we

will take care of it later, or doing anything to undermine the US policy

at a particular time. That could be a better example of something the

Logan act could be used to prosecute under. Although again, it would be

the first time it has ever been employed. Anthony, stay with us. The

Washington Post is at the centre of this story. We know the general

outline of the phone calls which took place on or about January the

29th when the Obama Administration impose sanctions and other punitive

measures against Russia. There was a summary of the calls' contents.

Among the FBI and circulated among the top officials in the Obama

Administration that indicated the content and the nature of the call,

but not a verbatim transcript. Speaking to former senior officials

who have seen the summary, we understand that General Flynn, well

he might not have given a quid pro quo, he made it clear that he felt

Russia should not overreact to the sanctions that were imposed because

they, the incoming Trump Administration would handle it when

they took over. So there was a suggestion they would somehow ease

up on Moscow and the Trump Administration came in. Michael

Flynn has not confirmed he discussed sanctions, he has said he cannot be

sure if he did or not. It is far from clear what circumstances

Michael Flynn resigned in. Kellyanne Conway is a key

advisor to President Trump. In the end it was misleading the

vice president that made the situation and sustainable. Which the

White House knew about last month. Yesterday you went on the air and

said General Flynn had the complete and full confidence of the

president. General Flynn decided to resign last night on the president

accepted his resignation. Next, this is Sean Spicer

later in the day. The evolving and eroding level of

trust as a result of this situation in a series of other questionable

instances, is what led the president to ask for General Flynn's

resignation. So a suggestion the president asked for the resignation.

Does it matter we are getting burying accounts? It matters a

little bit who * lead the resignation, because it makes Donald

Trump look decisive or it makes him look like Michael Flynn took one for

the team. What they were getting at, Donald Trump himself knew about the

subject of the conversation on January the 26th, he knew that Flynn

had talked about sanctions according to the intelligence agencies and

then misremembered or misrepresented, or worse, and told

Mike Pence under the people in the Administration to misrepresent what

he said. And then Trump knew about that on the 26 and went on another

18 days from their before asking Flynn to resign or taking his

resignation. It is a long stretch of time, during which Flynn, met with

foreign officials, put Iran on notice, he helped Donald Trump deal

with the North Korean missile launch. He was very active within

the Administration. There are real questions being raised now why

Donald Trump waited until basically it all came out into the public

before he lost his confidence in Michael Flynn every day we take you

through the key developments in the last 24 hours in the Trump

Administration. One of the reasons it was thought

General Flynn might keep his job is that he's been a loyal supporter

of Mr Trump's from early Here he is talking about Hillary

Clinton on the campaign trail. Lock her up. Lock her up. You guys

are good. Dam right, you are exactly right. There is nothing wrong with

that. Lock her up. Lock her up. You know why we are saying that? We are

saying that because it's light, a guy who knows this business, if I

did a tenth of what she did, I would be in jail today.

Anthony, this is a story which is holding their attention. More

broadly for Mr Trump, how big a blow is this? I think it definitely

knocks the administration on their heels. They are spending a lot of

time talking about this and not working with Congress to enact their

gender. Members of Congress are being asked about what they are

going to do, if they will investigate General Flynn and these

ties to Russia or not. It is a big distraction. What the administration

needs to be doing right now is building up public support and it

cannot do that. I think it is a real problem and I don't think it will

end any time soon. We just got a New York Times report about an hour ago

that the FBI interviewed Michael Flynn while he was NSA and asked him

about these ties to Russia. That brings a whole different element

into this, as to whether he told the truth to the FBI, which would be a

felony if he lied to the FBI. Stay with us Anthony, because there is

another one I want to bring up. We can access all of the newswire is

coming to the BBC newsroom coming on the screen. This is one from the BBC

World Service. The office of government ethics has called on the

White House to investigate a senior presidential adviser. That is

Kellyanne Conway, for publicly endorsing the product line of Ivanka

Trump. We talked about this a few days ago. How serious is this be

Dubuque? -- rebuke. The ethics department is asking for a review of

Kellyanne Conway. The way these things are normally handled is

administratively, whether they are on suspension with suspended play.

It is a rebuke that is handled internally. Kellyanne Conway's

supervisor is either the chief of staff or President Trump himself.

The question is, is she going to be disciplined by White House, where

Donald Trump himself was treating that should not buy products from

companies who had dropped his daughter's clothing line. Thank you

Anthony. We'll go back to the Trump Administration as we go across the

hour. But we must turn to another important story today.

The half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been killed

Kim Jong-Nam had been at the international airport

and was due to board a flight to China.

Local media are reporting he was assassinated by two

A British source close to the victim's has told the BBC

Here's a family portrait of the Kims.

This is former North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.

Beside him is his son Kim Jong-Un who succeeded him.

Back right is the older half-brother Kim Jong-Nam.

He was passed over in the succession of leadership in 2001.

One thing said to have counted against him was that he tried

to sneak into Japan to visit Disney World.

I have been speaking to Celia Hatton.

It is thought he probably posed a threat to Kim Jong-un, the current

ruler. It is not that some people looked at Kim Jong-Nam, who had been

in exile, who had ties to foreign governments, he was known to be a

moderate and critical of the North Korean regime, as maybe someone who,

if that regime were to fall, he could be installed into the country,

someone the North Korean people would look up to because he is the

eldest son, he was the original heir to the regime, so it is thought he

posed a threat. He hasn't been to North Korea for quite a while? Quite

a few years. It is not thought he has returned since that famous trip

when he tried to go to Japan using a fake passport. But it is thought

and his father, Kim Jong-Il had deteriorated. It is thought he was

too much of a reformer and like capitalism too much after studying

in Switzerland. Also, Kim Jong-Il did not like Kim Jong-Nam's Mana. He

had children with three different women. Malaysia and please say Kim

Jong-Nam was in the shopping concourse, he had gone through the

shopping concourse and was waiting to board his flight. He apparently

felt dizzy, stumbled towards an airport desk and told the airport

employees, someone had covered his face and tried to grab him from

behind. Regional media outlets are saying maybe it was Clarke who watch

was soaked in something, maybe it was a needle or a spray. Sources

tell me that poison was involved in his death.

We'll be discussing Hong Kong politics -

seven police officers have been convicted of beating

a protester during pro-democracy rallies in 2014.

Ukip leader Paul Nuttall has admitted that past claims

that he lost close personal friends in the Hillsborough

He told Liverpool's Radio City he was not responsible

for statements on his website in 2011 and 2012 claiming this.

He told the station it was "someone he knew" who had died

Our political correspondent Chris Mason said.

As a 12-year-old boy act travelled to Sheffield that they, as did so

many others to watch the team I loved from the upper tier of the

lettings Lane ends at the Hillsborough stadium. I watch the

events of that day unfold with horror. On the specifics today, he

said I was made aware of an article on my website which claimed I had

lots people close to me at Hillsborough. This is an article I

did not write and did not see prior to it being posted by a member of my

stuff. I take responsibility for those things that are put out under

my name, but I was genuinely taken aback when this claim was brought to

my attention and I am appalled and sorry and impression was given that

was not accurate. This is Outside Source live

from the BBC newsroom. The White House says

that Donald Trump's National Security Adviser -

Michael Flynn - discussed nothing illegal in his contacts

with the Russian ambassador - but resigned over an erosion

of trust. It relates to how he described those

conversations to vice president, Mike Pence.

A report in Australia has found the country failed to hit almost

every target for improving the lives of its indigenous peoples.

It highlighted poorer health and higher death rates -

and that Aboriginal children are more than twice as likely to die

You may remember last year we reported on the ruling in India that

obliged every cinema to play the national anthem before a film is

screened and the audience should stand up to show respect. But the

Indian Supreme Court has ruled audiences do not need to stand.

Disney has cut its ties with the highest-paid YouTube Star over

allegations of anti-Semitism. The Swedish blogger has released a

number of videos recently which include Nazi references are

anti-Semitic imagery. The star denies he is anti-Semite and actions

were a joke. I want to go to Hong Kong now and convictions that are

related to pro-democracy protests in 2014. We have some of the pictures

from the archives and you can see how violent some of these protest

work. The police using batons and sometimes purposed Bray as well. It

revolves around an incident which was caught on film, but a man called

Ken Tsang had been handcuffed and dragged away by a group of police

officers. Some kicked and punched him, while others kept watch. For

more on this I have been speaking to BBC Asia reporter. It is an

interesting case because Hong Kong's police normally have a good

reputation but people were very angry when they woke up during the

protests and saw footage of the police kicking and beating a

protester. People were very angry. Our police often prosecuted for

these crimes? This sort of case hasn't happened often and lawyers

for the police argue that Ken Tsang is not just any ordinary protest.

They point out he has been convicted of pouring a smelly liquid on police

officers in the protest. Also they argue police were under strain

during the occupied protest. Where have we got two the efforts of these

pro-democracy activists to change how democracy works in Hong Kong? In

terms of practical change and in terms of how the Hong Kong leader

will be elected, there hasn't been any change. They are still elected

by the committee. There has been a lot of youth interest in politics

since then and some have won seats on elections, but some of them have

been disqualified for insulting China. It seems it will take them

some time for things to change. Toshiba has had a bad day. It has

just posted a net loss of $3.4 billion. Inevitably the chairman has

resigned. This is what happened to Toshiba's shares since December.

Down by over 50%. Rupert Wingfield Hayes is based in Tokyo and is

explaining. It goes back to 2006 when Toshiba bought the American

company Westinghouse. It was Toshiba betting on a renaissance in nuclear

power. That has proved to be a bad bet and is building for nuclear

power plants in the United States. It has proved more costly and

complicated than the company thought. It has led to the chairman

of Toshiba setting down -- stepping down. Although he's keeping his job

as a senior executive. The real question is what happens in the next

month. It has delayed its announcement of results for another

month and it has to find new financing. It has admitted the

company is currently worth less at its current share price than its

debts. If it is not resolved in the next month, it could be forced to

delist from the Tokyo stock market and back a bit of the company being

broken up. They are hoping someone will step in, perhaps the Japanese

government, to rescue them in the next month. Back to Washington

because the new US Treasury Secretary has started his job. One

reporter asked him for his view on the chair of the federal reserve,

Janet Yellin. There is a tradition of the Secretary of Treasury having

ongoing meetings with the head of the Federal Reserve and I look

forward to that now I am in office. Thank you very much, it is a

pleasure to be here on my first day. Michelle, can you explain how those

two crucial jobs interlock, please? It has to do with the health of the

economy. The central bank is concerned and has oversight of

monetary policy, they control interest rates, which can help

support the economy during difficult times, or it can slow the economy

down. Removing the punch bowl when the party is going, if the economy

starts to overheat. The party Treasury Secretary has control over

fiscal policy. We have heard Donald Trump talking about what he would

like to do in terms of tax policy, deregulation, spending on

infrastructure, measures that would support the economy. Where they have

an interesting relationship is, if Donald Trump is successful in his

economic policies, many would fall under the Treasury Secretary, then

the economy could start to zoom ahead. You could find yourself in a

situation where Janet Yellin and those at the Central banks, start to

raise interest rates because they are concerned about rising

inflation. That is where you could see the two sides, in some ways, a

sense of friction between them. In terms of Stephen Miller itching, how

much autonomy will he have over the decisions he takes and how much will

he simply have to carry out the orders of the man in the White

House? The Treasury Secretary has been rolled out today, unusually

before the press briefing to talk about economic sanctions on

Venezuela, part of a crackdown on drugs. We have seen under President

Obama and it seems to be continuing, the use of the Treasury in terms of

fighting an economic war using sanctions. Most famously sanctions

against Russia, which has been in the news lately. It seems we will

continue to see that policy. What was interesting was, during his

swearing in, Donald Trump apparently said everything he touches turns to

gold. He has a lot of faith in this individual and clearly he is going

to be tasked with one of the cornerstones of his economic plan,

which is trying to put Donald Trump's agenda when it comes to tax.

No pressure. We will see. If you are watching yesterday, we had an

interview with Willie Walsh who runs British airways. Next is Theo

Leggett speaking to the Ryanair boss, Michael O'Leary. I hope within

two years the British people will realise they were misled in voting

for Brexit and leaving the single market will be damaging for Britain.

I hope they change their minds. Remaining in the open skies probably

involves the UK recognising the European Court of Justice and

probably recognising the free movement of people, which is another

red line issue. From a consumer point of view, if negotiations go

badly, what is the worst that could happen? It is not beyond the bounds

of possibility, it is unlikely, but not beyond the bounds of possibility

there could be no flights between the UK and Europe in the UK walks

off a cliff. If the UK leaves the open skies agreement, I don't think

there will be a transitional arrangement, because they have to be

approved by 27 European Parliament. There could be chaos for a number of

weeks and months. It is only when the British government and the

British people recognise there is going to be KERS, maybe you will get

some kind of common sense prevailing. Beginning the next half

of outside source, Tikay Michael Flynn, the man whose resigned as

national security adviser and finds himself at the centre of the biggest

story in Washington at the moment. Welcome to some of the world stories

that have caught my eye over the past day or two. I will start you

off down in the southern parts of Africa. This