03/05/2017 100 Days+

Hello and welcome to One Hundred Days Plus.

The British Prime Minister accuses Brussels of interfering

It comes after EU estimates that the Brexit divorce bill will be

Speaking after a visit to the Queen - Teresa May says Europe

is hardening its stance and the European press is

The European Union's stance has hardened.

Threats against Bitain have been issued by European

The FBI director tells the Senate he fells sick at the idea

that the bureau may have influenced last year's American election.

It makes me mildly nauseous that we had an impact

on the election but it wouldn't have changed my decision.

The Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas comes to the White House

as President Trump hopes something "terrific" can happen

The two French presidential candidates are about to go head

Just days before the election both Marine Le Pen and Emanuel Macron

will square off for one last time before the ballots are cast.

Ever wonder what's on the White House to do list?

Well thanks to twitter the whole world knows now.

I'm Katty Kay in Washington, Christian Fraser is in London.

Theresa May is back from visiting the Queen.

After informing her majesty of the dissolution of Parliament

ahead of the election - the Prime Minister took direct aim

She effectively accused the EU of interfering in the British

election and the European press of misrepresenting

Her tough comments about Europe follow a now infamous German press

report of a difficult dinner between Ms May and the EU Commission

President Jean Claude Junker which suggested the two sides

are not even in the same galaxy, let alone the same planet.

The Prime Minister also reminded British voters of the perils

to their own security and prosperity if the negotiations don't go well.

Whoever wins on the 8th of June faces the task of getting the best

possible deal for the UK from Brexit. In the last few days we have

seen just how tough these talks are likely to be. Britain's negotiating

position in Europe has been misrepresented in the continental

press. The European Commission 's negotiating stance has hardened.

Threats against Britain have been issued by European politicians and

officials. All of these acts have been deliberately timed to affect

the result of the general election that will take place on the 8th of

June. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn said

Mrs May is taking the wrong approach The risk to this country is a

government that sets up megaphone diplomacy ahead of serious

negotiations, that threatens to walk away from those talks if they do not

go their way. Arguably as you work with people, you do not threaten at

the start, you start with the idea and the game and the intention of

reaching an agreement. Of tariff free trade access to Europe and

protection of important workers, consumer and environmental rights

that we have in this country. Complicating the future Brexit

negotiation is the disagreement between the Commision and Britain

over what the divorce Several figures have

been banded around, 50, 60 billion euros today

the Financial Times reports The EU's chief Brexit negotiator

Michel Barnier today said the severance fee shouldn't be seen

as a punishment. Alex Forsyth has been following the

debate. The Prime Minister was on the back foot on Sunday after this

briefing from the European Commission although others would say

she is fair game because she made prep -- may Brexit a central theme

of the election. It was quite an extraordinary intervention from

Theresa May because we have heard about these briefing reports

following the meeting, that they were just brussels gossip according

to the Prime Minister but now she is labelled these accusations are some

in Brussels suggesting they were interfering in the UK general

election and do not want the UK to get a good deal from Brexit. Part of

political calculation will be I think this may play well with voters

in the UK who backed Brexit and want to see Theresa May take a tough

stance in these negotiations. But it is a gamble because of course some

40% of the UK population did not back Brexit and may not like the

tone of Theresa May suggesting she is going very hard into the talks

and a course from the EU perspective Theresa May might be in election

periods in the UK but if she comes back is by Minister she will have to

sit down around the table with the people that she is making these

accusations about to conduct those negotiations. EU sources have

dismissed suggestions from Theresa May of interference in the election

is just pure fantasy, they seem to recognise there is an election

period in the UK which may be part of it but in the last few days the

tension around these Brexit talks has been ramped up. We heard Michel

Barnier today saying the settlement for the Brexit process should not be

seen by the British as a punishment. But $100 billion, I imagine that's

how it is being seen in the UK. This is likely to be one of the most

difficult first issues in these talks when we get beyond this

general election period. The EU position confirmed today by Michel

Barnier, their chief negotiator, is that the UK must meet its financial

commitments and any payment should be seen as bad, not a bill or

punishment but then just settling the account that they owe. The EU so

far has refused to put a figure on it, various numbers being banded

around. Today David Davis the Brexit secretary said they would not pay

anywhere near the region of 100 billion euros to leave. So there's

going to be an argument over this but I think you can add into this

some degree of positioning and deliberate political play by both

sides if they can talk up the numbers now may be able to come down

and reach a compromise which they can take back to their respective

parties and look like it was a success. But do not think the issue

will be easily resolved. Well tomorrow we have local

elections across the UK. And six areas across England for the first

time will be electing their responsible for economic development

in their region. Professor John Curtis is with us. I just want to

talk about this public spat between Brussels and Downing Street. Is

there any polling suggesting the Prime Minister is right, that they

are undermining her at home? There is no evidence to suggest the

European Union has so far been successful in undermining her at

home. There is polling evidence to suggest that those who voted leave

in the European referendum have increasingly swung to the

Conservative Party including since the election was announced on the

Tuesday after Easter. As a result that is a significant factor that

helps to push the Conservatives up in the opinion polls even since the

election was announced. One example, for the election about a quarter of

those who said they would still vote for -- was that they did vote for

Ukip said they would switch to the Conservatives. That is now 40%. And

overall somewhere between three fifths and two thirds of leave

voters are now saying they will vote for the Conservatives. So what

Theresa May needed to do today I think was to instil confidence in

those voters that she indeed has a realistic prospect of delivering the

kind of Brexit she says she wants to deliver. Clearly the risk to her

from the mood music of the last few days is that perhaps it gives the

opposition the chance to argue that maybe she may not be as successful

after all. So I think she was trying to avoid possible damage because of

the moment at least wrapping the flag around herself and pointing at

the contrast to the opposition has proved successful. Local elections

tomorrow, do people vote in local elections as they do in a general

election but you can take something from it but not simply read it

directly. To some degree people vote the same way and broadly speaking a

party that is doing well across the country as a whole will tend to do

well in local elections and vice versa. One party for whom this tends

to be an exception is the Lib Dems. They tend to be past masters at

doing well in local elections but not so well in general elections.

But the complication about these local elections, the seats being

fought were not just bought into the 15 but it is a different political

climate. In 2013 when elections in England were on asphalt, you could

did extraordinarily well. We expect that to fall away. In Scotland in

2012 the SNP did not do anything like as well as they did in the

general election of 2015. So parties may go up and down as compared with

the last local elections, it does not necessarily tell you about the

general election. A question on polling, you had a string of

opposition candidate saying this election is about a series of

things, Theresa May and the Conservative Party saying really is

about Brexit. How do the voters feel, is it seen as a Brexit

election in the UK? Given the extent to which leave voters have

congregated around the Conservative Party, two next dashed to an

increasing extent or leave voters it seems to be a Brexit election. But

on the remain inside the voters still fragmented between

Conservative, Labour and Lib Dems and remain voters at least are

certainly not in agreement with each other as to which party best

represents their view. But the National health service and economy

are also issues that voters are concerned about.

The Director of the FBI is sick at the thought that he may have

influenced the US election - he was referring to his announcement

10 days before the poll that he was reopening

the investigation into Hillary Clinton's emails.

James Comey was testifying before the Senate.

The FBI chief also refused to rule out whether Mr Trump or anyone

from his campaign is a target in the Russia hacking investigation.

He says he has no regrets about the way the whole email

affair was handled - even though it clearly

This was terrible, it makes me mildly nauseous to think we may have

had some impact on the election but honestly, it would not change the

decision. Everyone who disagrees with me as to come back to October

28 and stare at this and tell me what you would do. Would you speak

or conceal. I could be wrong but we honestly made a decision between

those choices that even in hindsight I would make the same decision.

Mr Comey's testimony comes as both the FBI and Congress

are investigating Russia's interference in the election.

So how will his comments affect those probes?

Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger sits

on the Foreign Affairs Committee, I spoke to him a short time ago.

What did you make of the FBI director saying that it made him

feel rather sick to think the FBI might have influenced the election,

you think it did? The president says it helped Hillary Clinton, Hillary

Clinton says it helped the president. From this perspective he

says we are independent, and so I think he obviously has some kind of

heartache about the idea that maybe he had an effect. There's no that

Russian -- Russia tried to influence the election as they will try to do

around the world. We need to get to the bottom four of what really

happened and move on and make sure we guard against that in future

elections. He was questioned repeatedly be about why he released

the information about the Clinton investigation but not above the

Russian investigation into people surrounding President Trump and his

campaign. Where you convinced by his answer? I trust him implicitly, I

think he's a very good person and someone that just wants to do right

by the FBI and the American people as law enforcement. I'm not in the

FBI, I do not even do investigations so why one part would be released

and not the other I leave up to him what I trust him as the Judas Yate

of what to release or not to release. I satisfied with the pace

into investigations into the Russian role in the election is right we all

want answers now, no doubt about that. These take a long time and

even if today we put an independent investigation we will be talking

about beer and a half, two years to get the answers, it is takes a long

time. I would love to have the answers tomorrow but I think it is

important they do their work in a bipartisan way and we get the right

answers to defend against the next election. We know how Putin does

$40, he is a very small country in comparison to what the old soviet

union does and we will give this information to our allies. President

Trump had a conversation with Vladimir Putin just yesterday I

think. He has also said he would consider meeting the North Korean

leader Kim Jong Un. You have said before you would not meet with

leaders of countries that kill their own people. What you think of the

comments from President Trump, his repeated phone calls with President

Putin and saying he would meet Kim Jong Un? A phone call with Putin to

me is fine, I do not know what was discussed. They now a player in the

Middle East, I think we allowed them to be. I think President Trump

probably regrets it, maybe using the term, I would be honoured to meet

Kim Jong Un. But I think the idea is that now is not the time for

one-on-one negotiations, we need to put more pressure on and make it

clear we have a credible military option, which we do. And hope the

military instrument of power is enough to back the diplomatic

instrument of power to get us to a solution. If ultimately that means

the president decides in his best interests, for him or the

administration to meet with Kim Jong Un well we will evaluate that when

it happens. But now is definitely not the right time. It only

emboldens a leader that starves his own people. History will judge James

Comey and his intervention but he said the cloud of doubt will hang

over the objectivity of the FBI. He has a problem because just 32% of

Americans actually trust the FBI at the moment. Another of those

institutions for which trust is declining. He was asked why he

publicised the reopening of the investigation into the Hillary

Clinton e-mails and not that of the Russia probe into the top campaign

and he said the Clinton won had been going on for a long time but the

President Trump one was new. A lot of Democrats on the committee were

not convinced by that answer. For decades the issue of how

to achieve peace in the Middle East has eluded US presidents

and other world leaders. But touting himself as the ultimate

deal maker Donald Trump says Today he welcomed Palestinian leader

Mahmoud Abbas to the White House for a series of discussions and said

he was willing to play any role which would help

bring about an agreement. The Palestinians and Israelis must

work together, to reach an agreement that allows both peoples to live,

worship and thrive and prosper in peace, and I will do whatever

is necessary to facilitate the agreement to mediate,

to arbitrate anything they would like to do,

but I would love to be a mediator or facilitator and we

will get this done. For more on this meeting

we are joined now by Martin Indyk - who formerly served

as President Obama's special envoy for

Israeli-Palestinian negotiations. A lot of optimism both from

President Mahmoud Abbas and President Trump. Justified? Not by

the facts on the ground. If the will of President Trump was enough to

resolve this problem then there would be reason for optimism. But

we've learned from bitter experience that the will of the United States

president alone cannot do it. It is the parties themselves that must

make difficult compromises and Abbas and Prime Minister Netanyahu both

faced domestic political difficulties that constrain them

from making a deal. Is there a chance that it would take a

president like President Trump who's seen as having close relations with

Israel to be able to build up Abbas in this way and perhaps make a

breakthrough? I think building up is what we saw here, in that clip.

Abbas did not endorse a two state solution. But nevertheless he did

treat Abbas as an equal. As a leader. He is under siege from

Hamas, under siege from both Egyptian, Jordanian, leaders who do

not think he should represent the Palestinians and here is a drug is

presenting him as the leader who is going to make peace. -- here is

Donald Trump. Some things that Americans have done unilaterally to

complicate the issue. They appointed ambassador to Israel in David

Friedman was known to be a donor to illegal settlements. Yes on both of

those issues President Trump has walked back from what he was

expected to do. He had said he would move the embassy on the first day

but has not done it and now it is just under serious consideration.

But the possibility that it could happen was reiterated. They said

again it was under serious consideration and will be so in my

estimation for another four years. That is what serious consideration

means. On the settlement issue what is interesting is notwithstanding

what you said about the ambassador to Israel, who is a strong supporter

of settlement activity, the president himself in front of

Benjamin Netanyahu said he expected there to be settlement restrained.

And in fact there has been. Since that visit. So actually he's doing

things which indicate to me a seriousness about his desire to do

it. Thank you very much. And that is why we need diplomats like modern to

translate for us. It is interesting the idea of pulling people close and

saying, you are my friend. Much harder to break trust when, it is

like having your favourite teacher and you do not want to let them

down. I wonder if that is part of this secret as negotiator, that he

tells them they are his best friend and they do more for him. We have

seen this in China in particular, the importance of personal

relationships to Donald Trump and he stressed his ability to build

relationships with Xi Jinping. It will be interesting whether he talks

about the personal relationship also with Malouda bass. Imagine it worked

with his business dealings and we will see if that translates into

politics and it is about how well you could build up personal

relationship or not. In just four days the French

will chose their next President - and a high stakes TV debate tonight

between Marine LePen and Emmanuel Macron may help voters

make their decision. For two and a half hours

the candidates will be questioned on their policy positions

as the voters make their choice. Our correspondent Thomas Fessy

is in the city of Troyes - once a bastion of France's old textile

industry and now crippled If we put this in metaphorical

terms, what Macron is doing tonight effectively in this TV debate is

walking across a carefully polished marble floor holding the precious

ming vase and all he has to do is not to drop it. Exactly, I think a

lot of people are waiting to see how Macron is going to handle these

debates. 15 years ago in 2002 when Jean-Marie Le Pen went into the

run-off, his contender Jacques Chirac refused to hold a debate with

him. It is the first time that a candidate has accepted to hold a

discussion with a far right candidate, tonight Marine Le Pen.

And of course we anticipate some kind of animated discussion. It is a

key point in this campaign, they have much to convince, both

candidates will be trying to convince voters to turn out on

Sunday. A lot of people you know are saying they cannot identify with

either candidate. And so they're planning to abstain or stay home. So

that will be the last chance for both candidates to convince these

people to turn out. Obviously a big challenge for the manual Macron, a

lot of people think he's young and does not have the experience.

Tonight is the possibility for him to prove them wrong. A big night for

a manual Macron. Thank you. I have forsworn polls but I'm going

to fall off the wagon. I have not seen a poll yet which puts a manual

Macron less than around 20 points ahead of Marine Le Pen. Is there an

increasing feeling that the vote this weekend is a foregone

conclusion? Yes although you would be brave to say that in the context

of what has happened with Brexit and Donald Trump. But the polls are

pretty good and I was looking at the polls from 2012, and they were close

to the mark. So I think it is unlikely that Marine Le Pen can do

anything. What is interesting tonight is what damage she might do

to him longer term but she will flag him up as part of the establishment

etc. If things do not go ) quickly in the first six months then they

might start thinking about Marine Le Pen. And I'm going to be there, did

I tell you that? Several times! I will be there for the results

programme on Sunday and I hope that you will join me for that.

This is Rabbi Shmuley - TV personality you will know well -

Alongside the White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.

The Rabbi was there to celebrate Israel's Independence Day.

Nothing particular remarkable about the photograph.

Until - you look beyond at the white-board behind them

and there you will see, Steve Bannon's giant to do list.

Complete with ticks and check marks next to each "completed" items.

Now some of these proposals we know well - if we zoom in a little

you will see there is the pledge there "to build the border

wall and EVENTUALLY make Mexico pay for it".

Down there at the bottom - is that plan to move the US embassy

Number four is his plan to suspend the Syrian refugee programme -

I am not quite sure why there's a tick next to that one, the last

But this is my favourite bit - look how long the immigration list is.

And look how long the list of proposals is on Obamacare.

You're watching 100 Days Plus from BBC News.

Not per day for cloud spotting in Northern Ireland, barely cloud in

the sky. For most of us just blue sky from dawn until dusk.

Temperatures in the high teens. But very different for many across East

Anglia and south-east England, cloudy and breezy, also damp in

places and quite cold at just around nine Celsius. Overnight we keep some

cloud across parts of England and Wales so here the temperature is not

going down too far. Some clear spells for parts of Wales, Northern

England and Scotland and Northern Ireland. Turning quite chilly in

rural areas with some pockets of frost in Scotland going into the

warning. A bit more cloud filter name across Scotland, not the clear

blue skies tomorrow but good sunny spells. Further south we have more

cloud, a few brighter breaks within it. But even from the word go into

the Midlands and East Anglia, south-east England, the chance of a

shower. We have this cool north easterly breeze which is if anything

more noticeable tomorrow. The chance of a shower into southern England

going into the afternoon but again some brighter breaks possible.

Temperatures held down along North Sea coasts by that breeze. Higher

temperatures to the west in the sunshine. Variable cloud and sunny

spells on Friday and a breezy day with the chance of the odd shower in

the South. Into the weekend a lot of uncertainty about this weather

system coming up which may bring -- may bring some rain. But it is far

from certain at this stage. Elsewhere perhaps a shower but most

places looking dry. The breeze using a bit during the day and by Sunday

the wind is going to be much lighter. West is best for any

sunshine on Sunday. Rather cloudy to the east and most places ending the

weekend drive. Welcome back to 100 Days Plus,

I'm Katty Kay in Washington - The British Prime Minister,

Theresa May, has accused some European politicians of issuing

threats over the Brexit negotiations, with the aim

of influencing next The FBI director James Comey has

defended his decision to announce an investigation

into Hillary Clinton just before America is in the grip of an opioid

epidemic which is growing, despite national calls

to tackle the problem. In Huntington, West Virginia

the death rate is more than ten And from this opioid addiction has

come a heroin epidimic, which the authorities blame

on the cheap availability By the time the authorities had

imposed tighter regulations on prescription drugs,

those already hooked were turning The emergency services in Huntington

are barely able to respond Video journalists Tom Bateman

and Howard Johnson have been to the front lines of this fight

and a warning their film contains Steve Williams mayor of the city of

Huntington, it is a town of just under 50,000 people, our County is

96,000 people, yet over a five year period, just a five year period,

there was over 40 million, 40 million doses of opiates that were

distributed in this County alone. The numbers speak for themselves.

Most of our call-outs are for drug, they probably make up something of a

third of our calls, fires generally are about 15%, to 10% of our calls,

so obviously the drugs are much... Sorry about that. That's me.

That's an overdose. Come on. Responding to an overdose of a

middle age man in a grocery store, he has been reported 911 and we are

currently there now. What we got? His mum is outside.

Hey buddy. What is his name? Timmy. How long you been doing heroin? Just

lay there. Has it been a while since you done it? Have you been doing it

for a while. We are going to stand you up against the wall. Get your

bearings. Do you start on open yoids first

before you move on to heroin. Yes. How did you get into it. I was, pain

pills and I have 've been trying to get off. I would soon be able the

hear from these companies that say we'll come in and partner with you

to be Abe to fight this addiction, rather than spend their time saying

if it's not our fault. We are just a business. When I was in the

investment business, if I was giving advice to somebody, that caused harm

to them, I would lose my career, lose my license and possibly have to

pay money: Do no harm and there is plenty of harm that we can point to

all around. Well, extraordinary film, the

statistics are staggering. Let us look at them. 91 people die every

day from open owed abuse in the US, although that is probably hiring

because there is no standardised way of measures whether the death is a

result of open yoid abuse. The US makes 5% of the world population yet

consumes 52% of the world's prescription open oweds and round

80,000 Americans are currently in prison for open yoid related crimes.

So, where has it gone wrong? At almost every level. Things I have

heard from people who work in this field. About 10 years ago the

measurements for how well a doctor was performing, started to include

the question of how well they relieved pain, at that point doctors

were judged on pain relief, and there was a spike in open yoid

prescriptions, they then lead to the heroin addiction. The people who are

pushing heroin, are very good at data mine, they get access to data

about towns where prescriptions are high, then they go in an start

selling heroin because they know people are addicted to those pain

relief. So they target specific towns, they know where... They

target specific towns and that I have the data on which towns are

vulnerable. It is stunning. Incredible.

It was a police killing that sparked days of protest

across the city of Baton Rouge, Louisiana - and once again it

highlighted the poor state of relations between the police

This was the mobile phone footage that later emerged of two white

officers appearing to hold down and shoot Alton Sterling

He died of gunshot wounds to the chest and back.

Today the US Justice Department confirmed it will not charge the two

For more let's talk to the BBC's Aleem Maqbool,

Start selling heroin because they know people are addicted to those

pain relief. So they target specific towns, they know where... They

target specific towns and that I have the data on which towns are

vulnerable. It is stunning. Incredible.

You have been covering this story, what is the reaction from Mr

Sterling's family? It has been interesting. All eyes were on the

family because of all that protest that happened last year, the family

was fairly positive, they said OK, the Department of Justice has said

that it doesn't meet their criteria for charging these officer, but they

say they now have had more information from the Department of

Justice, that will make it easier to prosecute these officers at a state

level, so there is still the opportunity, you know, all the talk

before now, over the last 24 hours or so of rumour that the Department

of Justice was not going to prosecute, was that it was something

to do with the fact that Donald Trump was always support porting the

police officers, that the Attorney General has had accusations of

racism of course in the past, but the Department of Justice was saying

whether it was under Obama or triumph it wouldn't have made a

difference there is opportunity for the state to take things forward and

prosecute the officers in the case. It is becoming increasingly

political here too. And the concern will be that this will raise

tensions yet again in Baton Rouge and in other black communities round

America. Certainly, if the state doesn't prosecute these officers is

as well, but you know, there is all the talk about the current

environment and you know, Donald Trump right through his campaign

talked about how he supported police officers is and he was the law and

order President. If you ask African-American hearse, everyone

under President Obama if they expected police officers is to be

prosecutes, I don't think they would have expected it then and they don't

necessarily expect it now. Specific things were called for, for

example police cameras, at the time of the really bad time of this last

summer, has that happened any of that? It has happened in some police

force, not all but it has happened. The difference will come with a

different style of training, with difference in the confrontational

manner in which police officers are taught to operate, to shoot first,

and ask later, if they feel their life is in danger, it is to take

that person out, and that hasn't changed as yet. Thank you very much

for coming in. Hillary Clinton's appearance

in New York yesterday made plenty of headlines when it came to the US

election but there was also a strong message about empowering

women around the world. She spoke of her experiences

travelling around the world meeting with women and how while there has

been progress, there You look at places where women's

rights are being stripped away, they are the places most likely to either

catalyse or protect terrorism, or create ideologies that are ant

netical to women's's lives and futures. It islet no an accident.

Part of what I really believe is that women's rights is the

unfinished business of the 21st century. You do a lot of these

empowerment discussions in America, has she got a point? Look, I do

think that the evidence is there and the studies have been done, it is

harder for women to run for political office than it is for men,

they are judged by different standards, they are asked questions

about whether they are spending enough time with their family,

whether their political acareer are impacting their children. Men are

never asked those questions. She has a point. I think she has to be

careful about blaming the result of the last election, whether it is on

the FBI director, or misogyny. She has to accept it herself. We are

critical of Donald Trump, when he doesn't speak truth and she didn't

refer at all yesterday to the problems on the ground, in

Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, in Florida, she didn't talk about the fact the

majority of white women didn't vote for her and a candidate that had

negative approval ratings coming into office. Hillary Clinton didn't

talk about this new book we talked about last week where it was

questioned whether she had a rational for winning, that is what

Democrats need to look at. They have to find a convincing candidate. I

showed you a photograph. I wanted to tell you that apparently the Rabbi

tweeted this with the wrong Twitter handle. He tagged the wrong Steve

Bannon. In fact the Steve Bannon is from Scotland, living in the

south-west and he has been deluged with messages since this went up.

Not all of them favourable it is fair to say. If he is watching this

is a come on to Steve Bannon of south-west of England. Why don't we

have him on tomorrow to do our ordinary person of the week! There

must be a slew of people, there is probably Donald Trumps round the

world that are getting Twitter feeds that don't belong to the President

and getting inundated. We should have a casting call. We are on the

hunt for Steve Bannon of England: That is it from 100 days plus. We

will be back tomorrow. I will be in Paris. Thanks for