01/02/2018 Beyond 100 Days

You're watching Beyond 100 Days.

Well, that was quick -

peace and unity really didn't

last long in Washington.

The President was back on Twitter

slamming Democrats ahead

of a Republican Party retreat.

Mr Trump used his speech

to extol the victories

of his administration and criticise

the other side.

Which tells you, perhaps,

they'd rather see us not do

well than see our country do great.

And that's not good,

that's not good.

Spicey is back -

he lasted six months

as President Trump's Press

Secretary, now Sean Spicer joins

us to talk about life at the podium.

The White House clashes with the FBI

and Justice department over

a controversial Russia memo.

The memo is expected

to be released tomorrow.

Also on the programme...

While Theresa May drums

up trade in China,

a row erupts in Westminster

as Treasury officials are accused

of conspiring against Brexit.

It was the exchange

which left Michelle Obama

holding that famous box.

She talks of the person who saved

their brushes.

Get in touch with us using the

#Beyond-One-Hundred-Days.

Hello and welcome,

I'm Katty Kay in New York

and Christian Fraser is in London.

Donald Trump was on friendly

territory today giving a Republican

leadership retreat a long list

of his achievements as President.

The economy, the fight against Isis,

the row back of regulation.

There was a lot for

Republicans to celebrate.

Mr Trump also made a dig

at what he sees as the political

correctness of previous

administrations, saying under him

America doesn't apologise anymore.

Gone was the appeal

to bipartisanship that we heard

in the State of the Union.

Mr Trump said he wasn't happy

with how the Democrats reacted

to his announcement on low levels

of African American unemployment.

When I made that statement the other

night, there was zero

movement from the Democrats.

They sat there, stone cold,

no smile, no applause.

You would have thought that on that

one they would have sort of at least

clapped a little bit.

Which tells you, perhaps,

they'd rather see us not do well

than see our country do great.

And that's he not good,

that's not good.

We have to change that.

APPLAUSE

Well, few people know

the President's message better

than his Press Secretary and that's

the role Sean Spicer played

for the first six months

of this administration.

We didn't use chemical weapons inle

World War II you had someone as

despicable as hilt letter who didn't

use chemical weapons. I think

there's no question that the Obama

administration that there were

actions about surveillance and other

activities that occurred in the 2016

election.

This was the largest audience

to ever witness an inauguration -

period - both in person

and around the globe.

The bureaucrats have a problem with

it. They should get with the

programme or they can go. It's an

honour to do this. Yes, I believe

that we have to be Hong west the

American people. I think sometimes

we can disagree with the facts.

And Sean joins us now.

Thank you very much for joining the

programme. We are getting you on a

good day because on one of your

first days at the press podium you

had to defend record crowd sizes at

the inauguration. The President

tweeted out about his State of the

Union address that he had record

viewing numbers. Let's look at that.

He said, Said...

The problem with that statement is

that it's not actually true because

you look back at recent presidents

and Bill Clinton for example, he had

higher numbers as well during his

term, 45.8 million. President Bush

had 51 million, President Obama had

48 million. It wouldn't matter

except, as you know, you served a

President who has this needed to say

that everything is the biggest. Why

does he do that? Does he believe he

had bigger ratings for his State of

the Union address than any President

has had before?

Two things. One, I'm

out of the audience and crowd size

business. Number two, I think with

respect to your question the

President is a marketer. He's - this

is what he has been doing wist his

whole life. Selling buildings and

talking about shows and how well the

ratings are doing. He has his own

way of presenting himself. I would

refer you back to the White House

Press Office with respect to this

particular one.

When you stood up

there and you had to defend the

crowd sizes you must have known the

crowd size was not as big as you

were having to say it was, right?

I'm not here to relitigate the past.

I don't think it's why you have

asked me on for this interview. For

what it's worth, you know, I think

the goals we try to, not clearly not

that you can is sellsful, was to

really talk about the total audience

size. Not just in person, but people

who had viewed it, people who had

watched it beyond line in various

platforms. In some of the platforms,

in terms of Facebook live and

Twitter live, things on internet

sites didn't exist when, eight years

prior. I thought we were on safe

ground talking about overall

viewership not just audience size. I

think for a lot of folk that is is

what they clung today because I

think we needed to be more specific.

At the end of the day we were trying

to make it more about overall

audience size and viewership and,

you know, again I think it was a few

aisle battle and we shufr focused

more on agenda.

The problem with

this from the President's point of

view, he has good news to sell at

the moment. The ratings for the

State of the Union address were high

he has legitimate things he can

state about the state of the US

economy. Why step on his own message

when he tweets something out like

this that is not true. Around the

world people say - there goes the

President of the United States

again, we can't trust Donald Trump,

we can't trust what he says. Those

are not the facts. That's a problem?

Well, I think, you know, if we want

to talk about hyperbole. What you

said is not true either. To say

people say this around the world.

Look, the bottom line is, he has his

own style. Had's been effective for

him in business and real estate. He

got elected. I will agree with the

fact I thought he did a phenomenal

job laying out a vision for the

country and talking about where

we've been in this past year, in

terms of both the economic news and

statistics, the fight against Isis,

immigration, foreign policy, threat

that North Korea faces - the

challenges that North Korea is to

us. And to the rest of the world. I

would rather him continue to talk

about what he said in the State

Union and ride this wave for a

while. I think that it was a

well-received speech. When you look

at the polling, the independence in

the country, they really found a lot

of what he said appealing. They

agreed with him. I think they should

be focussed on continuing to ride

the wave of a very, very well given

speech that was, you know, followed

on the heels of a really good speech

in Davos. The more that he's not

distracting from his own messaging

is very helpful. I would agree that

the less he can do to not get off

that script the better.

I told

somebody you were coming on the show

they said, good, looking forward to

that. I like Sean Spicer. I think

there were people who -

You must

have been talking to my mum or my

wife then!

There were people around

the world who were fond of We miss

you you.

, Sean.

This person said,

he always looked when he came to the

podium that he was in a bit of a

fix. That he didn't really know how

to interpret... Maybe you didn't

know what the President was

thinking. I thought about that, I

thought, it can't be easy because

most traditional Press Secretaries

know what their leader wants to say.

This is the most unpredictable,

unscripted President in history?

That's well said. I think, frankly,

I approached the job in a

traditional way for a very

untraditional President. That's

something that, frankly, all of the

folks in the White House and

throughout the administration have

learned. The media have learned that

and people on Capitol Hill have

learnt that. He ran as a

nontraditional disrupter. He's

operating that way. A lot of folks,

myself included, have grown up in

the system, if you will, approached

the job in a traditional way. You

are right, normally you would sit

there and know what the position of

the administration and the White

House was and go out and articulate

it. The President is very hands on.

I think a lot of times, based on the

state of negotiations, has an

updated view he wants to express.

You need in constant contact with

imhad. To give a shameless plug

iechl sold the rights to my

forthcoming book The Briefing, it's

available for pre-order in the UK

and Amazon.

Liking it.

It's to be

able to go through and explain

exactly what you are asking for. A

lot of people only saw who I was

through the lens of a one-way lens

of the briefing. Part of it is to

pull back the curtain and explain to

people what I was going through. How

we form lated those thoughts and

ideas and actions and give people an

idea of what was really going on.

Take me behind the podium. I'm

intrigued. You yourself are

on-the-record these past few weeks

saying when there were times when "I

cry screwed up." What happened when

you go behind the screen, does the

President love you? Does he chew you

up? Does he ignore you? How did he

react when you would go back on

those particular days when you got

it wrong in

Well, again, I think

that's part of the reason I'm

writing a book to walk through a lot

of this. I would say it's a mixed

bag. There were plenty of times when

it was really painful in the sense I

did something I knew I stepped in.

At those really difficult moments

the President was probably the most

gracious. He would say - I know what

you were trying to say Sean, those

guys in the media they were looking

to get you. I know you didn't mean

it to come out that way. That helped

a tonne. Other times when he said -

why would you say that word? That

wasn't what we had talked about. So,

you know, there was moments of

disappointment. I would feel bad I

had not checked in with him or

articulated in a way he hadn't

wanted it expressed. In most cases

the President was extremely gracious

and frankly forgiving.

When you

watch the White House now and we are

actually in a period where there has

been a bit of an uptake in the

President's approval numbers and the

state of the economy, as you were

saying earlier, do you watch those

briefings and think to yourself - I

wish I was back at the podium? Or

does part of you think, phew, thank

God that's not me?

Definitely the

latter. I enjoyed. It I know people

sometimes find it hard to believe.

When you get a front row seat to

history. To do a job that... It's

like if you are a kid in the US

growing up playing baseball, or

rugby or soccer or football in the

UK you think you are watching that

team. I can't imagine what it would

be like to play in the World Series

on your side or the Super Bowl.

Realise one day you are on that

field, in that game. It's quite an

honour. That being said, I enjoy

being a viewer as opposed to a

briefer much more these days. I

still want to be a supporter of the

President's policies and agenda and

do what I can. It's - the stress

level has gone down. The President

looked at me and said, "my God you

look 10 years younger."

I was going

to say, you lost 20lb too. Is there

anything you think, given the

unconventional nature of this

presidency and what you talked about

earlier, do you think there is

anything you could have done, as an

aide to the President, to make those

first few months less chaotic than

they were? Or is that just not

possible?

It's a good question. The

answer is yes, in hindsight it...

Look, I think when you guys get off

air there is probably times when a

viewer or a colleague will send you

a question. You know, wouldn't it

have been good to follow up with the

guest in this way or a question that

would have been good and you go -

you know what, you are right.

Every

day.

I look at it the same way.

Exactly. Hindsight is 20/20. Knowing

how disruptive a Trump presidency

was going to be and how much he

wanted to shake-up Washington we

could have come in with a different

mind-set or mrajd we could have done

during the transition and the fast

few weeks. That being said, that is

what make it is different. Part of

the uniqueness of Donald Trump was

he wasn't his your standard creature

in Washington. Things I look back

and I go - if we planned that

differently or knew that. This is

the balance. People didn't want a

scripted administration, a scripted

candidate. They wanted somebody who

is genuine. There is this

equilibrium. I was having lunch with

someone earlier today, we were

talking about the failed previous

candidates. I remember very clearly

when Bob Dole ran for president. He

went on national television people

said - if we could only have known

Bob. There is this policy and

personality. You find with the Trump

presidency is that Republicans and a

vast majority of independents and a

bunch of Democrats enjoy the

policies he is putting forward

domestically and internationally.

They went - if only he didn't do

these things he he would be perfect.

On the flip side if he was a

scripted politician and people said,

if he only did these, you will never

get the perfect mix. The American

people will reward results. That's

what they are getting. I know it's

difficult sometimes. They might say

- people will go - I didn't like

that that. If he had only said that.

When it comes down to it, if people

are feeling more secure in terms of

where our country is, rewill threats

we face and economically their pay

checks are going up, the job markets

shows upwardled mobility that is

what people will vote on and care

about. The safety and security of

our country economically and

national security wise. That is

reflected in the polling. Coming

back to his personality. They say

the most important man in the

President's life is the last person

in the room with him. Ied wonder,

when you talk about those chaotic

first few months, whether General

Kelly - because of the personality

that he has - really does have to

boss him and really does have to

make sure that what goes in front of

him is the most important thing of

the day because he seems to react to

things, I don't know, in a chaotic

way? Yeah I don't they necessarily

buy into that. I have been around

himle long enough both in the

campaign and the transition and the

White House that I know that

narptive exists. I have seen it

sometimes where the last person does

win the argument. That's the case

with a lot of us. But I've also seen

him go through the staff pro where

everyone gets an input etc and that

outcome work. Which is by in large

what has been happening which did

slowly evolve over time. It's a much

more fine tuned programme. General

Kelly refined it further. The

process has gotten better under

Kelly. Part is that the early on

there was a sense of - it was all

new, a lot of personalities, etc,

etc. It made some of that difficult.

Finding our footing, a lot of

personalities, a lot of egos and a

lot of newness. It will continue to

get refined I think throughout this

presidency, but clearly General

Kelly has instituted a better

process that ensures all of the

relevant stakeholders get a say.

That being said, that process was

starting to refovl under the former

Chief of Staff and came to a head

with Kelly.

I have covered four

American presidents and countless

Press Secretaries have come and gone

in the 20 years I've lived in DC,

I've never known one who comedians

loved to taunt and mock as they did

you. I don't know what it is about

you. God bless you for taking it in

such good spirit.

People love the

Irish. That's it.

Why am I such a

butt of joke. What is it about Sean

Spicer that everybody loved to take

fun of?

I don't know. You are right,

though when I entered this job.

'

Never seen it?

What?

I've never seen

it.

Neither have I! I'm not sure

it's going to happen again. Part of

it was Donald Trump. We had never

seen a President like Donald Trump.

You know, I think being - playing

the role I did in this

administration, at the beginning of

it, you know you kind of get a lot

of the bleed over. No-one had seen a

President like this before and

therefore they hadn't seen a Press

Secretary like this before. So I

wasn't fully expecting it. You know,

part of why I literally waited a

while and thought about this is a

long time is that I wanted - I

figured at some point I had to write

a bobbing and explain to people what

was going on. To your point, I grew

up in this country and there were

things like Saturday Night Live that

are iconic. There are skits I

remember from Eddie Murphy and Dan

Ackroyd I can recite by heart. To

think my kids are going - now, you

are one of them.

You and your

Podium.

Exactly! So it's a weird

evolution for somebody to go through

that in such a short period of time.

You were a very good sport.

You were

a very good sport. Thank you very

much for joining us on the programme

today.

You bet guys. I look forward

to getting over there this summer.

Come and see us if you come over.

I

will.

That was fascinating. A real

insight into what it was like in the

first few months. You forget how

much happened when he was at the

podium, when Comey was fired and

turmoil in the White House. He had a

front row seat in all of it?

Not

easy. Traditional Press Secretaries

haven't had to deal with the

character of Donald Trump and modern

technology. People have photos an

films each days. Check facts

instantly. Twitter and Facebook.

People are advising on what

journalists to ask. Yeah, much more

difficult to run that sort of job

these days than perhaps it was.

Yeah. Talk about a disruptive

presidency, he lived right through

that.

Theresa May met Chinese

President Xi Jinping today.

He is a leader whose grip on China

is tighter than anyone since Mao.

She is a leader who has

lost her majority, her top aides,

her deputy and whose party

is currently tearing

itself apart over Brexit.

But, the two countries are permanent

members of the Security Council,

with a mutual interest in solving

the North Korean issue.

Today, we are told, they made

progress on an ambitious

post-Brexit agreement.

But as is so often the case these

days, division in her own party over

Brexit and her own political

weakness at home, dogs this trip.

The Secretary of State

for International Trade

who is travelling with her felt

the need to step in.

They're looking at performance,

they're looking to see

what the UK is doing,

and they look at the Prime Minister

in a different way than some of,

let's say, the internal tearoom

discussions in the UK do.

Lord Jim O'Neil is a former chief

economist of Goldman Sachs,

he worked with the UK Treasury

and he coined the acronym BRIC

to describe the fastest

growing emerging markets.

Welcome back. Stamped on the other

hand my forehead. You said before

the Prime Minister went to China it

was exceptionally important, why so?

We only got a short time. I could

bore your viewers and listeners for

hours about the importance of China.

We got their latest GDP numbers for

the whole of last year. In one year,

one year, the increase was 1.5

trillion. They created in one clear

the equivalent of anything other

than the top 10 largest economies in

the world. More than one Australia

in a year. A half United Kingdom in

a year. Need I go on?

Few people

know it better than you. You worked

with George Osborne on their China

policy.

I did.

You stepped down when

Theresa May came to Number Ten you

said you were baffled?

I stayed on

with three months, let me say.

You

were baffled by her approach to it.

What baffled you in in I was baffled

about a number of things. China she

approached it, maybe still does, as

a a Home Office Minister as opposed

to a Prime Minister.

That of course,

particularly post-Brexit, where we

have imposed on your ourself about

who will trade with. We bang on

about global Britain. You know, 18

months until she has visited, I

should point. She has been to God

knows where else. If you have to be

serious about this stuff you have to

be serious about the important

places. No-one is more important

than China if there are certain

things about China and how they

conduct themselves we don't like.

There was that issue about the

election? Yes that little issue. You

worked with David Cameron to boost

British trade to China. It's 3% of

UK exports. How relestic is it do

you think that figure could climb

substantially post-Brexit if there

was a trade deal between China and

the UK?

Can I point out something

else which I think is very

important. In the extremely crucial

visit of President Xi to the UK, a

full week, David Cameron announced -

I bet you if any of the current

Cabinet are watching or listening

they will be surprised because they

won't know this. He announced it was

an ambition within a decade China

would be one of our top three trade

partners. So, you know, we had the

scale of the ambition. The reason

why he did that is because I

encouraged him directly and through

George Osborne -

Is that ambition

realistic?

Well, this is what I was

going to say, I will be briefer.

This phase of Chinese growth, I call

it the new China, now the average

wealth of a choi necessary person,

the average is $10,000 a head. They

have probably got 10% of the

population that is as wealthy as all

of us. That will be twice the number

of people as the UK. So the kind of

things they want to buy and own are

changing rapidly. So the few things

that the UK excels at, education

related, life sciences, things to do

with our culture, our music and

sport, the Chinese love all this

kind of stuff. Look at how they have

been trying to buy players in the

Premier League, for example. Look at

one of the deals announced when she

got off the plane about education.

If we think we will suddenly become

like a manufacturing rival to

Germany and export to them what the

Germans do, forget it. At this

phase, over the next decade, I think

we could do all sorts of things with

China.

We are fella northerners. I

can't let you go without asking

about the northern powerhouse

project that the Chancellor put in

place. There has been a lot this

week about the similarities between

the United States and Britain that

you have the coastal regions in

America and then a very different

state of affairs in the centre.

Similar here, north and south. North

went for Brexit, the south didn't.

In an anecdotal sense. Do you think

the northern powerhouse project

could bridge some of the gulf?

I

said to George Osborne after the

referendum if someone had started

off northern powerhouse five years

earlier the vote might not have been

what it was. Guess who loves the

northern powerhouse? The Chinese get

the northern powerhouse because they

try to push growth to different

regions. They see it as that is what

we are trying to do. They get it and

they love it and really want to do

stuff. I said Trump, if he wants to

be really successful until helping

the voters is do something like the

northern powerhouse in the middle of

earthquake earthquake.

We are out of

time.

Thank you for having me on.

This is Beyond 100

Days from the BBC.

Coming up for viewers on the BBC

News Channel and BBC World News,

with Republicans due to release

a secret memo alleging FBI bias

soon, we'll get the view of a former

assistant FBI Director.

And it's

the big one, it's Boston

versus Philadelphia as the Eagles

take on the New England Patriots

in the Super Bowl.

Good evening. It's felt much colder

today in that bitter north wind,

which has brought further snow

showers. This is how it whack was

looking earlier in the ski resorts

near Fort William. We will keep cold

air with us for the for seeable

future. -- foreseeable. Temperatures

will fall close to freezing and ice.

Especially to the north and east

where we have showers. Temperatures

hover above in the towns and cities

further west, temperatures will be

lone enough on the ground at least

for frostiness. We could be faced

wintriness, there could be icy

issues as well as the snow showers

in the north. Bar showers that fade

in eastern areas and one or two

parts of Pembrokeshire and Cornwall

and Devon it will be dryer tomorrow.

The winds aren't as strong it should

feel less cold. Pleasant in the

sunshine. The days are getting

longer. We are into February. We

have a problem waiting in the wings.

That's the issue for the weekend. As

we talked about yesterday, that band

of rain comes into the cold air.

There will be a wintry mix. It will

be cold. There could be snow as it

arrives across the highlands, across

Scotland and northern England. It

will brighten for Northern Ireland

and eastern parts of England could

have a brighter day than tomorrow

and a less cold one because we lose

the wind. For many it just looks

cloudy with outbreaks of rain, sleet

and snow over the hills. A real

wintry mix. For the rugby, of course

the Six Nations kicked off this

weekend. Wales take on Scotland in

Cardiff. There will will be cold

rain around here for the fans

travelling. Even a few showers down

in Paris for France taking on

Ireland. As we head into Sunday, our

weather systems start to fizzle out.

. We have a cold north-east wind.

The weekend doesn't start off

promising in the west. There will be

sunshine Sunday, but the cold wind

in the east will bring a change for

that stage. As we go into the start

of the new week we get a repeat

performance, the next band of rain

comes into that cold air and we

could well have snow as we move into

Tuesday. That cold air, as I

mentioned, is with us to stay for.

Of next week. Bye bye.

This is Beyond 100 Days,

with me Katty Kay in New York -

Christian Fraser's in London.

Republicans are due

to release a secret memo

accusing the FBI of bias -

the Democrats dispute its contents.

Sean Spicer tells this programme

regrets claims he made about Donald

Trump's figures. Some of the stuff

on intranet sites did not

Trump's figures. Some of the stuff

on intranet sites did not exist the

years prior so I thought we were on

safe ground talking about overall

viewership or just audience size. A

lot of folks that is what they clung

to because we need to be more

specific.

Coming up in the next half hour.

The British Prime Minister

can't avoid questions

about her leadership or Brexit

while on her trip to China.

Plus, getting ready

for the big game.

Philadelphia and New England

are about to go head

to head in the super bowl.

Let us know your thoughts

by using the hashtag.

'Beyond-One-Hundred-Days'

A memo produced by the Republican

members of the House

Intelligence Committe,

which accuses the FBI

and the Justice Department

of anti-Trump bias,

will be made public.

The White House has vetted a draft

of the memo and has returned it

to the committee for release -

with some redactions approved,

in consultation with the FBI.

Today the minority leader

in the house called

for the resignation of the Committee

chair Devin Nunes who she accused

of working with the White House to

undermine the Russia investigation.

The Democrats have also

accused Nunes of sending

the White House a draft of the memo

that was different to the one

the Committee had voted

to release on Monday.

For months the house intelligence

committee has been investigating the

Justice Department handling of the

Russian investigation. Staffers

working for the Republican chair

have produced a memo which draws on

highly classified information. It

raises questions about an

application made on October 2016 to

the foreign intelligence

surveillance Court. In secretive

session, the judges were asked to

approve surveillance of the former

Trump campaigner cart page. The

central allegation is that to obtain

their warrant, the FBI relied on

unsubstantiated raw intelligence in

the former British former

intelligence officer reportedly the

judges were not told his dossier was

part financed by the Democratic

National committee.

I think the more

people know about what is going on

in our government including the FBI

in Justice Department, particularly

to make sure that politics do not

interfere with your work will bring

about greater respect to government.

Donald Trump decided he would

release the memo before he had even

read it. The Democrats said Devin

Nunez who collaborated with the

White House before has cherry picked

the information he has used.

Transparency is or was a good thing

but this is not transparency, this

is a misleading document where they

are hiding the underlying materials.

What is really important about the

memo is where it points the finger.

The deputy Attorney General signed

off on this application and he is

the one overseeing the Russia

investigation. In agreeing to

release it, the president is drawing

battle lines. With his own law

enforcement.

And here to help us break this

all down is our North America

reporter Anthony Zurcher.

I suppose the point is the Democrats

are saying the Republicans are

trying to change the narrative of

the Russia investigation so if

Robert Muller ever came back with

something they would say, here it

is, the deep state is trying to the

president.

Exactly. That is the

strategy here is to say the fruit of

this surveillance order prejudiced

the entire investigation and I think

that if there is the strategy the

more we are talking about possible

bias within the FBI and Justice

Department mishandling the

investigation the less we are

talking about the actual

investigation itself and the drip

drip of revelations that have come

out about any possible contacts

between the Trump campaigner and

Russian operatives then that is a

win of the Donald Trump and his

defenders. Donald Trump himself has

been reported as saying this memo is

going to discredit the Russian

investigation.

Coming back to

whether Devon Nunez is working with

the White House, the committee set

on Monday and the congressmen Mike

Quigley asked...

Congressman Mike Quigley asked

Devin Nunes "Did they have any idea

you were doing this?

Did they talk about

doing this with you?

Did they suggest it?

Did you suggest it to them?

Did you consult in deciding how

to go forward with this before,

during, and after this

point right now?"

Devin Nunes replied:

"I would just answer,

as far as I know, no."

Which is not a very convincing

answer. No, it is not and you have

to remember that the Republican

congressman from California served

on Donald Trump's Conservative --

transmission team after he was

elected president into inauguration

and he also was involved allegations

he worked to closely with the White

House and an earlier controversy

over this surveillance the idea the

Obama administration officials were

at masking the identity of people

caught up in the surveillance and he

has to recruit himself for a while

from the investigation was ethics

complaint regarding the handling of

classified information was reviewed.

He was later cleared. He has not

formally taken over the Russia

investigation or though it is pretty

clear he is informally leading the

charge.

We reported on the programme

the FBI put out a statement saying

it has grave concerns about the

release of this memo because it

could affect the national security

and the impact of some of their

agents and they're concerned about

the accuracy of the memo. If that

memo is released, where does that

lead the head of the FBI, does he

have to step down if the White House

specifically goes against his wishes

and do something he has grave

concerns about?

It is a tricky

position for Christopher raid to be

in taking such a forum stand and

putting up the FBI statement

questioning the voracity or way the

information and memo has been

presented, you see that from the

Justice Department, they have come

out and said they do not want it

circulated so you do not see this

complex between departments within

the administration and the

administration and the White House

itself as well as Intelligence

Committee in Congress. That is

untried ground before. It definitely

will undermine Christopher Ray's

standing in the administration and

make it difficult for him to

continue with the face of the

president and when you talk about

these surveillance orders this goes

back to 1978, there have been 35,000

requests for surveillance, the court

has only rejected 12 of them since

1979 to 2013. The fact this one

request is getting all this

attention given the scope of the

surveillance up until then is pretty

remarkable.

So what impact is all of this having

on intelligence agencies and the job

they are tasked with?

For answers we spoke a brief time

ago with former assistant

FBI director Ron Hosko.

What kind of impact if you are an

FBI agent and you are watching all

of this unfold, the memo, the leaks,

the accusations of bias, what impact

does it have on you if you're an

agent is trying to do your job?

I

think across the country there are

thousands of agents just getting on

with their day-to-day assignments

but I have been told and I sense

this myself there is a slag on

morale, they are troubled by what

they are hearing reported and they

know that some of what is being

reported and stated and alleged is

just flat out untrue. Even if the

comments are about a very very small

segment of the workforce, there is

an impact on the broader workforce.

Do you think the release of this

memo, redacted or not by the White

House that alleges bias in the FBI

and Russia investigation, would that

have a substantial impact on the FBI

and its credibility and ability to

do its job?

I think so. My senses

the FBI is in some respects being

painted into a corner, the Pfizer

process, the Pfizer system that

process intercepts and it works

within those are classified

processes and information so the

ability to respond to inaccurate and

misleading information is really

very limited and we know in our

sound bite rivet society where the

public only his bits and pieces of

this, it is difficult to correct

inaccuracies.

You joined the FBI as

a Special Agent in 1984, during your

time is working as an agent for the

FBI, were you aware of any kind of

systematic bias in favour of one

political group or another?

Every

FBI employee holds their own

political views, usually they hold

them very close and you do not

really sense what those views are,

even around election seasons. The

workforce knows to divorce

themselves of those views when it

comes down to executing the mission.

So you didn't really get a strong

sense of it even though my sense was

the organisation itself tends to be

conservative, tends to be right of

centre and so you don't get a very

strong sense of that and those

agents know do not bring that into a

meeting or into work.

Do you think

Bob Muller is biased in this

investigation?

I don't, my guess is

with Bob Muller is he should be

biased towards finding the truth and

nothing more, with Bob Muller I

would sense my guess would be he

would be a conservative Republican

but I never heard Bob Muller is

Bauza political view nor did I hear

Jim Komi espouse one.

It is worth

stressing in however many years I

covered American politics yes there

have been disagreements between the

FBI and administrations but I have

never seen this attempt to

politicise the whole agency and

suggest the agency is somehow biased

against the resident of the White

House. The impact this will have on

their ability to do their work and

the incentive this gives them to

defend their own corner and to make

leaks and tweak things all of that

should not be underestimated. The

question is what the response is

going to be, what will Christopher

Ray say in rebuttal and what will

the Democrats do because they have

prepared a rebuttal but it has not

been released yet simple they try

and read it from the house floor

which they could do was...

The number of women and girls now

known to have been abused by former

USA Gymnastics doctor Larry Nassar

has risen to 265.

The increase in the number

of victims was revealed

by a judge during Nassar's

final sentencing hearing.

The entire board of USA Gymnastics

has now resigned over its failure

to protect the young gymnasts.

A controversial bill has been passed

in Poland making it illegal

to suggest the country was involved

in the Nazi Holocaust.

Israel has fiercely objected

to the draft law, which would also

make it illegal to describe Nazi

death camps as Polish.

The bill must be signed

off by the president

before entering into law.

With just eight days to go

until the opening ceremony,

only 75 % of tickets have sold.

Many of the most expensive tickets

are still available,

with prices set at more than 900

dollars for top events.

Two city is steeped in history and

culture with obsessive fans get

ready for the ultimate showdown as

the Eagles and Patriots go

head-to-head.

The judge sent the jury out just

before three o'clock today and it

took less than an hour, 59 minutes

of the jury of eight women and four

meant a comeback with guilty

verdicts, guilty of murder, guilty

of attempted murder and Darren

Osborne in the dock made absolutely

no reaction at all. What was

interesting about this case was the

fact that he did not come up with

any defence until very late in the

day, normally a defence is filed

early on, very early on before the

case begins but this case the

defence came late and it was in the

words of the prosecution absurd. He

claimed he was not driving the van

at the moment of the attack. He told

the court yes, he had planned to

come to London and planned mass

murder to drive a van into a march

in London and at that March she

hoped he would kill both Jeremy

Corbyn and Sadiq Khan but he claimed

at the actual moment in Finsbury

Park a man called Dave did not know

his surname or where he lived, there

was no CCTV of Dave come he claimed

Dave drove the van and he had been

in the foot well changing his

trousers. When he was asked by the

prosecution why is there no CCTV

footage, whatsoever of this man

getting into the van or in the van

he replied, well, he is an

illusionist, perhaps he can make

himself vanish. What was also clear

from this case was Osborne was a

troubled man, deeply disturbed

individual unemployed for ten years,

a history of mental illness and

depression and in the months before

the attack itself we threatened to

kill himself on two occasions. We

have talked a lot about the battle

that is brewing between the White

House and the FBI here in the UK we

have similar tensions festering

between senior ministers and

government employees. Steve Baker

Brexit minister accused the civil

service of conspiring with the

Treasury to produce economic models

that cast or Brexit scenarios as bad

for the British economy. The head of

the civil servants union said the

minister was incapable of separating

his ideological position from his

duty as a Minister of State asked of

the Prime Minister still had full

confidence in Baker her official

spokesman said yes but now a

recording of one of the civil

servants the minister spoke to

before he made the comment has been

published. Steve Baker has walked

back some of his comments saying he

was very to the model system rather

than the individual.

This was a

speaking to a wider argument about

how far Brexiteer is think the civil

service are going to try to

influence government policy on

Brexit, there has long with an

accusation Texas but the referendum

campaign when the Treasury was

accused of trying to put forward

project fear, these projections the

economy would be far worse off under

Brexit and these latest renovations

of elite study of whatever Brexit

outcome the UK would take that the

economy would be worst off is given

fresh ammunition and we had an

extraordinary exchange between Steve

Baker and one of the backbenchers in

the Commons today giving air to this

idea that the Treasury was somehow

fiddling the figures to try to make

Brexit look worse and that has been

competing rubbished by the civil

service representatives, unions and

the head of the civil service were

adamant they are impartial. Steve

Baker also wrote back and said he

was not his experience and they are

as impartial as possible and Downing

Street saying they have full

confidence in him and he made clear

that was an implausible scenario but

it does go to show the sensitivity

the arguments we were having two

years ago in the lead up to the

referendum about the possible damage

or benefits of Brexit are still very

much been played out.

There is a

tape Steve Baker was referring to a

comment Charles Grant had made at a

Tory party conference working for

the Centre for European reform and

the tape and transcript seems to

suggest he thinks this is happening.

So it is quite convoluted. Steve

Baker was asked about a conversation

he had with Charles Grant was the

head of a tank back in October at

the Tory party conference and it was

put to Steve Baker that Charles

Grant had suggested that the

Treasury were trying to deliberately

manipulate their forecasts to

influence government policy. Steve

Baker said yes, that account is

correct and that is what happened

but I think that is an implausible

allegation and he has made clear he

thought that was not the case. What

has happened is a recording of this

lunch has emerged, Charles Grant has

body denied he talked about the

Treasury deliberately manipulating

the figures and this recording does

seem to corroborate that account of

it, there was no mention in the

transcript of the audio is poor and

other people present at the meeting

also say there was no suggestion of

the sort so it comes down to Steve

Baker sticking to his account and

downing street saying they are

backing Steve Baker's account so it

is a he said, she said but it's

pointless board Friday the Brexiteer

is still convinced there are

factions in the civil service went

into the Treasury as being one

culprit that are out to undermine

Brexit and the type of Brexit they

want to see.

Thank you.

The offer of a gift from Melania to

the outgoing president and first

Lady and Michelle Obama not knowing

what to do with it. It matched her

coat. Much speculation in seed... My

gifts always match my coats. Anyway,

people wondered what was in that

pale green box and it was a picture

frame. The whole encounter was as

odd as it looked.

There is all this

protocol, this is like a state visit

so they tell you you are doing this

and never before do get his gift so

I am like, OK... What am I supposed

to do with this gift? And everyone

cleared out and no one would come

and take the box and I'm thinking do

we take the picture and my husband

said he grabbed the box and to get

back inside but everybody cleared

out, no staff no one. I was like,

what you do with the box?

What I

love is at one point she said she

turned around and looked at a Smart

Marine and he did not move a muscle.

This is your problem, Lady! This is

what happens. When I arrived at

parties I leave the presence in the

foot well because there's nothing

worse than turning up the gift and

someone goes I didn't expect you to

bring a gift and now I run back and

get the gift.

Turning up at the

White House might be a tiny bit

different.

Sunday night.

It's the big one!!!

Close the curtains,

silence the clocks -

send the rest of the family to bed.

It is Super Bowl 52.

The Eagles v New England Patriots.

Which means - for those of who don't

follow American football -

Boston and Philadelphia will go

head to head.

Two cities steeped in history,

rich in culture, both

populated by obsessive ,

somewhat, obnoxious fans.

As Mat Morrison explains.

This years Super Bowl pits the city

of brotherly love against Beantown.

Rocky against Paul Revere. This guy

against that guy. Yes, but

Philadelphia and Boston are known

for their rabid fans, sometimes a

bit too much so.

I am ready for the

Super Bowl!

Philadelphia,

self-described Crisco cops have

greased up the light bulbs, they do

not want trouble. Then there was the

inebriated fan in Philadelphia who

punched a police force. -- police

horse. That happened twice. For

Patriots found that that wraps up

fans the wrong way, sense of

entitlement appearing in eight of

the last 17 Super Bowl is will do

that. Philadelphia where is the face

of the underdog. Dog mask fans have

sold out. And do not get other side

stuck on food, ask a Philly fan it's

all about cheesecake in Boston clan

chowder. All this rivalry on and off

the field is a shame because the two

cities have a lot in common. Both

the East Coast port cities are found

in the 1600s when the area with a

collection of British colonies are

both hotbeds of revolution before

America split from Britain. Boston

has Ironsides and Philadelphia's

Constitution Hall and the Liberty

Bell. In the end, there can only be

one winner and there is more than

just a football game at stake. There

was also a wager between the mayors

of Philadelphia and Massachusetts

town of Boston the home of real-life

boxer Rocky Marciano. The winning

city gets to... Philly fans would

rather not. Now it is Patriots

versus Eagles, city versus city,

Rocky versus Rocky. Or that is left

to do is play a game of football. I

love American football. I love it. I

watched the AFC championship game

and Tom Brady who is Mr Super Bowl

had an injured hand and the Patriots

are trailing Jacksonville and he

blitzed them in the fourth quarter

and it was extraordinary. He is

lining up against Nick Bowles who is

not supposed to be the quarterback

for the Eagles but was drafted in,

he had a bad few seasons and is

coming back in Sofia standing

opposite this giant in the game on

Sunday and everyone is backing the

Patriots but it will be fantastic so

I have matchsticks and my eyes,

coffee and Red Bull. I sit there and

injure as long as I can. I cannot

even step of the whole thing and

Eamonn East Coast time. Because Tom

Brodie is 40 and this is his eighth

Super Bowl I would be tempted to say

I would support the Patriots but I

have been handed a note from a

producer saying in case there was

any question you are supporting the

Eagles all I will stop rolling this

autocue. The programme will fall off

air if I do not say I am supporting

the Eagles. I always support the

underdog. I will be cheering for the

Eagles. Coming up next, Philippa

Thomas has outside source and views

in the UK the latest headlines. From

me and Cathy, thank you for

watching. See the same time next

week.