:00:00. > :00:00.spells and showers. Still 15-19dC but with Lord humidity as well. A
:00:00. > :00:00.better feel to things as we head to the second part of the weekend. If
:00:00. > :00:09.you need more details, there is with plenty online. -- always plenty.
:00:10. > :00:11.Hello and welcome to One Hundred Days Plus.
:00:12. > :00:14.President Trump calls James Comey a showboat and a grandstander.
:00:15. > :00:16.He says he decided to fire the former FBI Director,
:00:17. > :00:22.The White House says Mr Comey had lost the confidence
:00:23. > :00:31.The acting director tells the Senate that's simply not true.
:00:32. > :00:34.Simply put, sir, you cannot stop the men and women of the FBI
:00:35. > :00:36.from doing the right thing, protecting the American people
:00:37. > :00:42.The Labour Party leaks - a month before the election
:00:43. > :00:49.We look at what it tells us about the party's platform.
:00:50. > :00:51.And, we're in Alaska, where the ice is getting thinner,
:00:52. > :00:53.summers are getting longer, and climate change is far
:00:54. > :01:05.Also, a regional election in Germany is suddenly in the spotlight.
:01:06. > :01:07.Could the result help predict whether Angela Merkel can remain
:01:08. > :01:13.Chancellor when Germans go to the polls later this year?
:01:14. > :01:15.And behind the scenes at the White House.
:01:16. > :01:18.We'll speak to a reporter about his dinner with the President,
:01:19. > :01:31.and finding out Donald Trump's favourite modern invention.
:01:32. > :01:37.We are learning a lot today about the firing of the head
:01:38. > :01:40.of the FBI and we are hearing it from the President.
:01:41. > :01:44.Mr Trump has just called Mr Comey a "showboat" and a "grandstander".
:01:45. > :01:46.He also revealed he was determined to fire the Director anyway,
:01:47. > :01:50.whatever the Justice Department recommended.
:01:51. > :01:53.Mr Trump also reasserted the claim, that Mr Comey told him three times
:01:54. > :01:59.that he personally wasn't under investigation over ties to Russia.
:02:00. > :02:02.Mr Trump made those comments in an interview with NBC News that's
:02:03. > :02:17.He is a showboat. He is a grandstander. The FBI has been in
:02:18. > :02:23.turmoil. You know it, dynamic, everybody knows it. You take a look
:02:24. > :02:28.at the FBI a year ago, it was in virtual turmoil, less than a year
:02:29. > :02:36.ago. It hasn't recovered. On Monday you met with Rod Rosenstiel. Did you
:02:37. > :02:42.ask for a recommendation? What I did was I was going to fire Comey. My
:02:43. > :02:45.decision. You had made the decision. I was going to fire Comey.
:02:46. > :02:46.Mr Trump's comments come as the acting FBI
:02:47. > :02:48.Director, Andrew McCabe, is testifying before the Senate.
:02:49. > :02:51.Mr McCabe says Mr Comey had the full respect of the FBI.
:02:52. > :02:54.He also insisted the probe into the Trump campaign's ties
:02:55. > :02:55.with Russia will continue unfettered.
:02:56. > :02:57.The work of the men and women of the FBI
:02:58. > :03:03.will continue despite any changes in circumstance, any decision.
:03:04. > :03:07.There has been no effort to impede our investigation to date.
:03:08. > :03:10.Quite simply put - you cannot stop the men and women
:03:11. > :03:14.of the FBI doing the right thing, protecting the American people
:03:15. > :03:20.The acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe there.
:03:21. > :03:22.Well, Democrats aren't so convinced about the timing
:03:23. > :03:28.A brief time ago I spoke with Democrat Bob
:03:29. > :03:34.He is calling for a special prosecutor and spoke
:03:35. > :03:51.I think this decision was made, based upon reasons that are
:03:52. > :03:55.inappropriate. You can't fire the head of the investigative team that
:03:56. > :04:00.is investigating either your activity or the activities of people
:04:01. > :04:06.connected to you potentially, in this case starting on March 20, when
:04:07. > :04:11.director Comey said he was leading this investigation that had been
:04:12. > :04:15.going on for many months. At that moment, the White House and
:04:16. > :04:19.President Trump had forfeited any opportunity, any rationale to fire
:04:20. > :04:25.him. If they felt so strongly about what he was doing in 2016, and there
:04:26. > :04:30.is a lot of debate about that and calls for criticism, if that was the
:04:31. > :04:33.basis of your decision and it all rested on 2016 activity, why wasn't
:04:34. > :04:39.the decision-making in the transition or soon after? The
:04:40. > :04:44.question now, is it possible to put in place a new director of the FBI
:04:45. > :04:50.with bipartisan support, who the American people can trust is doing
:04:51. > :04:54.an independent job? I sure hope we can find that person because it is
:04:55. > :05:00.vital that that person has bipartisan support. The Democrats
:05:01. > :05:04.have come out vehemently opposed to the firing of James Comey, even
:05:05. > :05:08.though some called for it last year during the election campaign. You
:05:09. > :05:15.yourself have used the word Nick Servini and about what happened this
:05:16. > :05:18.week. Our claps at risk of overplaying the hand,
:05:19. > :05:23.hyperventilating over this. You will get a new director of the FBI and
:05:24. > :05:30.the bureau will carry on its work. I used the word Nixon- like, because
:05:31. > :05:34.it is the closest analogy to a top investigator being fired in the
:05:35. > :05:39.midst of an investigation, so it was entirely appropriate. You could
:05:40. > :05:45.easily agree with everything that was asserted in the deputy Attorney
:05:46. > :05:52.General's memorandum, you could have all kinds of criticisms of director
:05:53. > :05:54.Comey, but once he stated publicly on March the 20th, the
:05:55. > :06:00.Administration forfeited the opportunity to make a change. No
:06:01. > :06:05.matter what you believe or what you assert about director Comey's
:06:06. > :06:09.activities in 2016, the higher and more important responsibility is, do
:06:10. > :06:14.not create the appearance of impropriety in the middle of an
:06:15. > :06:20.investigation. How does this look to America's adversaries? I think we
:06:21. > :06:22.look terrible around the world. We are supposed to be the country that
:06:23. > :06:29.no matter what the changes, politically or otherwise, the rule
:06:30. > :06:34.of law is paramount and that even the public officials, appointed
:06:35. > :06:38.public officials are concerned about not just impropriety but the
:06:39. > :06:41.appearance of impropriety. And yet around the world people scratch
:06:42. > :06:46.their heads and wonder if we are still that kind of country. We have
:06:47. > :06:50.to restore the confidence of the American people as well as our
:06:51. > :06:54.standing in the world, and what they see as the appearance of
:06:55. > :06:58.impropriety, a lot of chaos and ad hoc governing which is undermining
:06:59. > :07:04.our system. This Administration has to do a lot of work to restore
:07:05. > :07:12.credibility and to create a firm foundation for both propriety and
:07:13. > :07:14.those appearance questions which are critically important. Thank you.
:07:15. > :07:16.Our Washington Correspondent Gary O'Donoghue has been speaking to
:07:17. > :07:19.the Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who gave his thoughts, on the way
:07:20. > :07:32.There are two issues. One is the timing, and the second is the actual
:07:33. > :07:37.method. The timing was never going to be good. The report said
:07:38. > :07:42.President Trump considered his firing right after the election.
:07:43. > :07:47.Democrats have been calling for it since last fall. Hillary Clinton
:07:48. > :07:49.recently criticised Comey. But the President needed and Attorney
:07:50. > :07:55.General and an Assistant Attorney General. The Assistant Attorney
:07:56. > :07:58.General was appointed about three weeks ago and recommended the
:07:59. > :08:03.firing. If the Assistant Attorney General had recommended a firing now
:08:04. > :08:07.but Trump had not dismissed for four months, that would have been the
:08:08. > :08:11.issue. Mr Comey had become a distraction from the work of the
:08:12. > :08:18.agency. There was never going to be good timing. Mr Trump did what he
:08:19. > :08:23.felt he had to do. Do you think that in order to protect the independence
:08:24. > :08:27.of the FBI you should fire someone investigating you? He is not the one
:08:28. > :08:32.doing the investigation. On Monday morning, his first meeting is about
:08:33. > :08:37.the budget, his second is about HR, his third is about the cafeteria
:08:38. > :08:41.director, his fourth is about narco terrorism, and his last meeting is
:08:42. > :08:45.about this. The person who is heading that investigation is still
:08:46. > :08:51.on the job. I have every confidence that she or he will do great work.
:08:52. > :08:54.We are told he was asking for daily updates about the Russian
:08:55. > :09:00.investigation, and asking for more money. That establishes two things.
:09:01. > :09:03.There is someone doing the investigation, giving him updates,
:09:04. > :09:09.and secondly he is concerned about the budget. He will get more money.
:09:10. > :09:14.I suspect that is going to be the case. How do you not? I also trust
:09:15. > :09:17.that the people of the FBI are professionals and will respond to
:09:18. > :09:18.their responsibility with greater alacrity now, if only to establish
:09:19. > :09:21.independence. And joining us now to help make
:09:22. > :09:24.sense of all the developments in this case is our North America
:09:25. > :09:30.Editor Jon Sopel. There has been a lot going on.
:09:31. > :09:36.Hearings on the Hill, the interview which the President gave to NBC.
:09:37. > :09:41.What do you make of it? If you were my doctor, my general to Schneier I
:09:42. > :09:46.would be saying, my problem is that I am suffering from dizziness and
:09:47. > :09:50.vertigo, and whilst I not hearing voices, what I thought I heard two
:09:51. > :09:55.nights ago is not what I am hearing today and how can I make sense of
:09:56. > :09:58.it. I thought that Comey was fired because of a letter written by the
:09:59. > :10:04.attorney get pretty general but I now hear the President saying he was
:10:05. > :10:09.going to fire him anyway. I thought James Comey had lost the confidence
:10:10. > :10:12.of the rank and file of the FBI, because that is what I heard
:10:13. > :10:19.yesterday at the White House, but now I hear that is not true. We had
:10:20. > :10:22.the White House press spokesperson yesterday, Sarah Huckabee Sanders,
:10:23. > :10:32.saying this about James Comey and the FBI. The rank and file of the
:10:33. > :10:35.FBI had lost confidence in their director. But then the acting
:10:36. > :10:36.director spoke to senators this morning and said this.
:10:37. > :10:38.I hold Director Comey in the absolute highest regard.
:10:39. > :10:41.I have the highest respect for his considerable abilities
:10:42. > :10:43.and his integrity and it has been the greatest privilege
:10:44. > :10:47.and honor of my professional life to work with him.
:10:48. > :10:52.I can tell you also that Director Comey enjoyed broad support
:10:53. > :11:04.within the FBI and still does to this day.
:11:05. > :11:14.I interrupted you. Why was Sturrock to James Comey fired as head of the
:11:15. > :11:18.FBI? Well, let's think of why he was not fired. I don't think it had much
:11:19. > :11:21.to do with the Hillary Clinton e-mail investigations last July,
:11:22. > :11:28.which is what we are being told. Donald Trump has said he had decided
:11:29. > :11:31.fire him. If you look at the timescale of when Donald Trump
:11:32. > :11:35.became most dissatisfied, it surrounds the investigation into
:11:36. > :11:39.Russia. I think that is the reason but I think there is something very
:11:40. > :11:46.interesting in his use of the word grandstander, showboat. There can
:11:47. > :11:52.only be one star. The spotlight can only come on one particular person
:11:53. > :11:56.on the stage. And I think that person is Donald Trump, and I think
:11:57. > :12:00.there is almost a sense, listening to it, decoding it, that actually
:12:01. > :12:05.James Comey was stealing a bit of the limelight and there was only
:12:06. > :12:09.room for one-man show. James Comey was standing up... One other thing
:12:10. > :12:13.that I think is the great difference, I think Donald Trump
:12:14. > :12:18.prizes, more than anything else, loyalty. And I think James Comey
:12:19. > :12:23.prizes more than anything else independence and integrity. And that
:12:24. > :12:29.was a clash waiting to happen, and it has, with the results we have
:12:30. > :12:32.seen. I have covered many resignations in politics before. The
:12:33. > :12:37.first thing you do is that you get your ducks in a row. Have we all got
:12:38. > :12:43.the same line? OK, this is how we can to sell this. We have had
:12:44. > :12:49.anything but that. We are all becoming armchair psychologists,
:12:50. > :12:54.what is your take, Clive? You made a brilliant point, and not just to
:12:55. > :12:59.massage your ego, but do you remember when James Comey Hirst
:13:00. > :13:03.went, I think it was to the White House, and there was a line of
:13:04. > :13:08.people standing to greet him and Donald Trump was in the middle? He
:13:09. > :13:12.took Comey's hand when he walked towards him and he shook it and he
:13:13. > :13:17.said, this guy is more famous than I am. He made that point and it stuck
:13:18. > :13:23.in my mind. Everything you have said points to that. I think you have a
:13:24. > :13:27.substantive issue, Russia, which the President is furious about. He wants
:13:28. > :13:31.it to go away. He was tweeting last week about taxpayers money being
:13:32. > :13:37.wasted on this. That is a substantive issue, but there are
:13:38. > :13:39.other aspects which are to do with personality, differences in
:13:40. > :13:44.approach, that you just have to think played a part in it, because
:13:45. > :13:48.otherwise it is inexplicable. The only other thing I would add is that
:13:49. > :13:53.we have now seen three high-profile sackings. The head of the FBI, the
:13:54. > :13:59.acting director-general, the attorney from New York. What do they
:14:00. > :14:01.have in common? They were all investigating, in some way, what
:14:02. > :14:08.Donald Trump was doing. He does not like that much. My armchair theory,
:14:09. > :14:13.Donald Trump is thin-skinned and that is why he was fired. Thank you.
:14:14. > :14:16.It's 29 days until the UK general election and the Labour Party
:14:17. > :14:19.Their draft manifesto has been revealed,
:14:20. > :14:21.a week earlier than the party planned, and it had some
:14:22. > :14:25.Senior officials in the party held meetings today to limit the damage,
:14:26. > :14:28.and say the manifesto has now been unanimously agreed on.
:14:29. > :14:31.Now here's what we learnt from the leak.
:14:32. > :14:34.The party says it will renationalise the railways, reverse the sale
:14:35. > :14:36.of Royal Mail and create publicly owned energy companies.
:14:37. > :14:38.There'll be ?6 billion of extra annual funding for the NHS,
:14:39. > :14:42.paid for by raising income tax for the top 5% of earners.
:14:43. > :14:44.And ?250 billion will go on infrastructure spending
:14:45. > :14:59.Our correspondent Tom Symonds is in our Westminster studio.
:15:00. > :15:09.It was a surprisingly cruel. No one saw it coming, and it was very
:15:10. > :15:14.revealing. It was. They say there is no such as bad publicity. The Labour
:15:15. > :15:17.Party had a lot of bad publicity today but there is that feeling that
:15:18. > :15:23.this should not have happened. It has put the party on the back foot.
:15:24. > :15:25.Everyone can now prepare their rebuttal to the Labour Party
:15:26. > :15:31.manifesto when it comes out early next week. It has told us roughly
:15:32. > :15:36.what the party will do and it is a huge change to what we have seen
:15:37. > :15:42.Labour governments do in the past. This party, Labour, would become, if
:15:43. > :15:48.given power, a party of taxing, of borrowing and of spending. I went
:15:49. > :15:51.through some of the spending commitments in the draft manifesto
:15:52. > :15:58.today, and assuming that is in the real thing, there are dozens of
:15:59. > :16:02.points where the party wants to spend more money. And it is saying
:16:03. > :16:05.this is an offer for a very different type of government, a
:16:06. > :16:09.government that will get stuck in and make changes. We will see
:16:10. > :16:17.whether that all ends up in the final document. Labour was caught
:16:18. > :16:21.short by this. What has been the reaction from the other parties?
:16:22. > :16:26.There has been a lot of questioning as to where the leak came from and
:16:27. > :16:31.no one has established that. Theresa May was very quick to call it
:16:32. > :16:35.shambolic. She has had a mantra throughout the campaign that Labour
:16:36. > :16:41.is a coalition of chaos waiting to happen. Well, it was pretty chaotic.
:16:42. > :16:44.It is pretty bad for a party to get its manifesto out in this way
:16:45. > :16:49.without any of the mass arching that it would normally do. The Institute
:16:50. > :16:53.of fiscal and is, which number cruncher is in the UK, described it
:16:54. > :16:58.as the biggest intervention in the economy since the 1970s outside a
:16:59. > :17:04.crisis, which is a reference to all of that spending. Labour said it is
:17:05. > :17:06.a fully costed, modern package, and that they would be borrowing to
:17:07. > :17:10.invest wisely as a country, as most invest wisely as a country, as most
:17:11. > :17:13.businesses do. Thanks. We started this week with our top
:17:14. > :17:15.story as the election Well, Mr Macron will be inaugurated
:17:16. > :17:21.on Sunday as the new President, He's renamed his grassroots movement
:17:22. > :17:24.Republique en Marche, but he doesn't have long to rest
:17:25. > :17:26.on his laurels. In June, he faces
:17:27. > :17:27.parliamentary elections. Here's the Secretary General
:17:28. > :17:30.of the party explaining how their election plans will change
:17:31. > :17:50.the face of French politics. TRANSLATION: On political clarity,
:17:51. > :17:53.the candidates come from the entire political spectrum reflecting the
:17:54. > :17:56.reconstruction of the political landscape that the President wanted
:17:57. > :18:01.to uphold the project he has flower country.
:18:02. > :18:04.Regarding the parity, 214 candidates are women, 214 are men so,
:18:05. > :18:07.428 candidates are included in the list that will
:18:08. > :18:12.The French journalist Anne Sinclair is a close observer of the political
:18:13. > :18:15.She was once married to the former head of the IMF
:18:16. > :18:17.Dominique Strauss Kahn, tipped to become French President
:18:18. > :18:19.for the Socialist Party, until a series of sex
:18:20. > :18:24.She founded Huffington Post France, and has just written a book
:18:25. > :18:26.about the challenges facing the country.
:18:27. > :18:28.I spoke to her today, and began by asking how
:18:29. > :18:37.Emmanuel Macron has gained so much support.
:18:38. > :18:46.We are a little bit tired in France voting against. We would like to
:18:47. > :18:54.vote for somebody. For a programme, for a leader. And people have voted
:18:55. > :19:00.for Macron, hoping that maybe something will come out. What do you
:19:01. > :19:07.think of Emmanuel Macron? You have met him and know him a little. He is
:19:08. > :19:11.very smart, clever, skilled. But he has little political experience. But
:19:12. > :19:18.that is positive now in France because nobody wants any more the
:19:19. > :19:21.ancient political life to go on. Do you think the two party system,
:19:22. > :19:28.Republicans on one side, socialists on the other, do you think it is
:19:29. > :19:33.finished? If Emmanuel Macron's party just replaced the Socialist party in
:19:34. > :19:40.Parliament, and if the right stay like they are, there will not be any
:19:41. > :19:45.change. There would already be two different forces, one against the
:19:46. > :19:50.other. So it has to come out something new, something else. The
:19:51. > :19:57.turnover is very quick in all democracies. So Emmanuel Macron has
:19:58. > :20:05.to be very cautious, keep his line and see if he can stay popular for a
:20:06. > :20:09.time. At this moment, he is popular for a range of people but not
:20:10. > :20:14.popular for the whole French people, because the majority of the people
:20:15. > :20:20.didn't vote for him. Is he going to be able to reach out to those parts
:20:21. > :20:23.of society that didn't vote for him, particularly the working classes in
:20:24. > :20:27.some depressed areas in the north and in the south-east? Is he going
:20:28. > :20:32.to be able to get a platform that is appealing to them? What does he have
:20:33. > :20:37.to do? Well, he will have to have success about unemployment, of
:20:38. > :20:40.course, which is the big problem in France since years and years. And we
:20:41. > :20:45.have to have this rate of unemployment go down. And if he
:20:46. > :20:50.isn't successful in the five years of his term as President, does that
:20:51. > :20:57.open the way for Marine Le Pen perhaps in 2022? This election is
:20:58. > :21:01.the last chance. The last chance because we tried the right, and the
:21:02. > :21:07.right failed. We tried the left, the left seems to have failed as well.
:21:08. > :21:13.So we try the Centre. And if the Centre fails, well, danger is great.
:21:14. > :21:19.So in that regard, are you confident about the future of France? I am
:21:20. > :21:24.pessimistic in the short period and optimistic for a long run, for a
:21:25. > :21:28.long period. Especially because a new generation is coming out in all
:21:29. > :21:35.parties. Let's hope things are going to move but move smoothly. The
:21:36. > :21:49.French people can be very rude in one way or the other. So you never
:21:50. > :21:52.know what French people like. Her ex-husband, Dominique Strauss-Kahn,
:21:53. > :21:55.was expected to be the leader of the socialists in 2012. Francois
:21:56. > :22:02.Hollande won the election. Ahead of the election,
:22:03. > :22:04.President Hollande had a 4% approval rating and the Socialist candidate
:22:05. > :22:20.Benoit Hamon lost in the first Absolutely appalling numbers for the
:22:21. > :22:23.socialists. I did ask her about her ex-husband, a very innocuous
:22:24. > :22:28.question. I said, do you think the Socialist party would be in a better
:22:29. > :22:34.position if her husband had stood and won the party nomination? She
:22:35. > :22:38.recoiled straightaway. I wasn't asking about the ins and outs of
:22:39. > :22:43.what happened but if she thought the situation might be better. His very
:22:44. > :22:50.name, bringing up his name, she froze. She recoiled, physically.
:22:51. > :22:55.Clearly, the wounds are still very raw. It was a dreadful experience
:22:56. > :22:59.for her. The socialists are being pulled in one direction by Marine Le
:23:00. > :23:02.Pen, another direction by the far left, a dreadful state for them.
:23:03. > :23:04.President Trump loves the fact that his press
:23:05. > :23:08.And the White House press briefing has become must see TV.
:23:09. > :23:11.But this week, in the middle of the drama over Comey,
:23:12. > :23:16.Before any of you get into conspiracy theories,
:23:17. > :23:21.His deputy, Sarah Huckabee Sanders, has been filling in,
:23:22. > :23:37.She is giving the briefing right now. It was not inappropriate and
:23:38. > :23:44.was not wrong for the President to do so. Again, I am not an attorney.
:23:45. > :23:47.I do not even play one on TV. But I have heard from legal minds and
:23:48. > :23:51.people that actually are attorneys, and that is their opinion, so I have
:23:52. > :23:57.two trust the justice system on that.
:23:58. > :24:01.REPORTER: Would you say, based on the experience you and Sean and this
:24:02. > :24:07.communications office had, that you were given the best information to
:24:08. > :24:16.relay to the American public, through us, and your job is to relay
:24:17. > :24:19.that information... You say you are only intermediaries, but using to
:24:20. > :24:25.take a more proactive approach most of the time. I think we were
:24:26. > :24:29.absolutely given the information we had at that time. It was a quick
:24:30. > :24:34.moving process and we took the formation as we had it and got it
:24:35. > :24:38.out to the American people. And would you say that information was
:24:39. > :24:43.accurate then or is more accurate now? We just happened to dip into
:24:44. > :24:49.that as she is being asked about what we talked about at the top of
:24:50. > :24:53.the programme. Yesterday she said the FBI Director had lost the faith
:24:54. > :24:57.of the rank and file, the agents of the bureau. Then we have the acting
:24:58. > :25:03.director today directly contradict that and say, he has the full faith
:25:04. > :25:07.of the rank and file. Either she was lying yesterday, or somebody was not
:25:08. > :25:12.telling her the truth. She went out at the White House podium and said
:25:13. > :25:16.something that was not true. We think Sean Spicer is on Navy reserve
:25:17. > :25:21.duty but the President of the United States would want his top person
:25:22. > :25:23.speaking to the public after he has fired the chief law investigator
:25:24. > :25:30.office of the country, you would think. And yesterday Sean Spicer was
:25:31. > :25:32.hiding behind a hedge, or something. That was two days ago but it feels
:25:33. > :25:34.like a year. You're watching 100
:25:35. > :25:35.Days Plus from BBC News. Still to come for viewers on the BBC
:25:36. > :25:39.News Channel and BBC World News: We'll be speaking to Time Magazine
:25:40. > :25:41.about their exclusive trip behind the scenes with Donald Trump
:25:42. > :25:44.at the White House. And we'll be live in Alaska
:25:45. > :25:46.where a meeting of eight countries is trying to find out
:25:47. > :25:49.where the Trump administration That's still to come on 100
:25:50. > :26:15.Days Plus, from BBC News. Good evening. A decent day across
:26:16. > :26:20.the northern half of the UK with sunshine in most places. Further
:26:21. > :26:24.south, some changes. Low pressure is bringing clouds and rain but also
:26:25. > :26:31.pulling in air from a long way south, fairly warm and humid
:26:32. > :26:35.continental air. This is the satellite sequence, confirming a
:26:36. > :26:39.lovely day for many, but with shower cloud coming up from the South on
:26:40. > :26:43.the warm breeze. Further showers to come from the south overnight. Still
:26:44. > :26:49.the potential for the odd rumble of thunder. Some rain moving through
:26:50. > :26:54.East Anglia and up into the Midlands but most of northern England and
:26:55. > :27:00.Scotland will stay dry. Some low cloud reaching the east of Scotland
:27:01. > :27:05.and the north-east England. Further south, lots of cloud around and that
:27:06. > :27:09.delivering further showers. Some breaks in the cloud and brighter
:27:10. > :27:15.weather at times but always the threat of showers from the south.
:27:16. > :27:18.Largely dry first thing in northern England. Much brighter in the
:27:19. > :27:23.north-west. Northern Ireland starts a bit damp. In western Scotland,
:27:24. > :27:28.plenty of sunshine to start the day, but in the east of Scotland it is
:27:29. > :27:37.grey and windy. We keep the contrast across Scotland. Elsewhere it is a
:27:38. > :27:41.mixture of a fair bit of cloud and a little bit of sunshine and quite a
:27:42. > :27:50.few showers which could be heavy and thundery. Again, warm and close in
:27:51. > :27:55.England and Wales. Into the weekend, some spells of sunshine but also
:27:56. > :28:01.some showers. By Sunday, things will turn fresher. On Saturday, not too
:28:02. > :28:04.many showers for the Midlands and the south-eastern corner but more
:28:05. > :28:11.likely to see showers in the West of England and Wales and the North
:28:12. > :28:17.Western quadrant. Through Saturday night we see a spell of rain for
:28:18. > :28:21.pretty much all parts of the UK. Behind that, fresher air from the
:28:22. > :28:24.Atlantic. On Sunday, still sunny spells and showers. Notably,
:28:25. > :30:08.humidity will be lower. Donald Trump claimed he always
:30:09. > :30:20.intended to fire James Comey and calls the former FBI director
:30:21. > :30:23.a showboat and a grandstander. The acting head of the American FBI
:30:24. > :30:27.says the investigation alleged ties between Russia and the Trump
:30:28. > :30:41.election campaign will continue. Is the Trump administration too
:30:42. > :30:43.combative, and what mistakes have Those are some of the questions
:30:44. > :30:48.the president answered during an interview
:30:49. > :30:52.with Time magazine. The team had exclusive access behind
:30:53. > :30:59.the scenes at the White House and even learned about one
:31:00. > :31:01.of Mr Trump's favourite inventions. Washington Bureau Chief Michael
:31:02. > :31:03.Scherer was among those who conducted the interview
:31:04. > :31:11.and he joins us now. Michael, firstly, you had dinner
:31:12. > :31:14.with President Trump in the White House and went right
:31:15. > :31:20.behind-the-scenes. How was his demeanour? It is interesting. He is
:31:21. > :31:24.on one hand very hospitable, he was gracious, loves showing people round
:31:25. > :31:28.the White House. I think he is very honoured to be the to his private
:31:29. > :31:31.residence, talked about the history of the rooms. On the other hand,
:31:32. > :31:36.there is a real frustration that is very evident. There is a sense of
:31:37. > :31:43.agreement largely directed at the press. -- disdain. He took us into
:31:44. > :31:50.his private room in the Oval Office at one point and showed us take
:31:51. > :31:53.clips of the Senate hearings. He said, this witness was about to drop
:31:54. > :32:04.like a dog. He was kind of vicious. There is an emotion to it. -- about
:32:05. > :32:07.to choke. There is a sense that he is not gotten a fair shake,
:32:08. > :32:11.especially from the press but from his opponents as well. And there is
:32:12. > :32:18.a frustration. At one point he says, at one -- the only way to survive is
:32:19. > :32:23.to be combative. I asked him at several times if he thought that
:32:24. > :32:28.during his presidency, he had been to combatants. He adds initially by
:32:29. > :32:34.saying, yes, it could be my fault. Then he says, there is a real mean
:32:35. > :32:37.this area in politics. He went on to say that and went on to talk about
:32:38. > :32:42.his opponents. I think is struggling with that. There was a sense a few
:32:43. > :32:46.weeks ago that it had gone too far. They pulled back a number of
:32:47. > :32:53.policies. I think is very proud of the way that when. This with the
:32:54. > :32:56.filing of James -- filing of James Comey and some of his tweets, he's
:32:57. > :33:01.going back to some of his old habits. Which in his business life
:33:02. > :33:06.and previous life elevated his message with controversy. I guess
:33:07. > :33:12.people don't change very much, right? That is a valid point.
:33:13. > :33:14.What was interesting from the interview was the in-built filter
:33:15. > :33:19.that the president seems to have, through which he sees everything
:33:20. > :33:25.relating to him in a positive, good light. It is not as if the glass is
:33:26. > :33:28.half empty. It is almost 99.9% overflowing for him. There seems to
:33:29. > :33:35.be very little introspection from this man. We have had psychologist
:33:36. > :33:39.on the programme today. Is that your feeling? I think there is more
:33:40. > :33:42.introspection that he shows. But you're right, this is a guy who
:33:43. > :33:50.always had the best and the biggest and most fantastic businesses. So
:33:51. > :33:56.he's still... Almost every paragraph he speaks has some kind of bag or
:33:57. > :33:59.post. He continues to do that. He's very sophisticated and how he
:34:00. > :34:02.handles the press. Even in print interviews. I think he's putting on
:34:03. > :34:05.a performance at the show follows during that in which he is not
:34:06. > :34:12.willing to break character or show weakness. That said, I think there
:34:13. > :34:15.is a little bit of introspection. Part of this is from my reporting
:34:16. > :34:17.with other people in the White House. I think he has been
:34:18. > :34:21.travelling to put his own personality and history, who he was
:34:22. > :34:29.in cell to be and Celtic the end what has got tells them to be into
:34:30. > :34:35.this new role of president. -- who he is and what his gut tells him.
:34:36. > :34:50.What he has not given up is watching television. Tivo.
:34:51. > :34:54.He has won in his residence rooms. He knows how to work the remote. I
:34:55. > :34:57.watched him do it. He knows how to work the clicker. Thank you very
:34:58. > :35:00.much. The eight countries that
:35:01. > :35:03.all have a stake in the Arctic Seven of them are anxious to learn
:35:04. > :35:07.more about how the United States will approach the region
:35:08. > :35:09.after President Donald Trump called for more oil
:35:10. > :35:10.drilling and development. Most experts think human activity
:35:11. > :35:14.affecting the climate is leading to shrinking levels of ice covering
:35:15. > :35:17.in the Arctic, but President Trump doesn't appear to agree,
:35:18. > :35:19.once dismissing climate change James Cook in Alaska
:35:20. > :35:25.has sent this report. It is springtime in Alaska
:35:26. > :35:30.and the winter ice is The villagers here say
:35:31. > :35:37.that the thaws are coming earlier. Summers are longer
:35:38. > :35:39.and the ice is thinner. Here, climate change
:35:40. > :35:45.is not a theory. When I was younger, it was up
:35:46. > :35:51.to eight feet thick. Since the day that he was
:35:52. > :35:54.born, this man has been Now he works with 20 local tribes
:35:55. > :36:00.trying to to maintain We are witnessing the disappearance
:36:01. > :36:05.of the cryosphere. We are witnessing its disappearance
:36:06. > :36:12.in many parts where it The process appears
:36:13. > :36:23.to be accelerating. The more that ice melts,
:36:24. > :36:25.the less sunlight is reflected And halfway across Alaska,
:36:26. > :36:30.at a meeting of the Arctic Council, As delegates from around
:36:31. > :36:37.the Arctic gather here in the pristine wilderness of Alaska
:36:38. > :36:40.for this summit, their conversations What does President Trump think
:36:41. > :36:43.about climate change? And as the meetings began,
:36:44. > :36:49.there were few clues from oilman turned politician,
:36:50. > :36:55.Rex Tillerson. It is a particular honour for me
:36:56. > :36:58.to join you to celebrate 20 years of peace, stability and cooperation
:36:59. > :37:00.in the Arctic through There's particular concern that
:37:01. > :37:09.the US could be about to withdraw from the landmark Paris Agreement
:37:10. > :37:13.to reduce carbon emissions. If the US does withdraw,
:37:14. > :37:16.it will set the US policy back by a decade or two in terms
:37:17. > :37:20.of responding to climate change. The warming that we have seen
:37:21. > :37:24.in the last 50-100 years is greater than the warming we have seen in any
:37:25. > :37:30.part of the last 2000 years. Is human activity causing
:37:31. > :37:32.that climate change? Yes, it is.
:37:33. > :37:34.It is a prime contributor. Outside the meetings, protests
:37:35. > :37:40.were largely directed at the US, which has chaired the Arctic Council
:37:41. > :37:44.for the past two years. Arctic states are the main emitters
:37:45. > :37:54.of greenhouse gases. So it is the most important thing
:37:55. > :37:57.that all of them stick There is now doubt about it.
:37:58. > :38:02.Climate change is real. We have the science.
:38:03. > :38:07.We know it. Still, the clear air
:38:08. > :38:09.here is filled with unease Because while sceptics
:38:10. > :38:13.are on the fringes of science, they are at the heart of the US
:38:14. > :38:22.Government. James joins us live from Alaska. The
:38:23. > :38:25.president has gone backwards and forwards on pulling America out of
:38:26. > :38:30.the Paris treaty on climate change. What do people at that gathering
:38:31. > :38:38.make of the White House's position on this issue? Well, I think it is
:38:39. > :38:43.fair to is a that all other members of the Arctic Council, the seven
:38:44. > :38:45.other nations and the indigenous representatives, hope that the
:38:46. > :38:49.United States does not pull out of the Paris climate change agreement.
:38:50. > :38:55.The meeting is now under way. The session with the ministers has got
:38:56. > :39:00.under way in the past 20 minutes or so. What will be interesting to see
:39:01. > :39:04.is how they frame the communications at the end of this meeting. Because
:39:05. > :39:08.usually the Arctic Council would commit to continuing to reduce
:39:09. > :39:13.carbon emissions and the expectation would be that it would include in
:39:14. > :39:16.the wording a suggestion that all the Arctic Council members would
:39:17. > :39:21.remain committed to the Paris agreement. Now, it is not clear that
:39:22. > :39:25.that is US policy. Rex Tillerson, US Secretary of State, former oilman,
:39:26. > :39:28.as we know, is chairing this meeting because the US holds the
:39:29. > :39:35.chairmanship. It will be handed over to his Finland shortly. In the past
:39:36. > :39:40.few minutes, Rex Tillerson has been saying that the US will be an active
:39:41. > :39:44.member of the Arctic Council. There are still issues of great concern
:39:45. > :39:47.that they need to address and he says, we appreciate you have a point
:39:48. > :39:51.of view. We will make the right choice for the United States. Not
:39:52. > :39:54.quite clear what that means, but Rex Tillerson acknowledging that he
:39:55. > :39:59.might be on one side of the argument possibly, and everyone else on the
:40:00. > :40:03.other. It seems you can not have a perfect Alaska scene and satellite
:40:04. > :40:08.link. There were some glitches there. Interesting, this thing on
:40:09. > :40:11.climate change. It is not entirely clear what the president intends to
:40:12. > :40:17.do, no views in office, about this critical issue. In tonight's
:40:18. > :40:20.programme, we have discussed the US, UK and French election. Another race
:40:21. > :40:27.we are looking ahead to is in Germany.
:40:28. > :40:29.The federal election is on September 24th -
:40:30. > :40:31.pitting Chancellor Angela Merkel against the former European
:40:32. > :40:34.But on Sunday there'll be a local state election,
:40:35. > :40:36.which could be a barometer of the popularity of
:40:37. > :40:39.Our Germany correspondent Jenny Hill has this report from the state
:40:40. > :40:46.Not a vote cast yet, but there is something
:40:47. > :40:48.of the victory march in Angela Merkel's step.
:40:49. > :40:51.It is actually years since her party won here.
:40:52. > :40:54.The polls suggest that might be about to change.
:40:55. > :40:57.It is not often that a German regional election
:40:58. > :41:10.Angela Merkel knows that if our party can to back the state,
:41:11. > :41:13.Angela Merkel knows that if her party can take back this state,
:41:14. > :41:15.then she has a very strong chance of taking the country,
:41:16. > :41:18.But first, she must persuade this town, this country.
:41:19. > :41:21.TRANSLATION: I think she really will be Chancellor again.
:41:22. > :41:22.She is very self-assured, reliable and calm.
:41:23. > :41:26.And because she's a woman, I like that.
:41:27. > :41:33.TRANSLATION: She promised too much and invited to many
:41:34. > :41:35.people without thinking, and too many of the wrong people
:41:36. > :41:43.One man stands between Angela Merkel and victory.
:41:44. > :41:45.Martin Schulz's arrival on the German political scene
:41:46. > :41:50.gave his Social Democrat Party a boost in the polls.
:41:51. > :41:52.Even here, in SPD country, the so-called Schultz
:41:53. > :42:02.TRANSLATION: His approval ratings will almost table eyes once he says
:42:03. > :42:07.In the eyes of the voters, that has not happened yet.
:42:08. > :42:09.We need a clear programme, clear policies on topics that
:42:10. > :42:13.That includes a powerful industrial lobby.
:42:14. > :42:15.Germany's next Chancellor will need the support
:42:16. > :42:23.TRANSLATION: We need to cut bureaucracy.
:42:24. > :42:30.We need support for businesses in the digital future.
:42:31. > :42:35.And we need better infrastructure in this region.
:42:36. > :42:37.Angela Merkel might seem reluctant to take the baton here,
:42:38. > :42:41.but make no mistake, this woman wants German voters
:42:42. > :42:59.Every election is local and nationally but the themes in
:43:00. > :43:04.Germany, France and America and Britain are strikingly similar. From
:43:05. > :43:06.both of us, thank you for watching us. Have a great weekend, we will
:43:07. > :43:09.see you next week. Goodbye.