13/02/2018 Beyond 100 Days

You're watching beyond 100 days, the

US is close to making a decision on

how to act against North Korea. Then

along hearing at the Senate, top

intelligence chiefs are applying

global threats to America. North

Korea and Russia topped the list.

The head of the FBI contradicts the

White House's version of events

surrounding Rob Porter, the White

House aide accused of domestic

violence. We will get the views of

former CAA chief Leon Panetta. The

online fight against terrorism has a

new weapon. It is software that

immediately blocks jihadists videos

from being uploaded. Bagpipes,

tartan and, yes, a pony that baits.

The colourful backdrop for Prince

Harry and Meghan Markle on their

first official visit to Scotland.

Clear

welcome. I felt like Cormack had

swallowed the US Capitol today, the

world would have lost the entire top

rank of US intelligence services.

It's OK, it didn't happen, instead

the top six officials and the FBI,

the CIA and NSA sat before senators

for three hours and delivered a

sobering assessment of threats

facing the US which they say are

urgent, serious and real. They want

about North Korea and China and

asked the question went down this

impressive line of America's top

intelligence brass, every one of

them agreed that Russia has not

stopped interfering in American

democracy. Which is pretty striking

because these men report directly to

President Trump and he has yet to

hold a cabinet level meeting on

Russian meddling.

Friendly, the

United States is under attack. Under

attack by entities that are using

cyber to penetrate virtually every

major action that takes place in the

United States. Persistence aren't

disruptive cyber operations will

continue against the United States

and our European allies using

elections as opportunities to

undermine democracy, so this court

and undermine our values.

Leon

Panetta has helped many post,

including director of the CIA and

White House director chief of staff

under President Clinton. The message

from those intelligence chiefs in

the Senate today was clear. This has

been perfect, if this still a threat

and it will continue being a threat

to American elections and yet the

president has not yet held a cabinet

level meeting on this issue. Why the

disconnect?

Everyone is asking that

question, particularly after the

testimony today which made clear

that Russia is continuing to do

exactly the same thing they did in

2016 elections, which is to

undermine a relic to election

institutions and it's extremely

important that the president must

address this issue because, frankly,

if he doesn't send a message to the

Russians that this is unacceptable,

then in many ways it's an open

invitation to the Russians to come

in and do exactly what they did in

2016. This is a critical national

security issue that the president of

the United States has two face.

The

message seems to beat in Moscow, go

ahead because nothing has been said

by Donald Trump.

Vladimir Putin

understands that message. He is

someone who, if he senses weakness

on the part of an Baseri, will take

advantage of it. I think right now,

he senses weakness, that is what got

him into crime, into Ukraine, into

Syria, and to the 2016 election and

now this year because not facing any

kind of deterrence or defence, it's

almost an open invitation to to

again coming and attack our

institutions.

The argument from the

White House might be, you are all

exaggerating this night, there is no

evidence that Russia actually

changed the outcome are affected the

outcome of the American election and

being interviewed on the French

election and Marine Le Pen was not

elected.

The president of the United

States needs to listen to those

intelligence chiefs. They are the

ones who testified today and they

made very clear that the Russians

are going to attack our election

institutions. That is a serious

issue that the president of the

United States has to address.

Let's

turn to another serious issue they

raised in the hearings, that North

Korea and it was interesting to hear

director courts seeing that a

decision is near on what to do about

North Korea. What is that decision,

do you think?

I understand you not a

of the CIA and the longer secretary

of the fence. I wish I knew. I think

the question that has always

confronted this president and other

presidents is, do you continue a

policy of deterrence and containment

and hope that by increasing the

pressure you can force North Korea

to the negotiating table, or do you

resort to some kind of military

pre-entry attack. The reason the

military option has never been used

is because the consequences of that

are horrendous. It could take us

into a nuclear war. For that reason,

I would hope that the decision is

how do we open the door to

negotiations with North Korea now

that South Korea has at least laid

some of the groundwork for that kind

of negotiation.

The decision making

how we might learn that. I want to

you something that the director of

the CAA said during that hearing.

Listen to this.

Her analysts remain

concerned that Kim Jong Un is not

hearing the full story, that those

around him are providing that I are

providing him with the tenuous

nature of his position

internationally and domestically.

Is

this speculation from the director

of the CIA or do you think American

intelligence is good on what North

Korean leader Kim Jong and has

access to, information he's getting.

What's happening them?

I would think

that what Mike Pompei said today is

based on intelligence we are

receiving with regards to what Kim

Jong Un is thinking and what he's

doing.

Human sources on what we have

inside North Korea?

Without going

into the sources, I can't help but

leave that there is better

intelligence by then try to

understand what North Korea is up

to.

You were chief of staff under

President Bill Clinton, so I have to

ask you about what is happening in

the White House at the moment and

the situation surrounding Rob

Porter, the White House aide who

stepped down after allegations of

domestic violence. What have you

made of this White House's handling

of the story over the past seven

days?

I think the deputy press

secretary, when he said the White

House has made mistakes on the

handling of this whole issue, was

correct. We haven't seen him

recently but I think he was right.

This has been handled badly from the

very beginning and as they try back

and fill in all the questions that

have been asked, they are getting

themselves deeper and deeper in

trouble. I think they ought to be

upfront, admit the mistakes that

have been made and say it will not

happen again.

The current White

House chief of staff, General John

Kelly, who holds the job you use to

hold, said in an interview with the

Wall Street Journal that he did

everything correctly.

It's hard to

believe they didn't make mistakes

because they had information on Rob

Porter, testified to by the FBI

director today, that, in fact, that

information was provided as early as

November of last year and yet nobody

acted on that information.

Somebody

dropped the ball. I want to show you

numbers that we have pooled on the

amount of turnover in this

administration of staff compared to

previous administrations and you can

see in there.

9% under President Obama, 34%

turnover in this administration in

its first year.

What does that suggest to you, they

are not competent, they haven't got

good people, there is not good

management, the people don't want to

work there?

I think it's trouble on

all fronts because what it indicates

to me is that initially when the

administration came in, they had a

very haphazard process in terms of

how they hired people to work on the

White House staff. That's reflected

in the fact there are so many

interim security clearances that

have not been completed and the very

fact that there has been that much

churn tells me it's very difficult

to attract good quality people to

then staff and that is troubling.

President Clinton told you up during

his administration basically to come

in and bring a bit of adult

supervision, and was also an

administration that had a certain

amount of chaos in the early years.

If the Trump administration were to

call you up and ask what you have to

do, we have to stabilise this and

it's turning into some sort of soap

opera in terms of personnel. What

would you tell them to do?

I think

John Kelly has done a good job in

trying to put some kind of

structured into place, a chain of

command, better discipline in terms

of the way the staff operates,

better control over policy but has

difficulty is that he still dealing

with a very unpredictable principle,

the president of the United States.

The President Trump is willing to

meet discipline, it makes it tough

to call together the staff under of

that everybody is going in the same

direction.

Of course you are a

Democrat, is the call came, would

you take it and give some advice?

California for me is a very nice

place to be right now.

That is why

you keep your watch on California

time! Thank you for coming into the

studio. Ryan Christie, for an

adviser to George Dubya Bush, we

have talked of an that are not as

chaotic, you saw the numbers,

clearly much less turnover in that

administration knew worked on. Less

turnover in the Clint Clinton

attrition but a huge turnover in

this administration. Is this what is

going on, improper vetting and a

lack of talent in the White House?

I

think it's likely the case here. I

can certainly tell you when we came

out and they want and the president

Bush administration, there was

already a system in place of how do

you set the staff at higher the

staff, how do you recruit staff and

a secretary said moments ago, there

was very little organisation thought

on how President Trump would staff

his administration and if you don't

have the staff in place and they

don't know who they are reporting to

and what they should do, it often

means chaos in suits.

The

administration seems to have cut out

in the early days a lot of people it

might have fired because they didn't

want people necessarily who were

very tied to Washington and on the

foreign policy side they did not

want people who had in any way

criticised Donald Trump when he was

running as a candidate. That leaves

you a pretty small vanish, doesn't

it?

Issued us. From a who work in

the White House, if you have

insulted President Trump said he is

not a competent leader or hold his

leadership and aggression, you are

on the list. There are on the list.

They're not that many people in

Washington, DC, Republican or

Democrat, who have the experience

working in the White House. It's

very stressful, very hard work and

you need people who know how it

should be done and if you limit your

White House staff and you limit your

foreign policy staff, the State

Department and other posts, you are

really putting the country at a

disadvantage.

What do they have to

do now over the Rob Porter story so

doesn't keep dominating on the news

coverage?

'S poor chief of staff

will said you served with the

closure for the president of the

United States for the pleasure and

it came been cut and when you make

it too. Somehow this year need to

rule, some people have to take

responsibility for this. They have

to say, Mr President, for the good

of the country and your

administration, I'm leaving.

Leon

Panetta says he is happy being 3000

miles away in California. If the

call came to you, please serve in

this administration and give us

adult supervision, would you take

it?

I love my home state of

California and my wife who is out

there in San Francisco. Let's put it

this, I have been giving them cancel

on the site and the notion of going

inside those gates, muscles

illustrious bakers, but I'm happy in

California.

How to curtail the power of

extremist propaganda on the Internet

is something the UK Government is

asking itself? It's unveiling an

online tool powered by artificial

intelligence and it says it can

accurately detect jihadists content

and block it from being viewed.

There are concerns that groups like

Islamic State could that these

methods in order to new audiences.

Our media editor has the story.

Militaristic, cinematic and off the

shop with high-level production

values, these propaganda videos for

Islamic State this post her and

hatred. They are easy to find on the

Internet right now. One is a

jihadists new Andy Ellis is

legitimate the deal. The creators

claim the technology, which is

obviously secret, can spot 94% of

ODIs contact online with an accuracy

of 99.95%. The technology

distinctions between news and

extremism. Examples of the one on

the right with high probability to

be vetted by a human.

We are looking

to try to remove this content from

the public. If it requires somebody

to have ten passwords is propagated

browser before they can get access

to safe as a win. It means it can't

just be shared between them are for.

Attention has focused on Twitter,

Google and Facebook but this

technology will tell if platforms.

Islamic State reporters used over

400 unique platforms last year, 145

of them for the first time. Like

other forms of modern media,

terrorist propaganda has now shifted

online. What is so striking about

this new tool is that it is funded

by government rather than technology

firms and it is covered by

artificial intelligence. It is an

admission that machines rather than

manpower will be most effective and

finding and removing extremist

material online. One from a

jihadists who works in counter

radicalisation says terrorists will

always find new methods to find new

audiences and the platforms have to

be willing to take action. The big

players in this area are taking a

lot of action but the smaller

companies, they are not necessarily

prepared to play ball with

government some test because they

are suspicious or assembly is

regarded as being part of

. It's not clear how widely the

technology will be taken by the

government says its instinct is to

collaborate with industry.

We're not

went to rule out taking legislative

action if we have to do it but I

remain convinced that the best way

to take real action. To have the

best outcomes is to have an industry

led form like the one we have got.

Technology and government pressure

can reduce harm but it is a war

without end.

There is always a concern that the

terrorists will manage to stay one

step ahead with technology. I listen

to the Senate hearing this morning.

They spoke about Russia, China and

North Korea and there was little

mention of the threat of so-called

Islamic State. It seems to be

something people are not so focused

on here. Let us look at the economy.

If you do not like risk you should

not probably invest in the stock

market right now. The Dow Jones last

week had its two greatest losses in

history but it bounced back and the

markets have traded up in the last

couple of days. So is it going to

last, this volatility? We can talk

about this.

Should I put the $150 in the stock

market?

Based on coffee break, you

might need it. On the stock market,

it's not rocket science in this

regard, money has been almost three

and when that's the case people buy

stuff and as interest rates rise,

they might by Leicester and will

have an effect on asset prices,

including the stock market. A better

rate of return with Westwick

comparatively than how the situation

with a couple of years ago, so there

will be some transference from bonds

to stocks on the stock has had a

wild run, they needed some

adjustment. In that regard itself as

long as it doesn't tank from here.

When money is free, people borrow

money. I borrow money to buy my

house and my car and whatever it is

I want to buy but country borrows

money is as well, the USA has

borrowed a lot of money and in a

borrowing frenzy at the moment, they

are piling up debt. You are from the

Republican party, conventionally the

party of fiscal discipline and

responsibility. The Republicans are

still believed that deficits are a

bad thing?

I think they believe

that, the question for Republicans

and Democrats is that you have the

will to act on it? We have a country

where we are $20 trillion in debt

officially but a few add all the

things of books at $60 trillion. If

it is a Bankview would be

investigating at shutting it down.

The day of reckoning is coming but

unfortunately both Republicans and

Democrats have their heads in the

sand and frankly the public is

giving it a shoulder shrug these

days and the public isn't ready,

sadly, for a discussion on how we

will fix this.

As you mentioned

interest rates could rise, which

means my mortgage will get expensive

in the country yet and that will get

more expensive, is that the day of

reckoning for America?

I think it's

good to be when you have so much of

our budget focused on interest on

debt and interest rates go up and

that begins to boil over ability to

keep our finances in some sort of

reasonable or depth and could

trigger all consequences.

I'm

disappointed in this Congress, ball

size for shrugging their shoulders

for what is an obvious problem. A

lot of exuberance has been about

among investors thinking is a very

good times and the like what the

administration is doing, one thing

they don't like the prospect of as a

trade war. This morning, President

Trump talked about the prospect of

tariffs on quarters on steel and

aluminium coming from Asia and South

Korea in particular. What would the

business community make of that?

I

think they would say trade wars are

not good as shown by herstory. Even

Republicans don't like them!

They

would also say this, it's OK to try

to get a better deal is and how much

of what President Trump is

threatening is going to be

implemented or symbolically

implemented as opposed to holistic

were implemented. If just

symbolically and doesn't trigger a

trade war and we get a better deal.

That's not a bad thing because the

United States has been in some bad

trade deals and improving them is a

good strategic goal.

Thanks much for

coming in. Let's take a quick look

at other news that's been going on

around the world. The Israeli Prime

Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu has

confirmed that police are

recommending his indictment in a

corruption probe. He has been

questioned several times since the

start of 2017 and has spoken on

Israeli television denying any

wrongdoing. The Dutch Foreign

Minister has resigned after

admitting he lied about meeting

Vladimir Putin in 2006. He has said

he has hurt Vladimir Putin planning

aggressive Russian expansion and

admitted on Monday that he'd head

the account second-hand but

maintained the content was true.

Here's what he told Dutch members of

Parliament.

TRANSLATION:

So as not to burden the

position of the Minister of foreign

affairs, I see no other option than

to offer my resignation today to His

Majesty the King.

The leadership of

South Africa get an ANC has called

on the embattled President Jacob

Zuma to resign for the sake of the

country. He has so far refused to

go, he is due to hold a news

conference on Wednesday. He had told

his party he wanted to stay in power

for another 3-6 months.

It's, Royals moment, Prince Harry

Meghan Markle have made their first

official joint visitors call and as

part of a round of official

engagements in the run-up to their

wedding in May. This is the fourth

appeal as the couple have made since

their engagement was announced in

November. Edinburgh Castle and

welcome to Scotland on a date when

the temperature was barely above

zero.

A day, then, for a good

warm overcoat and there

was Meghan Markle, wrapped up

in the very thing.

The coat, patterned

in tartan green and blue.

Offering a welcome, the band

of Her Majesty's Royal Marines

Scotland and the regimental mascot

of the Royal Regiment of Scotland,

a Shetland pony with sharp teeth.

Watch Harry's left hand.

Oh, nearly got him!

Harry moved on, ring finger

intact and Meghan amused.

Bang went the one o'clock gun,

out came the thoughtfully-provided

ear plugs and as Harry and Meghan

gazed over the city, those who'd

come to see them were positive.

I got to meet Meghan today

and she is absolutely beautiful.

I'm so excited for them to be

here in Edinburgh today.

They're the future of the Royal

family, Meghan and Harry

and William and Kate,

they're the future.

This has been another important

introduction on the Meghan Markle

familiarisation tour

of the United Kingdom.

The union, of course,

is a sensitive issue,

You have the young lady who is going

to be a princess who is half African

American and that is extraordinary.

It shows that the monarchy are

coming up to date and recognise that

a lot of young people like the

monarchy.

Do you think they will be

as much interest as we had with Kate

and William?

Absolutely, it will be

a lot of fun to watch.

I do not

trust you to make the tea! Coming up

for viewers on the BBC News Channel.

Considering the successor to the

Queen as head of the Commonwealth,

the BBC learned it may not

necessarily be the heir to the

throne. And the changing face of

clowning.

throne. And the changing face of

clowning.

Over the last 24 hours we've seen

heavy rain and significant snow in

places. Beautiful scenes here in the

Scottish Highlands. In the next 24

hours we have more of those weather

elements. Another weather system

showing its hand in the Atlantic.

That will start to slide in during

the rest of this evening and

tonight. Ahead of that the wind

picking up, gales in some western

spot. And it could start to bring in

some snow especially over higher

ground in Northern Ireland.

Temperatures generally dipping down

to freezing or below. So the frontal

system pushing in in the first part

of tomorrow. Cold enough for some

snow across northern areas initially

to quite low levels. Those snow

levels tend to become increasingly

confined to higher ground but not

before we've seen a covering of up

to 12 centimetres across some high

ground in the north-west of

Scotland. And further south we could

see five, seven centimetres of snow.

Northern Ireland by this stage

brightening up and then cloud and

patchy rain across parts of Wales

and the south-west of England. Then

we take this band of sleet and snow

east through the day. Behind that

things begin to brighten up and we

introduce something a little bit

milder. Moving out of Wednesday the

weather system moves off into the

near continent but low pressure is

still in charge and delivering some

wintry showers. The further south

you come, fewer showers and more in

the way of dry weather. In the

sunshine in the South, ten or 11

degrees in London. Still colder

further north but into the weekend

and beyond, things should turn mild

for just about everyone. Some

quieter weather on the way.

This is Beyond One Hundred Days,

with me Katty Kay in Washington -

Our top stories.

In a long Senate hearing,

intelligence agencies say Russia has

never stopped trying to meddle in US

politics - and is a threat

to November's mid-term elections.

The former CIA chief

gave us his reaction.

The president needs to listen to his

intelligence chiefs. They are the

ones who testified today and they

made clear that the Russians are

going to attack the election

institutions in this country.

The British government

unveils an online tool,

powered by artificial intelligence,

that it says can accurately detect

jihadist content and stop

it from being viewed.

Coming up in the next half hour.

Would the Irish economy suffer if no

Brexit deal is reached?

We hear the concerns

for Ireland's Border communities.

As support for the US President

weakens among women -

we check in with Latinas For Trump -

are they standing by their man?

Let us know your thoughts

by using the hashtag

'Beyond-One-Hundred-Days'.

The Commonwealth is sometimes called

a 'post-colonial club.'.

This hang over from

the British Empire

includes among others, Canada,

Malta, Kenya and Pakistan and it

turns out they all have views

on who should be their monarch.

It's an organisation with 53 members

states and membership is voluntary.

It covers about 2-point-4

billion people - a third

of the world's population.

It's responsible for

the Commonwealth Games -

the next one due to be held

on the Gold Coast in

Australia in April.

Queen Elizabeth is the head

of the Commonwealth -

seen here last Friday,

accepting The Gambia's application

to become a member once again.

But who will succeed her?

The BBC has learned

that the Commonwealth has secretly

begun considering who will be

the next head of the organisation.

The issue is hugely sensitive

because the role is not hereditary -

and will not pass automatically

to the Prince of Wales,

on the Queen's death.

In a moment, we'll get

the thoughts of Dr Sue Onslow -

the deputy director of the Institute

of Commonwealth Studies -

but first, let's hear

from our Diplomatic Correspondent,

James Landale, in Westminster.

This seems almost treasonous to even

discuss who should take over from

the Queen!

Absolutely right, it is

hugely sensitive. And not a debate

that people want to have publicly.

Since I wrote the story this morning

there have been a lot of people not

answering their telephones and

insisting this is not what is going

on. What is happening, everyone

knows that the Queen is 91, and

there is a big summit of

Commonwealth heads of government in

the UK and a couple of months. They

note that the issue will come up in

the margins. So people are beginning

to think about that because as you

say it is not automatically the

Prince of Wales who takes over. So

the question is what should happen.

If you talk to most people who have

seen your leadership roles in the

Commonwealth they will say there is

no plausible alternative to the

Prince of Wales but should he

automatically get it, should you set

up a new system so it is

automatically the head of state of

UK or should we just give the job to

the Prince of Wales and delay the

long-term decision for another time.

I had no idea this was so

complicated. He gets to be the

automatic leader, head of the

Commonwealth 15 I think, of the 53

countries, so why can they not just

all do the same thing.

He gets to be

head of state in those countries but

not automatically the head of the

Commonwealth of which those

countries are a member. It is that

complicated. So essentially what

they have to do is to work out

should we just make a one-off

decision or should they set up a new

procedure. The problem, the reason

there is uncertainty is back at the

moment it would just be a decision

made by the people who happen to be

heads of the Commonwealth

governments at the time when the

Queen goes. And there is a degree of

uncertainty about that. I think when

people talk about the future of the

Commonwealth and where it the focus

should be they also need to talk

about the ceremonial leadership.

Thank you very much.

Let's get the thoughts

of Dr Sue Onslow -

the deputy director of the Institute

of Commonwealth Studies.

We know that the Queen is popular as

head of the Commonwealth. What do

they make of Prince Charles, do we

have any sense of that?

The Prince

of Wales has been stepping into the

role representing his mother for

some years now. Of course he

represented her of the Commonwealth

Heads of Government Meeting in Sri

Lankan in 2013 mark and by all

accounts he did an excellent job in

difficult circumstances. He also

stepped in to her position hosting

Commonwealth events and more and

more he has assumed a supportive

role to her unique position as head

of the Commonwealth. But I agree

that there is discussion privately

about the possibility of the future

head. These have been going on for

some time, I can think of some

discussion going on in the 1990s to

try to resolve this particular

issue. So this is not a new issue

for the Commonwealth to consider but

it is becoming shall we say more

important given the advancing age of

the Queen.

In a way if you think in

the sweep of history no one really

can take the place of the Queen in

terms of the Commonwealth because

she has bridged those eras, she has

come out of the camp colonial era

and been there for so long, known so

many head of state and she knew the

world when it was a very different

place and the Commonwealth had so

much more importance in the world.

You are right because the

Commonwealth has evolved since 1949.

And the Queen, her position

originally as a symbolic

representation of the free

Association of the original eight

member states. Now to the 53 member

associations. Of course she stepped

into the role that had been occupied

by her father because he had been

originally king, Emperor and then

when India became independent and

other sub Asian countries acquired

independence from the UK, by 1949

the monarch then formed this

symbolic representation with

continued free association. And yes

there was this differentiation

between the British monarch as head

of state, its constitutional

responsibilities for the other 15

Commonwealth countries and the

separate role as head of the modern

Commonwealth. Although there appear

to be points of connection and

crossover fundamentally they're

different responsibilities. The

Queen has generally been unique, it

is very much a People's Association

and by her own particular stamp, her

authority and her own commitment and

input and enjoyment of the

Commonwealth she has also evolved

with it. These will be very big

shoes to fill.

Thank you very much.

Lovely pictures there of the Queen

in the earlier days of her reign.

Let's take a look at some of

the other news making the headlines.

The president of Haiti has condemned

the actions of staff

from the British charity,

Oxfam, after the charity admitted

some of its employees used

prostitutes in the country.

President Jovenel Moise accused

the staff in question

of using an earthquake eight years

ago to sexually exploit

people in need.

Prostitution is illegal

in the country.

Rescue teams in the Pacific island

state of Tonga are assessing

the extent of the damage

after Cyclone Gita hit

the capital, Nuku'alofa.

Many buildings have been destroyed,

including a Catholic church

and the main parliament building.

Thousands of Tongans

are in evacuation centres.

The North Korean leader,

Kim Jong-un, has praised South Korea

for its 'very impressive'

and 'sincere' efforts

in hosting his sister,

during the opening of the Winter

Olympics.

He made the comments

after a delegation from the North

returned from a three-day visit

to the host city of the Winter

Olympics, Pyeongchang.

Ireland's Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has

said he will work hard

with the British government to avoid

a 'hard border' after Brexit,

but the UK's now commited to ending

both the current Single Market

and the Customs Union and so it's

hard to see that's going to work?

A new report shows Ireland's economy

could suffer a 7% hit as a result

of a no-deal Brexit.

So what do the changes ahead mean

for the people of Ireland?

One man staring the situation

in the face, is Fergus O'Dowd,

a Fine Gael politician

representing the Border

consituency of Louth.

He joins me from Dublin.

Thank you for joining me. What you

make of this new economic assessment

report showing a 7% hit if there is

no deal but pretty much a hit under

any circumstances even if there are

variations of staying in the customs

union but not the customs union or

vice versa.

I looked at all the

options between a so-called soft

Brexit, as much as we can between

the UK and Europe and Ireland as we

have now and the hard Brexit where

there is no deal. The worst scenario

is a growth rate of 2.2% and that

the economy would lose out something

like 18 billion by 2030. A huge

problem for everyone and

particularly for ourselves. And the

point is delighted that the

Taoiseach before Christmas, Leo

Varadkar and Theresa May didn't

reach consensus that the worst

option of all is nothing if is

arranged properly there would still

be as Theresa May reiterated

yesterday, a border without any

friction between North and South

which is hugely important.

Do you

think that that is what is going to

happen, that they really will be no

infrastructure on the border between

North and South that could limit the

movement of people or goods?

That is

what we want, obviously what we

really want is, we accept the UK is

leaving Europe but we want as close

as possible relationship between

Britain and Europe as they have now,

as close as possible. It is best for

them and best for us. Why should

Britain suffer, why should the parts

that voted mostly for Brexit

suffered the greatest lost and why

should our country be plunged into

difficulties as a result of this.

Let's work together.

It is what the

British people voted for in the

referendum. If there is no

infrastructure on the border I still

do not understand how goods will be

controlled going from Europe to the

rest of the UK. Because if they can

get across that border they can get

into the rest of the UK.

The problem

is two thirds of our exports go

through the UK, that is by

container. But the problem is if you

have a hard Brexit or a Brexit where

you're not part of the customs union

that means every lorry going north

or south must have spent something

like 400 UK sterling to be able to

go through the bureaucracy even

digitally. So it will be a huge

expense. You have 30,000 people

travelling north and south each day

to work. 1.2 million vehicles every

month passing north to south. If you

have delays, customs, police stops,

it is going to significantly and

adversely affect obviously

transport, commerce, agriculture and

ordinary people in the course of

their daily lives. We do not want

that to happen and it will not help

anyone north or south if we go

there.

Thank you very much. All the

speculation seems to be this will be

claimed as a technological solution

but how long that will take to put

in place if there is an open border

between the Republic and Northern

Ireland. That is what people do not

know.

This is Beyond One Hundred Days.

Still to come.

Why the future of clowns are under

threat as they celebrate 250 years

of slapstick comedy.

The former football coach,

Barry Bennell, has been found guilty

of multiple sex offences,

against young boys in the 1980s.

Bennell, who's 64, had denied 48

charges, including indecent assault

and serious sexual assaults,

but the jury convicted him on 36

counts, and has asked for more time

to consider seven others.

During the trial prosecutors

described him as a 'predatory

paedophile', who molested young boys

on an 'industrial scale'.

Danny Savage reports

from Liverpool Crown Court.

Barry Bennell, a football

coach who abused many

young boys in his charge.

Today, he was convicted of sexually

assaulting boys aged

between eight and 15.

He was the gatekeeper

to a dream world in football,

but his victims had to silently

suffer horrific abuse.

His trial heard he was a child

molester on an industrial scale.

This afternoon, he was found guilty

of assaulting ten of the 11 boys

this trial centred on.

The jury haven't yet reached

a decision on a number of other

charges and will continue

their deliberations tomorrow.

He abused the boys at his homes,

one of which was in this

Derbyshire village.

He had arcade games and exotic pets

and always had a reason

for them to stay over.

His victims were associated

with Crewe and Manchester City,

where he was involved

in the junior setups.

He was said to have been

treated like God at

Manchester City's Maine Road ground.

In court, it was said Bennell

had groomed the parents

of the complainants

so he could carry on the abuse.

He offered no evidence

in his defence, but his barrister

accused some of the men,

who were boys at the time,

of inventing stories about him

and jumping on the bandwagon.

Today, the 64-year-old,

who has appeared throughout the case

via video link, shook his head

as the guilty verdicts

were returned.

Some of his victims were in tears,

hearing finally that the man who'd

abused them when they were little

boys has been convicted.

Elections are underway

for a new President

for the world's clowns -

with a Briton among

the front runners.

David Sillito has more.

This face is old-fashioned,

in a way, now.

Hands up if you

couldn't care less...

Over the years the clown numbers

have dropped in shows.

Once upon a time, every

circus had its own troupe.

ARCHIVE FOOTAGE VOICEOVER:

As always, the clowns

bring down the house.

The facepaint, the big shoes,

they were the heart of circus

heritage, but the wigs and grease

paint are in decline.

Maybe it's the clown horror films,

but on this anniversary year

there is a big issue for the man

hoping to be World Clown President.

I didn't realise there

was democracy in clowning.

There is quite a lot of democracy

and quite a lot of politics as well.

What are the issues at the moment?

You've already highlighted

the main question we asked,

are people scared of clowns?

It is the big issue.

Even here in the heart of clowndom,

more and more clowns are giving up

on looking like clowns.

If you had seen me back in 1973

when I first started coming here,

then you would have seen

a completely different face.

You don't look like proper clowns.

THEY HUFF.

Children, over the years have got

a little bit wary of clowns.

But there is a fightback against all

this anti-clown prejudice.

I am PC Bibbledy Bobby

or Bibbledy Bob the Clown,

the regional director

for the World Clown Association

for Europe and the whole of Africa.

I thank you.

Yes, there really is

a regional clown director.

You press people, you

like a negative story.

Positivity does not sell.

So unfortunately we keep being busy,

we keep getting work,

and you are obsessed with the fact

that we might not be getting work

because of silly films.

I stood corrected.

It seems there is, still,

a lot of clown love out there.

But clown politics?

I had a chat with Elsie

Fanackerpants...

It is only when it gets to meetings,

it can get quite heated.

There are clown meetings?

There's a committee...

SHE LAUGHS.

I couldn't take it seriously...!

So Elsie won't be running

for World Clown President.

But someone has to.

Because when it comes

to the future of clowning,

there is a lot to think about.

Now every week we listen to

politicians give their assessment of

the jobs being done so far by

President Trump.

Denise Galvez is a founder member

of Latinas for Trump

and joins me now from Miami.

An issue I imagine you are looking

at and some of your fellow

supporters are looking at is the

question of immigration. It has not

been resolved between Democrats and

Republicans perhaps no surprise. The

president has suggested a pathway to

citizenship for almost 2 million

young people brought to the United

States illegally by their parents.

Is that something you would support?

Absolutely, let's give him credit

for bringing it to the forefront. We

had the opportunity back in 1995 and

he shares the same sentiment

President Clinton shared back then

and here we are arguing the details

of Whitley Wood should be a

completely partisan immigration

reform package will be all come to

the table and finally agree.

There

are other members of his

conservative base who hate the idea

of people here illegally having any

path to citizenship?

That is

catering to the extreme and I think

the majority of us here are quite

moderate on immigration. We agree

with some sort of path whether it

takes five years, eight years, and

what it looks like, what transition

looks like is important to us. But

that they should have a path to

citizenship I think we all agree on.

And so does his core. What would you

like to hear more of and blasts off

from the White House?

I would like

to hear less about the memos, I

think that is just distracting us

from actual policy-making. I think

to me it is tantamount to high

school gossip. I think he just

released today his infrastructure

plans so I think we should start to

pay attention to the details of that

and how it will help with the

economy which I think is so

important. We're still feeling the

results of the tax credits and the

tax reforms. So we need to focus I

think on that and less on all the

bipartisan rhetoric.

He has been in

office for a year now and we have

not spoken to you for a while, can

you give him a grading?

I would give

him a B+. Only because I wish he

would let things sit more. I think

he reacts too much to criticism from

the media and when he has had really

crucial wins he should've let them

stand alone instead of getting into

some argument about something on

Twitter or at the latest Trump

bashing that takes place all day

long.

You're focused on the mid-term

elections in November and trying to

get Republicans in Florida elected.

One group suffering, that the

president is seeing a lack of

support amongst is women.

So that it

something that we are championing

here locally and I'm trying to use

the voice of pettiness to support

more women. Right here locally we

have an important election, district

27 and many women are in the race, I

think we need to separate the true

candidates from some of those just

doing it as a career move. Seafood

is going to be best to represent

women in Congress we are losing a

strong woman in that district. So

right now I wish we could focus more

on the mid-term elections especially

in Florida and pay less attention to

all the bipartisan rhetoric on TV

and the media.

Thank you.

And our political analyst

Ron Christie is back with me now.

The mid-term elections, we've heard

talk of a tsunami in favour of

Democrats, then the tax reform was

passed and it seemed the Republicans

were doing better. How do you see

them shaking up now?

One thing I've

learnt in politics is to not pay too

much attention to the opinion polls

this early. I think the House of

Representatives could be in play, a

number of Republicans from moderate

districts are retiring, almost 40

not coming back so the question for

me is can the Democrats field

candidates in these districts that

can be competitive. And I think that

they can.

What is the key for the

president and the Republican party

in these mid-term elections, is it

expanding their appeal or making

sure that base we keep hearing about

actually turns out to vote?

It is

keeping that case and keeping them

voting. It is a referendum

essentially on the president. You

will see a loss typically in the

range of 25 seeds for the party in

power. Republicans control

everything in Washington so if

you're Donald Trump or Paul Ryan

Mitch McConnell you will say to

people you need to stick with us.

And of course it is only February

but we also talk about the elections

early because you need to start

raising the money early. Before we

go just to show these pictures,

watching the Winter Olympics sees

many competitors reaching new

heights.

But Swiss freestyle skier,

Fabian Bosch, has taken that meaning

to a whole different level.

Here he is clinging

to an escalator in Pyeongchang.

The daring 20-year-old isn't due

to compete until the weekend -

I bet his team mates are just glad

he landed with both feet

firmly on the ground.

There he goes, he makes it look so

easy. There are many sports in the

Olympics I do not want to try and

that is one of them.

He is a

daredevil! You and I have much more

sense.

His team-mates must be

furious! Favourite sport so far in

the Winter Olympics?

The women's

snowboarding, awesome stuff.

Chloe

Kim was fantastic. 17 years old. But

I have to confess as a mother I just

get so sad every time one of them

falls down, it heartbreaking. Of

course I am a big skier and

Christian is of course skiing this

week and we are all worried about

him. He is going to take a medal!

Coming up next on BBC World News -

Karin Giannone is here

with Outside Source and for viewers

in the UK - we'll have the latest