Homes and transported to russia, kidnapped there. Hundreds of thousands killed and it was david who believed closed passionately about giving voices to those who are often voiceless in war and he went there himself to talk to those people and indeed, he has saved lives. And you dont need to take my word for that, people who have been on the podcast thanks to him who he found, charities that he rose awareness of, issues he rose awareness of, issues he rose awareness of, issues he rose awareness of that was then picked up by other institutions, by other individuals, has been brought aid to those people. Sojournalism and i speak as one, it is an often derided profession often with good reason. But david was somebody who represented The Very Best of our profession and indeed The Very Best of british and was an enormous Loss Forjournalism and indeed i think for the company and the country and the western values we hold dear. Thank you very much for sharing the story of David Knowles who has passed away at the age of 32. Its a tough time for you and of course your colleagues at the telegraph and we pass on our condolences, thank you very much indeed. Now on bbc news, its time for hardtalk. Welcome to hardtalk, from Lake Como in northern italy. Im stephen sackur. This is the venue for the ambrosetti forum, a gathering of international politicians, where this year, the conversation keeps returning to one simple question who will win the us president ial election in november, and what will it mean for global geopolitics . Well, my Guest Today has strong opinions on that matter. He is republican us senator lindsey graham, one of Donald Trumps closest allies on Capitol Hill. He is all in for team trump. But are americas voters growing weary of the former president . Senator lindsey graham, welcome to hardtalk. Thank you. Senator, why has the Replacement Ofjoe Biden with Kamala Harris, on the democratic side of this president ial race, why has it knocked the Trump Campaign so badly off balance . I think it was a. Its taken a while for them to get their sea legs, but i think theyre good to go now. I thought he would be replaced. You know, we were all saying, as republicans, the guy is not capable. Hes in decline. And all of a sudden he leaves. You know, itsjust switching up candidates that late, it took a while to absorb that, but i think hed be ready. This coming tuesday is the debate, and i think itll be probably the most consequential debate maybe in a long time, if not ever. You talk about the way in which, for so long, the Trump Campaign was built around the idea that Joe Biden was too old, he wasnt competent. Yeah. Right, right, right. Theres a big problem now for trump, isnt there . Hes the old guy. Hes 78 years old. And people looking at him right now, and the way he is responding to questions on the campaign trail, they are now asking questions about his cognitive abilities. Yeah. I think you see in polling that people see hes fit for the job. What hes going to have to do now, in my view, you know, were running against someone who is just not really capable in the eyes of, like, 70 of the people. Right now, you see, you have No Doubt that shes capable, you know, in terms of intellectual ability, i dont think thats going to be a problem for trump. Well, hang on. So, i mean, Donald Trump repeatedly has called her dumb, not an intelligent person. Yeah. Are you saying he needs to drop that . Well, you know, i think you cant be a senator, Vice President , Attorney General if you dont have something going for you. 0n policy, i think her policies are bad. So they want this insult contest. You know, the whole Democratic Convention was not about what theyve done for the country, but, you know, an attack on trump and just fluff about policy. My advice is, dont take the bait. Start talking about what happened when you were president versus what theyre doing. Just one more question on. Questions now about trumps capabilities, his capacities. Back in the summer, before biden withdrew from the race, you argued that both Biden And Trump should take cognitive tests. Do you still believe that Donald Trump should take a cognitive test . Sure. Im fine with Donald Trump. If he wants to, he can. I always thought biden was diminished. I never have thought that about trump. And you see it in the polling. Nobody believes that trumps not capable. The question is, is he the right pick . And thats what its going to be about. And theyre trying to make it about trump. And what trump ought to be, in my view, be making it about policy. Theres a big problem for the republicans in that you are a party divided right now, arent you . I mean, there are some extraordinarily senior, influential republicans who simply will not vote for Donald Trump. They think he is too dangerous to the republic, the latest of which is former Vice President dick cheney. Yeah. When he says that, it matters. Im not so sure. I think thats sort of built into the cake. You know. Dick cheney . Yeah, i like dick cheney. Yeah. One of the most staunch conservatives in the united states of america who says he cannot, will not vote for trump because he is a danger. I Cant Think of any other republican that i know of who will change their vote. You got the Brother Of Walz saying hes 100 against tim walz. I dont think that matters a whole lot. Dick cheney. You got high profile. Like, Robert F Kenneder is now supporting trump. I didnt see that coming. And that may matter some. So time will tell. Yeah, i mean, on the republican side. Its a strange election where you have the kennedys supporting trump, and the cheneys supporting harris. Its a bit of a weird time at home. But you are a house divided, and some of the people who know trump best. Were always a house divided. Yeah, but some of the people who know trump best, and im thinking now of mike pence, again, saying, i cannot in good conscience endorse him. Anyone who puts himself above the constitution of our country should never be president. Are you telling me that american voters will pay no heed to that . Yeah. I dont think its going to matter a whole lot. Robert F Kenneder might help with that segment of the libertarian section of the country, i dont know. I like mike pence. I like all these people. But it didnt stop him in the primary, i think. I dont know who pence is going to vote for, but i can tell you this its a toss up election. I really dont know whos going to win, but i wouldnt trade places with the other side. Yeah. Lets just look at the pitch the Trump Team is now making to win this election. It seems youre going to double down on the idea that Kamala Harris is, to quote Donald Trump, a communist. Do you think american voters are going to buy that . Yeah, i think shes one of the most. Rather than saying maybe communist, the most liberal person to ever seek office by a major party, i believe that completely. Shes for reparations. The Green New Deal would destroy the fossil fuel economy. Medicare for all destroys private Health Care for millions of americans. Yeah, i think shes taken the most radical positions that could be taken by a member of the united states senate. And, yeah, i think shes definitely the most liberal person to ever be nominated by a major party. Absolutely. Senator, im sure youd agree, truth telling matters when it comes to looking at your opponents campaign, right, and their offer to the american public . You in the Republican Party are not telling the truth about Kamala Harris on a whole range of subjects. Like what . Like, for example, you are accusing her of wanting to ban all fracking across the united states. Yeah. She has made it absolutely plain that she now, whatever she said five, six years ago, she now will not will not impose a ban on fracking. So why say something thats not true . Why did she change . Politicians change on all sorts of things. Yeah, but why . For political reasons, right . Because its not popular. It was popular at the time. Shejumped on the Green New Deal, which eliminates Fossil Fuels very quickly. Which eliminates fossil its like a 90 Trillion change in our economy. Why did she get on the bill . Who is she trying to please . Why is she getting off the bill . Because its a dumb, stupid idea. No, i dont believe for a minute shes changed. She says, my values havent changed. What are her values . To declare war on Fossil Fuels. No, i dont believe her. I believe shell push a very radical environmental agenda. Her values havent changed. Thats what she said. The democrats in power, Biden Harris, theyve created almost 16 Million newjobs. If you look over the span of the last few decades, as Bill Clinton pointed out at the Democratic Convention, democratic administrations have created jobs, republican administrations have not. Thats the truth. Well, heres the truth. 65 of americans believe were going on the wrong track. When trump left office. If you would just address my point, senator. Yeah. No, thats not true. Bill clinton didnt. Thats not true. Weve created a lot ofjobs. With the greatest of respect, the figures are quite clear. Theyve been independently analysed. Why do people believe the countrys so off track . Why do people, consistently over 60 , believe the nation is going in the wrong direction, in terms of the Economy And Security . Because the policies are not working. With respect, senator, it may be because people like Donald Trump, and with the greatest respect, yourself, twist the facts, do not tell the truth about what has and has not happened under the watch of Biden And Harris. Or it may be what the democrats are saying doesnt resonate with the average person because theyre not living what theyre saying. When trump left office, gasoline was 1. 87 a gallon. Its gone up dramatically. Mortgage rates below 3 . We had the lowest illegal crossings at the border in a0 years. Inflation is eating peoples pay cheque alive. Weve had Ten Million illegal immigrants come into the country raping and murdering people. People do not believe the policies are working. Theyre living the consequences of disastrous Policy Choices. Inflation is down, as you well know. Its been over 5 . You accuse Kamala Harris of being soft on crime. In california, she was criticised for being too tough on crime. And the fact is, and again, facts matter, violent crime and murders across the united states have gone down during the Biden Harris years. I dont buy that one bit. But, again, its difficult to conduct a conversation if you wont accept facts which come from official us government agencies. I dont accept the fact that america. Along the border is chaos. Youre telling me that these Border Communities are safe . Go to one of them. Go tell the people whose families have been raped and murdered by illegal immigrants, things are fine. America is not buying what youre saying because its not true. I guess, on the migration issue, which clearly you and the republicans are going to run hard with over the next two months, there is one problem for your party, and that is that it was your side of the congress which blocked a bipartisan effort to pass the toughest crackdown on border security. I was in the gang of eight. Ive been involved in three major efforts to reform immigration comprehensively. The reason i voted against the bill, it didnt have any changes to parole. Theyre paroling into the country 30,000 people a month from four countries, i believe illegally. Parole can be used for an individual situation, not large groups. So thats why i didnt vote for the bill. Let me quote to you, the republican senator, your Colleaguejames Lankford of oklahoma, who worked very hard to draw up this. Yeah, hes a good guy. Good guy. Good guy, you say. Great guy. He was so involved in this bipartisan effort to get tough on border security, he said this is, the bill that was brought up, a crucial moment after three decades of inaction to decide whether we are going to do Something Or Nothing to fix the border. The truth. And again, its about facts. The truth is, your party opted to do nothing. No, thats not true. Thats what the democrats say and thats what youre saying. I was actually there. I voted on the bill. The truth is, i tried to put a limit on the number of people who could be paroled into the country when, um, during biden. Excuse me, 0bama and trump, about 5,800 people a year were paroled in. During the biden years, its been almost A Million people. Its being abused. Thats one of the magnets that attract people illegally. We could never get my democratic colleagues to put a cap on parole. Therefore i voted no. Senator, the polls are tight, particularly in the crucial swing states. But where they are not tight is when it comes to americas women, where right now Kamala Harris has double digit leads. 16 , i think. Yeah. Do you accept that the Republican Party and Donald Trump have a serious Women Problem . Theres definitely a Gender Gap thats been there for quite a while. I think hes up 9 with men, down 16 maybe. It always hovers around this, Up To 20 at times. And why do you think that is . Uh. Bottom line, i hope we can convince american women that if you want prosperity and safety, youve got to change policy. If you think were on the wrong course as a nation, youve got to pick new people to do different and new things, and remind them of the trump years, where we had lower inflation and more secure. The world was not on fire. We didnt have any wars. I think thats the way to go. But at The End of the day, all the states that really matter is margin of error. Georgia is coming our way, i think. Governor kemp is helping trump now, and that will be helpful. But i want to stick with the women issue. What we have seen is, for example, Jd Vance talking about what he calls childless cat ladies, miserable in their own lives, and they, he says, want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. Weve seen Donald TrumpReposting On Social Media disparaging comments and jokes about Kamala Harris and her sexual past. Do you think its time that the two of them stop disparaging women . Well, i think our party. I think President Trump is doing well as a candidate tied with a very. In a contest of a divided nation. But my question was, is it time for Trump And Vance to stop disparaging women . Is it time. . Is it time for them to stop disparaging Trump And Vance and belittling President Trump as somebody hes not . Its probably time for us all to act better. But this election is not going to be decided based on words. Its going to be decided based on policy and action. If i may, and we talk about policy, perhaps the key policy when it comes to settling many womens votes is abortion. You are an advocate of a nationwide ban on abortion. Donald trump says he wants to leave it where it is right now with the states. Right. It looks like the Republican Party is confused. Ok, so basically the polling is pretty clear. At 15 weeks, about 65 to 70 of people would limit abortion. Thats my position. President trump let the states decide. I support the exceptions. Its not going to determine the outcome of the race, in my view. Really . Yes. Given what weve just said about where women are today in terms of the polls. Yeah. Youre16 points behind. Clearly, women do not like the republican stance on abortion. Its just not because of abortion. I dont. I havent looked at the cross tabs. Im here to tell you that were not going to lose the election because we want the states to do it. They would allow abortion Up To demand at 2a weeks and beyond. Thats the chinese position. Thats the North Korean position. Thats not. Less than 20 of americans want to have abortion in the eighth and ninth month. Yeah. Lets talk about one other important sector of the voting public. That is minorities in america. Im thinking about black voters, latino voters. When biden was still in the race, there was some clear evidence that trump was making some inroads into both those votes. Right. Those inroads seem to have been lost since Kamala Harris. She has consolidated the base a bit. Trump is still doing better than most every republican i know of with hispanics and african american men in particular. But she has stopped the bleeding. You talk to trump quite often, dont you . Yeah. A couple of days ago. Yeah. What did you say to him when he started to, it seems, question Kamala Harriss own racial identity . When he said, you know, she makes a turn. She wants to be known as a black person. Is she indian . Is she black . I dont know. Did you tell him to back off his questioning of her own identity . I said her philosophy, her ideology, her governing principles are, i think, the best way to differentiate yourself. Thats what i said then. Thats what i believe now. A contest of comparing what policies are best for lowering inflation, who is best able to keep the world from being on fire, made us energy independent, is the winning way forward. Americans are hurting financially. Right. So thats what i would do. I get your point. So when you hear senior colleagues of yours in your party describing Kamala Harris as The Quote Unquote Dei candidate, as though shes some sort of token, that shes only there because of the colour of her skin, what do you say to those colleagues of yours . I dont think thats appropriate. I dont think it works. But its happening, senator. Yeah. Well, yeah, one guy from tennessee. Do you want me to give you every stupid thing some liberals said . What youve got to understand, this election is shaping Up To be very close. Slight advantage for trump, because the conditions in america are such for change. The question for trump can he be considered an acceptable alternative to an administration people dont like . Thats the challenge. If he reminds people of what he did when he was president , then i think he has a very good chance of winning. Were speaking to Each Other in europe, and international Affairs Matter to the american public, but they certainly matter to the global public watching the us president ial race. If you have one Signature Concern on the global scene, it is getting america to offer more support to ukraine in their war against Vladimir Putin and russia. What do you say to European Politicians who are deeply worried, some of them, at least, that if Donald Trump wins the white house, support for ukraine from america will be cut . Well, i dont think it will be cut, but i will say the first thing to my nato allies, you better get to 2 . Its not fair. You mean, Defence Expenditure as a proportion of gdp . Yeah, yeah. He believes, and so do i, and sam nunn, years ago wanted to put pressure on nato nations to be 3 . Your nations at 2 . Were just going to focus on that. I think what hell do with ukraine is theyre sitting on about 6 or 7 Trillion of critical minerals. Some of the aid in the future will be alone. But the goal is to end the war without creating another war. So i want to end the war as soon as possible. I want to make sure that putin did not win this thing, that ukraine is still standing and a sovereign country, that china sees putin as having made a mistake. That comes from a negotiating table. Yeah, but hang on. Donald trump says that he believes he can sort this out and get a settlement within 2a hours of winning the election. The only way that could happen, and this is obvious, the only way it could happen, is by accepting that russia continues to hold a swathe of ukrainian territory, almost 20 of ukraines land. I think President Trump will not end this war in a way to create another war. Minsk did not work. Versailles did not work. The budapest memorandum did not work. I have told him continuously, how you end a war determines whether or not you create new wars. To the biden administration, let the ukrainians use long range weapons to hit legitimate Military Targets to get more leverage over the russians, so we can end it sooner rather than later. The restrictions on weapons, the delay in weapons, using the f i6, getting tanks in, its made the War Go On longer. I really do believe that trump will tell putin, im going to be all in for ukraine if you dont accept if you dont accept a reasonable deal. But why do you believe that when we know that Donald Trump used his leverage with republicans on Capitol Hill to delay the 60 BillionAid Package for ukraine, and Jd Vance has said on the record, quote, i do not care about ukraine. Yeah, well, hes not president. And i likejd. I care about ukraine. But let me tell you, the package passed because we turned some of it into a loan. We had a lend Lease Programme with great britain during World War ii. The Bottom Line is, america is hurting financially. Theres no reason not to make this a loan. The eu has made part of their Aid Package to the ukrainians a loan, favourable terms. And that got trump to yes. How this War Ends is very important. Youve got to create enough military pressure on putin to get him to the table. They need f i6s, Retired Nato Pilots should be in these cockpits. There are a bunch of nato pilots retired that would fly for ukraine. To speed up using the planes, we need another supplemental in congress after the election. More weapons coming. We need sanctions on banking and microchips to make it harder for russia to stay in the fight. So i am all in for helping ukraine, and the big fear i have is iran. I really do believe were letting iran get too powerful. Just a final thought on what will happen after the november election. If Donald Trump loses, do you think do you believe he will accept defeat . You know, ill tell you what ill do. Ill listen to what the states say. If i have a question, ill call up and look into it. But heres the way our system works. When a state certifies its results, Ourjob In Congress is to accept that certification unless Theres Something tremendously off base. Last time i voted to certify the elections, i heard the concerns of the president , and i thought that, on balance, it was an election worthy of certification. Thats exactly what ill do next time. Heres what. And the fact that Donald Trump continues to say that the 2020 election was stolen, that he was the victim, that he was the victim of a rigged election. He calls those who stormed the Capitol Onjanuary 6th Patriots and heroes. He says he will pardon them. Doesnt that give you pause that after this coming election, if hes defeated, hes not going to accept it . Im focused on getting this right this time and well see how the votes shake out. As to january 6th, people who participated in the riots and attacked cops, they deserved to go to jail. Some people are being held without lawyers. Thats not right. I think the american people are going to, more likely than not, elect Donald Trump simply because they believe his policies are superior to Biden And Harris. And while he was president , the world was not on fire. Russia didnt invade ukraine. We had iran in a box. All that changed due to Policy Choices by Biden And Harris that unleashed iran after we withdrew from afghanistan. It was the worst signal you could send. A final thought about Donald Trump. If he loses, is that The End of Donald Trump and The End of his grip on your party . Well, if he loses, i dont see him ever running again. I think the Maga Movement will still exist, but well have to re evaluate the party, trying to take the best of trump, the best of all of the figures in the Republican Party and put it back together again. You know, the Labour Party had that same problem. The tories now have it. You know, politics runs in cycles. If he wins, i think youre going to have a bigger Republican Party, working class people more attracted to the Republican Party under Donald Trump. Were actually growing with minorities. So time will tell. Stay tuned. Lindsey graham, Thanks Forjoining me on hardtalk. Thank you. Hello there. Well, its been mild, relatively speaking, despite all of that rain in the south, and very warm, in fact, out towards the far North And West but some changes for the next couple of days. Autumn is biting back. Temperature wise at least, its going to turn colder by day and by night, with the chance of a frost for some, especially on thursday night. It will be windy, a Brisk North westerly wind, sunny spells, but also some blustery showers. And those changes have already started. A deep area of low pressure sweeping across the Northern Isles, its sending this Cold Front sweeping southwards and eastwards across the uk. So you see that milder air being pushed away, marked in orange, blues, and yellows, the colder air takes over through the middle part of the week and it will feel bitingly cold, i think, in exposure to that Northwesterly Wind. And heres the Cold Front for the rest of tuesday. It sinks southwards and eastwards, a narrow band of rain for most. There will be some cloud ahead of the front, but sunshine developing behind, blustery showers, very Heavy Rain across the Northern Isles could lead to some localised flooding and its windy wherever you are across the uk, but particularly so for the Northern Isles. Gusts of wind here of Up To 60 65 miles an hour. And here are the temperatures, ranging between 11 18 Degrees Celsius we keep that mild air towards the south, but the rain could pep up here, perhaps as we head through Tuesday Evening before it clears overnight. Its going to feel cold on tuesday night. Some of our temperatures could drop back to mid single figures. I think youll really notice the chill on wednesday morning. Still some blustery showers out towards the north and the west, but we will see some more clearer skies, especially the further South And East you are. And then on wednesday, its a typical day when we see a Northwesterly Wind this time of year. Sunny spells and showers, most of the showers towards the north and the west, some of them heavy and possibly thundery. It will feel cold and exposure, so thats still Brisk Northwesterly wind and temperatures are now below the seasonal average across the board. But its still september, so in the spells of sunshine and sheltered from the wind, then it wont feel too bad. Again, more sunny spells and showers, perhaps on thursday, and then high pressure starts to build in from the southwest. Thats going to have the effect of lightning the wind, so there could be a bit of frost, particularly for northern england, parts of scotland into Friday Morning and some Mist And Fog developing as well. But mostly dry on friday, temperatures recover on friday, and through the weekend. Bye bye. Welcome to newsday, reporting live from singapore, im steve lai. The headlines. A Special Report from afghanistan as millions of women are silenced with the talibans new law saying their voices cannot be heard in public. We are like dead bodies moving around. We cant talk. We cannot do anything. Super Typhoon Yagi leaves a trail of destruction across northern vietnam, with more than 60 people reported dead. The voice behind the mask james earljones, the american actor who voiced Darth Vader and mufasa, has died at the age of 93. In a personal Video Message catherine, the princes of wales announces her return to some public engagements. Welcome to bbc news. We begin in afghanistan where life for the countrys 21 Million women hasjust become even tougher