08/02/2018 Beyond 100 Days

You're watching

Beyond 100 Days on PBS.

British MPs travel to Washington

to talk to American companies

about Russian interference.

The lawmakers are frustrated

by the tech giants' failure

to provide useful information

about outside meddling

in the Brexit referendum.

But the tech companies downplay

the idea that Moscow

used their platforms to disrupt

the Brexit campaign.

A senior White House official,

Rob Porter, is sacked as staff

secretary following allegations

by his two former wives

that he battered them.

Also on the programme:

The US coalition kills at least

100 regime fighters,

Damascus calls it a war crime -

the Pentagon says it has

the right to self-defence.

A major milestone for Marvel -

the premiere of their first black

superhero film Black Panther.

Get in touch with us

using the hashtag.

Hello, I am Katty Kay in Washington,

Christian Fraser is in London.

Tech giants in the US today pushed

back against the idea

that their platforms were used

by Russia to meddle

in the Brexit referendum.

In the first ever hearing

of a parliamentary select

committee outside the UK,

British MPs grilled the US companies

about outside interference

in the Brexit campaign.

The tech companies said

they did have evidence

of interference in the US 2016

presidential election

but very little in the UK's

referendum on Europe.

The chair of the the digital,

culture, media and sport committee,

Damien Collins, has struggled to get

information from the companies

which is why they came

to Washington.

Here's what the committee refers

to as interference.

Would you be prepared to conduct the

same analysis which he did in the

United States for the UK looking at

potential Russian interference in

about the Referendum?

We are willing to cooperate into the

investigation into whether there was

any interference in the elections in

the UK. We have conducted a thorough

investigation around the Brexit

referendum and found no evidence. We

have looked at advertising with any

link to Russia and no evidence of

our services being used to interfere

with the referendum. We are happy to

co-operate with any further efforts.

Damien Collins, wrote

to the companies for more

information but says he has

struggled to get the answers

he wanted which is why

they came to Washington.

He joined us a short time ago.

It seems they are saying to you,

nothing to see here. There was no

Russian involvement in the Brexit

campaign. Do you believe them?

I think that is not proven. Facebook

is still conducting the research we

have asked them to do and we are

waiting to see. With regard to

Twitter, identifying a relatively

small amount of bot accounts. I

think the true picture will be a

greater number and academics who

have done their own research looking

at Twitter data have already found

far more than that number.

I think it is incomplete. It is fair

to say, isn't it, that Facebook,

YouTube and Twitter have downplayed

the idea that Russia has meddled in

the Brexit campaign in a significant

way on their platforms?

We don't know that they've looked.

We have asked you Tube whether they

will provide similar evidence that

they have provided to the Senate to

look for U-tube channels and films

that may be linked to Russian

agencies. Facebook has yet to give

that information to the committee,

it will be by the end of February.

We have had a bit more information

from Twitter, we want to see if

there is more that can be done there

and certainly independent academic

research of Russian bot activity on

Twitter would indicate a far larger

number of accounts that were

problematic than Twitter announced

today.

UL had to go all the way to

Washington to get answers and when I

look at the panel, they are not the

most senior executives from these

companies. Do you think they are

treating you with disdain?

I think we have had similar problems

to the US Senate. We have had

meetings with Senator Warner and

other senators, we have both found

it frustrating getting answers out

of the tech companies. The reason we

decided to come to America to take

evidence was because we wanted to

have global policy leads giving

evidence in front of the committee

rather than the UK representatives.

We have had that today and I think

we have had a lot of good,

interesting evidence that I think it

does highlight, because there is a

lack of real legal liability on

behalf of the companies to deal with

serious social issues like this

information of fake news that they

are not invested enough in it and it

is telling that just a tiny

proportion of the massive amounts of

money they make from advertising do

they reinvest in tackling this bad

content.

You referred to research indicating

the impact was far greater.

Scientists in the University of

California found that 45,000 tweets,

sent by mostly Russian bots in the

last 48 hours of the referendum

campaign. That would suggest you are

being fobbed off today and how would

you know if you weren't being.

Quiz-mac we had a short statement

that was read out to the committee

and all I can say is that when you

study these, it is a partial answer

to the question you asked.

There are plenty of other studies

that have shown far wider use of

Russian bots and links to Russian

agencies. It is clearly a problem

and we want to map the scale of it.

This isn't just about what happened

during the Brexit referendum in

relation to Russia. To retire said

today the policy is that if someone

is using an anonymous profile,

spreading lies about you, that is

not a breach of their community

guidelines and it is something they

wouldn't tackle and I think many

would say that is not acceptable.

Thank you for joining us.

Fake news is not always fake -

sometime it takes a grain

of truth and it twists it.

Remember this?

A woman in a hijab looking

at her phone on Westminster Bridge

after last years terrorist attack.

The image went viral,

it became an Islamophobic meme.

In fact, the woman had been helping

the first responders

and at that moment was trying

to alert family, she was safe.

Here's another example -

this time in America.

Last year, two Russian-linked

Facebook pages organised opposing

protests, on the same day,

at the same time outside

an Islamic centre in Houston.

You have been listening to what

Damian Collins said. My take was

that tech companies were saying

there wasn't much meddling as far as

they could tell, on their platforms.

That is what they were saying, that

they would co-operate with any other

investigations that were going to

take place. But I asked MPs, what

was the point of the hearing if

that's all you got- these verbal

reassurances. What they said was

that actually, they couldn't get

more than that at the moment but

they could express their discontent

at what was going on and potentially

recommend that in the future there

is something enshrined in law to say

that tech companies are legally

responsible for the content that is

produced on their platforms. They

don't have to do that now.

Commercial enterprises at the end of

the gates are about the amount of

time we spend on Twitter or Facebook

and it wasn't just about Russia. MPs

were asking questions about why, for

example, some researchers showed

that 70% of views to far right

videos on YouTube were actually

referred by U-tube themselves on the

up next recommendation. Questions

like that, which all the tech

companies said they were doing

something about but there was

nothing concrete that has come out

of this enquiry. MPs are saying it

could lead to something in terms of

the law in the future.

There is quite some pushback from

those on the panel today about the

Terran fake news. It is the

favourite term of President Crump

but it is not particularly useful

when we are talking about this

today. Sometimes there is an element

of truth in the information.

Yes, it is not just the tech

companies. Right now there is a

second session taking place with

editors and American reporters as

well, looking at this topic in a

slightly different way. A lot of the

things we are talking about and

things like the auto complete

function on Google. Is that fake

news? It is coming under the

enquiry. There has been research

that if you type the word due into

the search engine, it can lead you

to a lot of anti-Semitic sites.

There are questions over whether

they are doing enough. But the use

of fake news is not really

explaining what is going on here.

Very diverse issues going on here,

not just in the tech industry but

also a traditional journalism.

It is difficult to find the balance.

I was reading today that Germany

have brought in some fairly

Draconian laws to tackle this, so if

they find something that challenges

this, it has to be pulled down

within a week or there is a £50

million fine for the company.

Facebook only have people working

within the country so rather than

sift through the messages, they take

them all out and that amounts to

censorship and that is a problem

with the balance.

That is what the French are talking

about doing. The Czech Republic is

not taking the site down, relying on

the mainstream media to explain this

is fake news. The trouble is people

watching the sites are not

necessarily looking at mainstream

media so they are not actually

getting their message out.

An aide to President Trump

has stepped down over

that he beat his wives.

What's more, senior aides

to the President are said to have

known for months about these

allegations of domestic violence.

The Washington Post say both

of Rob Porter's ex wives accused him

of abuse and they contacted the FBI

in January 2017 with their stories.

In the autumn, Mr Trump's Chief

of Staff John Kelly and others

reportedly became aware

of those allegations.

All this time Mr Porter failed

to get proper security

clearance because the FBI

was investigating the claims.

John Kelly now says he's shocked

by the allegations -

which is a bit odd as he has

reportedly known about the claims

for six months.

And in a statement to the Daily Mail

newspaper yesterday he said this:

Let's get reaction to that from our

North America Editor, Jon Sopel.

The president has always promised us

that he was going to hire the very

best people to work in the White

House and John Kelly said that Rob

Porter is a man of high integrity

and honour. Is this the type of man

that is classified as the very best?

I think a lot of people thought when

John Kelly was appointed compared to

some of the chaos that has gone

before, he was the right person to

get the trains to run on time and

get everything smoothly running. It

used to be when I reported at

Downing Street that if an official

got a photograph of the Prime

Minister, they had to buy a drink

for everyone else because they had

got too close to the action. John

Kelly has got extremely close to

where the action is. That is and

comfortable place to be. He is meant

to be making sure things go

smoothly. The statement that was put

out yesterday, I can't say enough

good things about him... Even though

he knew about allegations that he

had beaten his two ex-wives and

there were these photos being put

up, that doesn't really square. John

Kelly had been someone who a few

months earlier, when defending

Donald Trump about the way he spoke

to the family of a soldier who died

in service, he said one of the great

things... When I was a kid growing

up, a lot of things were sacred in

our country. Women were sacred,

looked upon with great honour.

How does that fit with the

photographs we saw yesterday of one

of Rob Porter's former wives, when

she has got a huge black eye because

he hit her?

It is very hard to reconcile.

There is the picture. Quite

shocking.

If it is true that John Kelly knew

about these allegations and still

put out a statement saying that Rob

Porter was a great guy, man of

unimpeachable integrity, what are

they giving? They have just piled up

a huge series... Maybe this will be

something that came and went. It

suggests at the moment you have a

chief of staff that is rather

incident prone.

This is far from the first error of

judgment. Last week he was talking

about the undocumented migrants, and

this is what he had to say about

them.

There are 690,000 official

registrants of DACA anti-President

sent over what amounts to be two and

a half times that number, 1.8

million. The difference between 690

and 1.8 million are those who were

maybe too afraid to sign up or were

maybe too lazy to get off their ass.

The idea that they are not going to

get off their ass to fill out the

right documents, it's incredible.

As I say, the chief of staff is not

meant to be the story. They are

meant to ensure the smooth running

of the White House machine that

allows the President to get whatever

he wants. And it hasn't worked out

terribly well for people who get in

the way of that. So I kind of would

imagine that Donald Trump is pretty

angry about the way this has been

communicated, the way his White

House has communicated. This more

elements because apparently Rob

Porter, the man who resigned

yesterday, was in a relationship

with the communications director who

helped draft the original statement

talking about him being," those of

us who have had the privilege of

knowing him are better people

because of it. He is a man of

integrity and exemplary character

Doc" the more that comes out the

more you have to question that.

There are questions about the level

of security clearance he had. How

was it that someone who couldn't

pass the highest levels of FBI

clearance was the man in charge of

filtering which documents would get

onto the President's desk for them

to see?

The best of the best. The best of

the best, I like it.

I was making the point on Tuesday

that the White House has a problem

with letting people but this wasn't

setting because they knew about it.

-- this wasn't vetted.

The FBI was looking at the

allegations but all that time, and

let's call it domestic violence, the

captain on staff. Not only was he

kept on staff, he was gradually

promoted during the course of last

year and he was seen as one of the

stars of the organisation and John

Kelly, the chief of staff, had to

roll in promoting him.

They circle the wagons around him.

What about Kelly? Could he be pushed

out?

We hear there have been rumblings

between John Kelly and the president

over the last few weeks and the

president hasn't always been happy

about the way John Kelly has got

himself into the news like this but

that he also recognises it was John

Kelly who brought an element of calm

to what had been a very chaotic

White House. I would be surprised if

John Kelly goes over this because

that would also have to be an

admission by this White House that

they had got it wrong in this

particular case.

Syria has accused the US-led

coalition of war crimes,

after a series of attacks on their

forces in the north east of Syria.

US officials say at least 100

pro-government fighters

were killed in the incident,

in retaliation, they said,

for an "unprovoked

attack" on allied forces.

There are reports that Russian

mercenaries were among government

forces that were killed.

You get the sense things are getting

worse again.

Meanwhile in Syria, the rebel held

enclave of Eastern Ghouta,

close to Damascus, has been bombed,

for a fourth consecutive day.

The Syrian Observatory

for Human Rights says more

than 200 people have been

killed since Monday.

Some 400,000 people

are still in the province,

food and medical supplies have not

been allowed in since last year.

And there are reports

chlorine-filled munitions have

been fired several times

on the rebel-controlled areas.

And joining us now here

in Washington is James Jeffrey

who formerly served as US Ambassador

to both Iraq and Turkey.

Thanks very much for joining us.

This spat between the Russians and

Americans over the air strikes and

whether Russian mercenaries might

have been among the dead. How

serious could that be?

This is very serious and it is not

just between Russia and the US.

Right now this week you have Syria

as the most dangerous place in the

world. You have the Civil War, the

fight in Eastern Ghouta between

rebel forces and government backed

Russians and Iranians and then you

have the Israel and Turkey, US

backed, bumping into each other but

also trying to some degree balance

Iran and in the middle of all of

this is Russia.

And meanwhile, Eastern Ghouta is

meant to be a de-escalation zone but

if anything it is escalating.

Exactly. That was a Russian

commitment that it made to the Turks

several months ago and the Russians

are violating that and meanwhile

they have shut down Turkish air

operations. So it is an extremely

confused situation right now.

What do we know about the chemical

weapon attacks in the area?

These appear to be chlorine attacks.

The US State Department today

expressed concern about this. They

don't have enough information,

probably, to take further action. Of

course, Russian diplomats have

blocked this in the UN. This is

probably not enough for a US strike

because it is chlorine, not a

classic chemical weapon.

We are seeing the images, the kind

of images we haven't seen for

several months and it is awful to

see them again. You talk about this

toxic brew of different countries

involved in the moment in Syria and

at the centre of them is Russia.

What are the chances of a mistake

happening and Russia retaliating in

some serious way against coalition

led troops?

That it's a real risk but there are

risk of the Turks and allies having

a confrontation over different views

of the P Y D in northern Syria.

There are several problems. If the

US doesn't come up with a consistent

policy to organise Israel and Turkey

and to take a consistent position

vis-a-vis Russia on where Syria is

going.

Thank you for joining us. We will be

keeping an eye on Syria because as

you say it does seem to be

deteriorating.

A series of aftershocks in Taiwan

have been hampering efforts to find

survivors of Tuesday's earthquake,

which struck the popular

tourist city of Hualien.

At least 10 people are known to have

been killed by the 6.4 magnitude

quake, but revised figures suggest

only ten others are missing.

India's Supreme Court has ordered

the government to produce

a long-term plan for protecting

one of the country's

most precious landmarks,

the Taj Mahal.

The World Heritage Site faces

a range of challenges,

including smog and the impact

of millions of visitors.

After winning the superbowl,

the Philadelphia Eagles

are going to hold a victory parade.

Fans have already begun

to gather for the event,

which organisers hope will not see

a repeat of the looting and rioting

which followed the game on Sunday.

It was absolutely freezing, even

though it was sunny. That didn't

stop them because they are very

happy indeed. Free beer and free ice

cream. Everyone is going to be

happy. They said it would be calm

today. How could it be calm if there

is free ice cream? It is long

overdue for the Equals. The parents

are dropping off on beer and the

children are hyped up an ice cream!

Perfect combination!

The latest superhero film

from Marvel has its European

premiere tonight in London,

but what makes this action-adventure

different, is that it

features an all-black cast

of actors playing the heroes.

The film has created a huge buzz

on social media with many

fans using the hashtag

#WhatBlackPantherMeanstoMe

highlighting its significance

for black audiences.

Our Entertainment Correspondent

Lizo Mzimba reports.

A free cinema trip would have been

welcome enough for these

American schoolchildren,

their sheer joy is because

the movie is Black Panther.

Such is the film's significance,

people around the world are crowd

sourcing money to give black

children in particular

the opportunity to watch

it on the big screen.

People like this actress

from London, she has so far

raised around £4,000.

I think it is just a film

you don't really see,

you don't see black superheroes

in the big blockbusters.

The positive representation is good

for people growing up in this area

but I think all over the world.

Black Panther is being seen

as a cultural milestone.

A predominantly black cast leading

a big budget blockbuster.

People making it a reality for kids

who maybe wouldn't be able to go

to the movies and experience it,

I think it is beautiful, man.

It's the kind of film many have

been waiting decades

for Hollywood to make,

not only a host of black role models

but also strong female

characters at its heart.

Black Panther is a moment

and hopefully it is one...

It will obviously exist for long

after this particular moment we want

the momentum to keep going.

I don't think it is Black Panther's

responsibility to change the world.

How important was it for you making

sure this was primarily

a piece of entertainment,

even with this huge amount of social

responsibility that was inevitably

going to come into the equation?

That is what it is.

It is not a political lecture,

you know what I mean?

It's a movie.

It has got to work as that.

And that is a movie expected to have

one of the biggest openings ever,

and more importantly,

show others in the film world how

lucrative diversity on screen can be

in the 21st-century.

I would like to go and see that

although the tickets are all sold

out. This looks like it'll be a

massive hit. We had Wonder Woman. In

this film, he has a suit that is

bullet-proof.

Is yours? Some say that.

Shall I test it? Do you know, Idris

Elba was saying that he didn't get

superhero roles, he only got petty

criminal roles because he's a TV

companies in this country wouldn't

take a brisk and didn't think it was

commercially beneficial. The success

of this film shows it is so maybe we

will see better roles in future.

A good one to go and see.

This is Beyond 100

Days from the BBC.

Coming up for viewers on the BBC

News Channel and BBC World News -

Japan's ambassador in London warns

that no foreign company will be able

to operate in the UK if Brexit talks

do not secure frictionless trade

with the EU.

And talking about her time

at the White House,

Omarosa Manigault tells her

Big Brother housemates she's

still haunted by Trump's Tweets.

That's still to come.

North and south taking turns to see

which is the fastest. Tonight we

switch things around with the frost

towards the north and milder further

south. Heavy rain in moments across

western England and Wales, pushing

eastward overnight. Strong winds

touching gale force. A few wintry

showers pushing in and clearing

skies with temperatures dropping dot

in the north and west we see the

frost and a risk of icy surfaces

around. Temperatures are holding up

because of the rain towards the

south-east corner. Here is the

weather front as the restart,

splitting the country in two. In

England and Wales, heavy rain for

the early risers and there will be

batches of showers, mainly of rain,

hail and sleet pushing across. East

Anglia and the South East.

Elsewhere, brighter skies with a

couple of wintry showers with a lots

of sunshine through the afternoon.

To give back to the rush hour half

of the country, a lot of showers.

Mainly in northern and western

areas, a few eastwards on the breeze

but a lot of sunshine in between as

well. After an icy start,

temperatures will lift but for many

it will be staying in the lower

figures. Through the last stage of

Friday, rain in the south-east

corner will clear away and clear

skies again with ice around. The

greatest chance of frost into

Saturday morning in the south-east.

As the weather front pushes them, a

lot of snowfall in Scotland and into

Saturday morning in northern England

with strong to gale force wind. That

weather front pushes down to England

and Wales through the day with heavy

bursts of rain. Reaching East Anglia

at the end of the day. Saturday,

temperatures dropping but most

places seeing rain. Saturday night

Sunday we could see a nasty area of

low pressure developed across the

UK. It looks like England and Wales

will bear the brunt the southern

flank, slow across the Pennines.

Further north and south to get out

of the way for Sunday, pushing back

into north-westerly cold winds and

temperatures well down into single

figures. Another update later.

This is Beyond 100 Days,

with me Katty Kay in Washington -

Christian Fraser's in London.

Our top stories - British

politicians travel to the US

to grill social media companies

about how fake news is spread

on their platforms.

Japanese firms tell

Theresa May they will not

continue to operate in Britain

if Brexit trade barriers

affect their profitability.

Coming up in the next half hour -

In Afghanistan US forces

launch precision missiles

and turn their fire

power on the Taliban.

Both the United States

and North Korea engage in propaganda

exercises ahead of the 2018 winter

olympics that get

under way tomorrow.

Let us know your thoughts

by using the hashtag...

In what is perhaps a taste of things

to come in Afghanistan later this

year , an American B-52 bomber

dropped 24 precision-guided missiles

this week on Taliban training camps.

The US military said

the attack on Badakhshan

in the north east of the country

was the biggest

of its kind by a B-52.

The fighting has continued though

the winter, but as we known

the Taliban always gears up

for a spring offensive once

the opium poppy crop is in.

The Americans have been

focusing on that drug trade,

these were further attacks this time

on a Taliban opium factory

in Helmand province.

For more on America's history

of involvement with both Afghanistan

and Pakistan I spoke a brief time

ago with Steve Coll, author

of the new book Directorate S.

He told me about the complications

the US has faced in the region.

The US government as a whole

entangled itself in so many war aims

that were laced with contradictions

and

that were laced with contradictions

and the CIA was part of that failure

for sure, they had a long

relationship with Pakistani

intelligence, they knew what they

were dealing with and have

collaborated to help defeat Soviet

occupation but the problem was for

the CIA and for three

administrations they have not been

able to solve the riddle of

Pakistan's own interests in the

region and in many cases they have

judged or that they do not say

publicly that Pakistan was more

important in the United States in

Afghanistan so they got tangled up

in a series of reviews and strategy

reviews that ended up creating a big

muddle and that is why we have been

at it for so long.

In your book you

point to a turning point in

Pakistan's attitudes to the United

States in 2004 when America and

President Bush appeared to side with

India over its nuclear programme,

what changed in direct --

directorate S at that point?

They

concluded the United States was

determined to become a strategic

ally of India, their arch ally and

United States were withdrawing from

the Afghan war because of the

debacle in Iraq and between those

two factors the Pakistani army

returned to their traditional policy

towards Afghanistan which was to

seek influence in the country

through proxies like the Taliban

said the Taliban began to revive and

by 2006 it was evident that the

Pakistani intelligence service was

playing a role in the Taliban's

returned the Afghan battlefield.

So

the Pakistanis who the Taliban, the

Taliban and then starts to kill

people in Pakistan in much greater

numbers so the Pakistani government

clamps down on the Taliban within

Pakistan, Pakistan today is more

stable but what has happened in

Afghanistan meanwhile?

They have

succeeded in Pakistan in pushing a

lot of the violence back over the

border to Afghanistan, they were

destabilised in that period in part

because Al-Qaeda fled Afghanistan

after 2001 into Pakistan elaborating

with local groups and went to war

with the Pakistani state. By 2015

Pakistan had restored some security

but at Afghanistan's expense.

So,

today in the region what would you

say is the greatest threat to

American national security

interests, is the resurgence of

archived in Afghanistan or what is

happening in Pakistan and the

nuclear programme?

Both are serious

concerns not just for the United

States but international security

generally. They are making smaller

bombs, more tactical bombs, they

have dozens of extremist groups on

their soil, the nightmare scenario

of a group getting a hold of a small

nuclear weapons remain something to

be concerned about as to the

terrorism picture, there is an

Islamic state entity that has a

foothold in eastern Afghanistan, not

clear how much international reach

it has but it is a source of

concern, there are Al-Qaeda remnants

and many other groups with similar

ideology along the Pakistan

Afghanistan border so all the

neighbouring countries, China,

Pakistan, generally they will

acknowledge the US war in

Afghanistan has a counter-terrorism

purpose that is meaningful but the

problem as it is grinding on as a

stalemate and producing in many

cases as much instability as it is

addressing.

What was interesting

about what his research is in this

book which refers to the Pakistani

secret service department that is in

charge of dealing with the Taliban

is he makes a point there has been

16 years of war, billions spent by

the Americans and thousands of

American should have died and many

more than that of Afghanistan that

died but all the time you have had

the Pakistanis affectively

subverting America's gains in

Afghanistan because of their

nervousness about India and the

Americans getting closer to India

and the degree to which their

intelligence failures and strategic

failures on both sides is really a

staggering to report.

And the

theories they will get sucked back

in again, since he has taken office

Donald Trump has increased troop

numbers from 8500 to 14000 and

another thousands are on the way and

were not even into the spring

offensive.

Just like Barack Obama he

said he would wind down these wars.

The North East of England

is in the top three regions

of the UK that voted to LEAVE the EU

in the June 2016 referendum.

In a leaked government forecast -

it shows that the North East

is predicted to lose out the most -

regardless of the deal the UK

strikes with Europe -

taking a hit of up to 16% in lost

economic growth over

a 15 year period.

Compare that to London -

one of the top three regions

that voted to REMAIN -

and the study finds that in the very

worst scenario of no deal -

the economic hit would be just 3.5%.

And the fears of an economic

downturn following Brexit are felt

beyond Europe's borders.

Japanese manufacturers

are heavily invested in the UK.

Its ambassador to Britain,

after talks at Downing Street today,

warned of the possible consequences.

If there is no profitability of

continuing operations in the UK, not

Japanese only, no private company

can continue operations. So, it is

as simple as that and this is all

high stakes that I think all of us

need to keep in mind.

The billionare investor

George Soros, known as the man

who "broke the Bank of England"

by betting against the pound

in the early 90s, is now backing

a campaign to reverse Brexit.

George Soros has donated up

to £400,000 to pro-EU campaigning

group Best for Britain

through his Open Society Foundation.

So is there evidence that the public

wants a second referendum?

Or is this a case of a Remain group

asking the same question on Europe

until 'it get the answer it wants'?

Joining me now is the CEO of Best

for Britain, Eloise Todd.

Are you trying to subvert democracy?

Well, democracy is about listening

to people and understanding what

they know and what they think as

events change and we will be in a

new situation in the coming months,

the vote was nearly two years ago,

the government absolutely had a

right to start those negotiations,

what they did not have a right to do

was to seal the deal. They did not

get a blank cheque and now we have

seen on your report the Japanese

ambassador saying every private

company could be in peril in this

country, this is serious stuff and

it is time to people to step up and

speak out and that includes civil

society but also includes business

and we will see that change this

year.

People were warned about this

and still took the decision two

years ago, nothing much has changed

in terms of economic forecasts, I

want to talk about the Daily

Telegraph because the details of

this George Soros meeting in which

you got a big cheque suggests that

Britain invited all these

conservative donors, you told them

he wanted to put more pressure on

Conservative MPs who are wavering

and to defeat Theresa May when the

vote comes in October, even if that

means bringing the government down

and pushing us towards new

elections. That will really concern

people who voted Brexit.

I think the

spin that Nick Timothy has put on

this is quite clever, it also masks

some of the figures you were talking

about earlier and it is no

coincidence that came out today.

Nick Timothy was part of the story

and wrote a very bizarre piece in

that paper. George Soros has given

you a check. Yes, he has, it was not

produced at that meeting. That is

not news, so to speak. But what we

want to do is focus on the final

deal and we are clear about

opposition, lust up impressive,

trying to stop Brexit because we

think it will harm people across the

country and who are not trying to

patronise, trying to engage people

in this debate, we are going around

the country, my colleagues in the

North of England holding barnstormer

vents trying to talk to people,

teaching the activists that feel

passionately about staying in how to

have an open conversation can we do

not want this to be divisive any

more but we know people are trying

to change their mind and we want to

let them know that until the 29th of

March 2019 we are members of the EU

and if we think this is a bad idea,

for the businesses start to leave,

if the jobs start to go, if people

think I'm not sure about this then

we can have a vote on the new set of

arrangements and it is vital people

know we could still stay in if we

want to.

What is the evidence you

have when you say people are trying

to change their minds because the

perception I have is every time data

is produced whether this economic

impact report or other data, if it

is data that supports Brexit then

believe people are happy and if it

is data that is against Brexit, the

remaining people are happy but no

one seems to change their minds in

the face of numbers.

Actually, the

latest figures show that there is a

bigger gap than ever between those

that regret Brexit at 46% and 40%

that think it was a good idea. And

that gap is widening and it is

important to note. This will not be

won by facts and figures, it is the

real stories, I was contacted by a

friend who knew somebody who had all

ready had their hours cut at Elsner

Port car factory and it was a really

big stress on the factory -- family

because they did not know how they

would match outgoings with incomings

and a friend who has been reasonably

casual about Brexit thinking

committed to shame and then he said

actually my start-up might have to

relocate to Europe because we do

business overseas and I never

thought of that, how can I help so

what we are seeing is the real

stories trickle through and people

from my hometown in Hull who have

seen this boost to the NHS is

frankly is not happening whatsoever

and if anything it is under more

strain on another, these things are

being noticed, it is the stories of

the real people in this country that

will change the game on Brexit. It

is about public opinion and the MPs

in Westminster have an absolute duty

to listen to people if they change

their mind. We are fighting for an

open debate and the discussion was

not around during the referendum.

Thank you for coming in.

Twitter, President Trump's preferred

social media outlet,

has posted its first

ever quarterly profit.

The news sent the company's

shares surging more

than 18% in early morning trading

in New York.

That was despite the number

of people using the social network

coming in below expectations.

A new behaviour code is to be

introduced for thousands of people

working in the UK Parliament -

as part of an attempt

to crackdown on bullying

and abuse at Westminster.

The proposals have been

drawn up by a cross-party

group; they include an independent

complaints process, confidential

helplines and compulsory

training for everyone.

There'll be separate

procedures for allegations

of sexual harassment.

When President Trump visited France

he was witness to a parade

of the French military.

He later said "It was

one of the greatest

parades I've ever seen".

This week he asked officials

to organise an American version

in the nation's capital.

The Pentagon today said that that

Washington DC was only one option,

and that other locations

were also being discussed.

In the run-up to the Winter Olympics

in South Korea there's a big

propaganda war between North Korea

and its adversaries.

Today the North held

a military parade attended

by leader Kim Jong-un.

Meanwhile US Vice-President Mike

Pence arrived in South Korea and met

South Korean President Moon.

Both American and North Korean

officials say the two sides

won't meet at the games -

even though the vice-president

and Kim Jong-un's younger

sister will be seated just

metres apart at

the opening ceremony.

Kim Yo-jong will be the first

immediate Kim family member

to cross the border.

Joining another famous relative...

President Trump's daughter Ivanka,

who will also reportedly attend

several of the sporting events

in the games.

Awkward, a little.

It may just be

awkward.

His sister is the first of

the dynasty to come to South Korea

since the 1950s and she will meet

President noon on Saturday at a

dinner. He sees it as an opportunity

to talk to the north Koreans, I'm

not sure how the Americans will feel

about that, they have concerns about

President noon and the way he's

approaching it. They have real

concerns about this rapprochement to

being used by Pyongyang to say

everything is fine and we are

starting to integrate ourselves and

be a good neighbour and we can be

treated as a normal part of the

global community. That is the

Americans concern and why Vice

President Pentz arrived in Japan to

say we want to make it clear this is

all propaganda. I was hearing from

South Korea and apparently they held

that video and put it out just at

the time when Vice President Pentz

arrived and in South Korea they were

watching split screens so instead of

having this big arrival of Vice

President Pentz, you had two things

going on at the same time which

explains the propaganda war going

on.

Ok earlier in the show

we were talking about White House

staffing and departures and now

we can bring you an update

on one person who shown

the door in December.

Omarosa Manigault joined

the Trump campaign early

on after starring in the Apprentice.

When he won she got a job

in the White House.

No one quite knew what she did

there and then in December she left

amidst reports of a confrontation.

Now she is about to star in the real

reality show Big Brother and ahead

of her debut they released this clip

of her talking about her time

in the White House.

I felt like it was a call of duty,

like I was serving my country, not

him. When accept a political

appointment it was always the

country. I was haunted by tweets

every day, what would he tweets

next?

Does anybody say Tim, what are

you doing?

I try to be that person

and all the people around him

attacked me, keep him away, do not

give her access, do not let her talk

to him. Who has that power to say

what is going on? I am not there, it

is not my circus, not my monkeys. I

would like to say not my problem but

I can't say that because it is bad.

Not my circus, not my monkeys. What

is that all about? That is

extraordinary! Have a look at this

picture. I was googling today, this

is a picture we found. Rob Porter in

the headlines at the back and

gawker, who was the go front who has

his finger out was on the campaign

also of beating a woman so you do

have to say this White House has an

extraordinary staff of characters

and by the standards of most

administrations an awful lot of

turmoil for a president who made a

big thing in the campaign of saying

he would hire the very best people.

If you look at all five of those

people who left the campaign or the

White House under something of a

cloud but that bit about it is not

my circus, not my monkeys, I wonder

how that is going down in the White

House today. Interesting this into

drift into these things, Rob Porter

wasn't in front of the President for

awhile and ended quite a good job

and came and close. For months we

did not know what she did but they

seem to hang around and fit in.

Let's see if there any more of them

or that is it.

This is Beyond 100 Days.

Still to come - They packed

their bags and moved to Canada

after Donald Trump's victory.

We check in to see how

the couple from South Carolina

is doing up North.

New figures have revealed January

to be one of the toughest months

ever for A&E departments in England.

And hospital-only A&Es

recorded their worst ever figures

since records began.

Trolley waits continue

to be a big problem too,

with 1000 patients waiting more

than 12 hours to be cared for by any

medical staff at all.

Our Health Editor Hugh Pym reports.

The NHS flat out with staff working

at a frantic pace just to keep

services running. That is the

picture which emerges from the

figures for January in England, a

service overstretched and intense

strain. In some areas there are

schemes trying to curb the number is

going to hospital, here are senior

A&E consultant is out on the road

with a paramedic taking hospital

care to patients at home.

We carry a

laptop giving us direct access into

the same hospital system that we

have, we have another job.

That job

is to meet up with an ambulance crew

which is picked up a woman with

chest pains. Tony's experience as a

consultant means he can reassure the

patient she is safe to stay at home.

Presumably it is a relief he did not

have to go to hospital.

Brilliant. I

did not want to go to hospital.

In

the 3.5 months since its relaunched,

more than 300 patients have been

treated at home who otherwise would

have needed ambulances to take them

to A&E. Some of them would have

otherwise been admitted to hospital

so beds have been freed up for

others. But they recognise the huge

pressure every day across the NHS.

There is frustration but we want to

be able to say we have done the best

for our patients and when the system

makes that difficult, back and be

frustrating. And working in an

overly congested system sometimes

leaves us feeling that we cannot

deliver the best possible care for

patients.

They are trying to deliver

that level of care and as for much

staff it has been harder than ever

this winter.

You're watching Beyond 100 Days...

After the last presidential election

you had a few people declare

they were moving to Canada.

Well Robin and Heather

Vargas actually did it.

We met them a few months ago

when they were packing to leave

South Carolina and head north.

Now they are settled

in their new home in Halifax,

Nova Scotia and we've gone to hear

how it's going.

We knew Canada was not a liberal

mecca but we felt some reasons we

left America there is more than we

had originally assumed in Canada.

It has been interesting since we

have talked about moving up here

that feedback we have gotten from

the public, first thing everybody

said is you know it is cold in

Canada. Yes, we are aware so it is

funny after we moved Carolina got

snow for the first time in decades

so it wasn't like that here so you

got a message everybody, where is

the cold now? We had similar

messages on Facebook, I stopped

counting people giving us their

phone numbers and saying let's take

you out and we will show you out and

welcome to Halifax.

We received some backlash for

reasonings and what were assumed

point of use. I guess because I am

Hispanic people thought I was

straight up illegal.

We are not

claiming refugee status, that seems

to be a thing because of the fleeing

Taider, we're not trying to do that.

We did everything through legal

challenges -- legal channels and it

was arduous but worth it. You read

the American headlines it is like

this my life, my reality and my

country and it is funny you feel

like you apologise every other day

for all of it and in Canada it is

almost like you you get to step back

and I can breathe, this is in my

country, we are still citizens and

love America but it is different

when it is out of the country.

A lot of it is the political

ideologies, more of a conservative

mindset you left a great country

with a great president but if you

are a more liberal mindset it is

welcome to Canada, there is that

divide which is very heavily present

in America and who are familiar with

that and that is one of the biggest

things it is still very heavily

present in Canada, too.

We're not

saying our interactions with people

in are bad but here they are more

welcoming and more supportive.

The

slogan is diversity is our strength

and that is very apparent.

And it

shows, through and through.

Life in

Nova Scotia. Next week is the Winter

Olympics. And Christian will not be

with us, we think the two are

related because take a look at this.

I hear you are a very good skier.

And you are very good at doing

tricks in particular. You have been

trained. Christian is upside down.

And this means we are hoping on

behalf of team beyond 100 days you

might end up with one of these. You

said you are going on her term but

we believe you are going and during

the Olympics.

I'm going into an

endurance sports next week taking

the kids skiing. Have you got your

skis and polls, hat and gloves. It

is exhausting.

Can I have a hot

chocolate? Have a good week. Have a

good half term. See