Transcripts For KQED BBC World News America 20171201

Nonstop flights are available from most major airports. More information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. And now, bbc world news. Rajini this is bbc world news america. Reporting from washington, im rajini vaidyanathan. Michael flynn pleads guilty, admitting he lied to the fbi. President trumps former National Security advisor says he is courting with a special cooperating with the special counsels russia investigation. Pope francis meets with Rohingya Refugees in bangladesh, referring to the group by name for the first time on his asian trip. And prince harry and his new fiancee, Meghan Markle, appear at their first Public Engagement since announcing plans to wed. The crowds already cant get enough. Rajini welcome to our viewers on Public Television in america and around the globe. President trumps former National Security adviser Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russias ambassador to the u. S. Mr. Flynn is the most senior former official to be charged in the investigation exploring russian meddling in the u. S. President ial election, and today he said he would be cooperating with special counsel robert mueller. Tonight we have full coverage, and we begin with this report from the bbcs aleem maqbool. Aleem it has sent political shockwaves through washington. General Michael Flynn, Donald Trumps former National Security advisor, turned himself in to fbi, and to a judge, admitted lying about his contacts with russian officials. In court he was asked if he wished to plead guilty to making false, fictitious, and fraudulent statements, to which Michael Flynn answered simply, yes, sir. My guilty plea and agreement to cooperate with the special counsels office reflected the decision i made in the best interest of my family and our country, he said in a statement. We now know general flynn had conversations with Russian Ambassador about the possibility of lifting sanctions against moscow. Given barack obama was still in the white house, he was unauthorized to do that. He now says crucially he was directed to have those conversations by a senior official in the Transition Team of donald trump. General Michael Flynn, United States army. Aleem Michael Flynn developed a close relationship with mr. Trump during the election campaign. At one point even being talked of as a potential Vice President. President trump a truly great general right here. Aleem at the Republican National convention, he famously led chants for Hillary Clinton to be in prison. Mr. Flynn yes, lock her up. Aleem it was revealed that Michael Flynn had previously had contacts with Vladimir Putin, but he made his costly mistake late last year, after president obama had just impose more sanctions on russia for interfering with the u. S. Election. On the 29th of december, Michael Flynn spoke to the Russian Ambassador on the phone. On the 15th of january, Vice President mike pence said that sanctions were not discussed by Michael Flynn in those calls. Only after the ninth of february, when a newspaper revealed general flynn did discuss sanctions when he wasnt authorized to do so, did pressure increase, and Michael Flynn lost his job. Michael flynn became one key focus of the investigation into russias attempts to influence the 2016 election and the potential collusion of the Trump Campaign. The white house is now trying to distance itself from general flynns actions and the lies he told to the fbi. But there is no question that this latest development brings the russia investigation ever closer to the president himself. Aleem maqbool, bbc news, washington. Rajini for more on the significance of todays Development Scheme im joined by attorney allender sure its alan dershowitz, who is in boston tonight. Is flynn to the investigation . Alan viable in the sense that he is the highest person theyve got but he is not a very good witness, because he has admitted that he lied, and blessing the prosecutor wants to do is have to invite his potential witness for life. For lying. R i think mueller looked for every possible violation to go after flynn i didnt find any, but he couldve gone after him under the logan act, prevents private citizens from interacting with foreign governments, but that hasnt been used in 200 years. Worthless witness. You cannot put someone on the witness stand someone you have indicted and made a deal with. The only value he has his symbolic, and if you can get them leads to more credible witnesses. Rajini and he is someone, though, was very close to mr. Trump who says he is cooperating with the investigation. You say he is in that valuable. Would his proximity to the keep our players have some use . Alan yes, and the irony is that he didnt have to lie. Everything he did and lied about was lawful. It was perfectly ok for their transition to talk about sanctions, perfectly ok for the transition to try to get russia to delay or veto Security Council resolution. Hose were not criminal acts he probably thought they were, which is why he lied about them. Very unusual. Usually when people lie to the. Bi to cover up criminal acts this time it is entirely lawful acts. Rajini what is the investigation go from here . Alan probably the next person on the total would be jared kushner, because according to the reports coming he is the one who told them to veto this eagerly counsel resolution. But that does not create vulnerability for guitar, because as a member of the Transition Team, he was doing the right thing. Administrationp policy to not have the Security Council tie the president elects hands by passing this resolution. Tojared kushner told flynn have those conversations come there is no vulnerability on the part of kushner at all. It may not look good politically, but there is a big difference between political sins and federal crimes. So far i dont see any evidence of federal crimes beyond lying, failing to fill out forms , and other technical violations they dont point to the oval office itself. Ershowitz, yourched are saying that because of these conversations happening during the transition from they would not pass muster to be seen as collusion with the russians . Alan even if it had been collusion, collusion is not a crime. Conspiracy is a crime, but it has to be to commit an unlawful act. Any kind of collusion i will give you the most extreme case this didnt happen, but hypothetically, if an candidate trump called Vladimir Putin and said, hey, vlad, i want to be president , you wonder get rid of sanctions, anything of the become president nicest is, you have a person in office to help you with sanctions, that would be a terrible thing but it wouldnt be a crime. Collusion itself is not a crime. Rajini going back to Michael Flynn and his statement that he released today, he said one of the reasons he was cooperating with for his family. Is there any suggestion he may have done this to perhaps protect his son . Alan oh, more than a suggestion. Of course he did it to protect the son. I think we can assume the deal was that his son would not be fathers do that all the time. It also makes him a less credible witness. Any good terminal defense attorney would say, ladies and ury, heen of the ju would do anything to protect his son. He would make up stories to create evidence to a better deal for his son. He is a worthless witness, but perhaps a valuable source of information by which mueller could go and get more credible witnesses or documentary evidence. By himself, he is not a particularly useful when his rajini fascinating stuff. Thank you for joining us, alan dershowitz. Every time ago we got the view from our political analyst ron christie, who served in the administration of george w. Bush. Widely reported that it was jared kushner, the president s soninlaw, who to make Michael Flynn contact with the Russian Ambassador. Be cast could this net now . Ron the wide net that you might find is all the people on the president s Transition Team. Who are the members of that team . Is it ivanka trump, jared kushner, k. T. Mcfarland . There is any number of ways the special counsels office would go. I would caution your viewers, though, of one thing. Having served on a president ial transition, you are legally obligated, you are legally bound to talk to officials so that on january 20, you hit the ground running. So much of the media accounts today are, oh, look how terrible this is that he lied to the fbi that is general flynn and he wasnt being forthcoming about his contacts with the russians. But if i was having contacts with the domestic policy advisor on my end, i would think it is reasonable that the president s National Security advisor would be reaching out to foreign officials. Rajini Michael Flynn served very little time as National Security adviser. He was fired because he lied to mike pence about his contacts with the russians. How much of a fallout do you think there might be within president trumps close team about who might have known what . Ron that is an excellent question. From a legal matter, not so much. From a political standpoint, this is a bombshell. Now you have infiltrated the gates of the white house. General flynn was the president s National Security adviser for 25 days. You have to say yourself, what other activities was he engaged in as it related to discussions with foreign officials that could implicate others who were then on a Transition Team who are now still within the gates of the white house . Of course, if you are looking at the president s soninlaw, i that could be very significant on any number of levels. I think theres a lot more the special counsel will be looking at in the days to come. Rajini it is interesting, when you look at the white house Statement Today we have not had a tweet from the president on this, and he loves to tweet but the white house distancing themselves from saying that Michael Flynns admission of guilt implicates only himself. Ron that is true from a legal matter, but from the political perspective we heard from senator warner and congressman schiff, they are going to be beating the drum on this for weeks to come. While the president s lawyer and his team are saying, well, we hope the special counsel will wrap up soon, i think we are in for many weeks if not months to go with the president s inner circle. Rajini how damaging could this be for the base . Ron for the base, not very damaging at all. As we have seen from the tweets and retweets the president has done with very bigoted material earlier this week, they love it. If i am a trump base person, im going to say, rajini, they are coming after donald trump, they are trying to steal the election from him. They will dig in tighter. Rajini what reaction will we expect from donald trump . Ron this being donald trump, his hands are itching at the keyboard waiting for the staff to go home for night so he can get to his favorite occupation of being on twitter. We will hear a lot from them this weekend he will say fake news, i didnt break the law, no collusion, move on. Rajini ok, ron christie, thanks for now. Ron good to see you. Rajini in other news from around the world, German Police have evacuated a Christmas Market after a suspicious parcel was found nearby. They found that the package contained an improvised nail bomb. Security has been beefed up at Christmas Markets across germany after 20 people were killed in a terrorist attack on a market last year. It is up to ireland to decide whether britains latest offer on brexit is acceptable, according to the president of the european council. At a joint News Conference in dublin, he said europe was fully behind irelands insistence that there should be no hard border with the u. K. After britain leaves the eu. The subject could prevent brexit negotiations for moving onto the next phase two weeks from now. For the first time during his trip to asia, pope francis used the word rohingya after meeting with refugees in bangladesh. Just days ago, he avoided the term during a visit to myanmar, where the government does not recognize the group by their ethnic identity. More than 620,000 Rohingya Refugees have fled myanmar since august. Our religious Affairs Correspondent Martin Bashir is traveling with the pope, and sent this report. Martin on the fifth day of his visit to south asia, pope francis arrives in a typically unpretentious style at an interfaith gathering in dhaka. In the audience were 16 rohingya adults and children who fled from myanmar. One of them was a 12yearold. Her entire family lived in a village in Rakhine State when the army arrived in september. In recalling what happened, she said, they shouted, you rohingyas, you bengalis, and then killed everyone. They killed my aunt and uncle and others in the village. They killed my whole family. My four brothers, my sister, and my parents are dead. I have no one left. A Catholic Charity brought her to the capital from one of the camps where more than 600,000 rohingyas have fled for shelter. The pope invited the refugees onto the stage and bless all of them, including her. Having not used the word once during his visit, he decided to give a name to the people and their suffering. The presence of god today, he said, is also called rohingya. The value of the popes intervention was highlighted by aid agencies working with the dispossessed. It is very important the pope keeping this up in the publics imagination. To continue to talk about the issue, continue to advocate for the rohingya, because we worry that this will become another forgotten crisis in the coming months more Something Else happens in the world, and the rohingyas will be no longer in the media. Martin a papal visit brought global attention to the suffering and comfort to a child who has lost everything. Martin bashir, bbc news, bangladesh. Rajini you are watching bbc world news america. Still to come on tonights program, what will the world be . S biggest matchups anticipation builds after todays draw. The Argentine Navy has abandoned efforts to rescue the crew of a submarine which disappeared two weeks ago with 44 people on board. The navy says the search will continue, but is looking for the wreck of the submarine on the seabed. Aircraft and ships from 18 countries have covered 70 of the search area. It has caused consternation of anger of the relatives of those on board. Reporter it was a routine mission. Some of the crew had been working on the san juan for several years. But talks of finding any survivors had already faded. The Argentine Navy has now confirmed it is no longer arrest of effort, but a mission to recover the vessel from the south atlantic. We have extended the search by more than double the number that wouldde make rescuing the crew possibility. Having analyzed the crew received by our units, Different Countries and agencies participating in the operation, the Defense Ministry and the navy declare it is time to move to the next phase. Reporter the san juan left the southern tip of argentina two weeks ago. Journeyon a 2000while back when she reported an electrical failure. The same day, there was the sound of a suspected explosion. It is further devastating news for the families of the 43 men and one woman on board. The 35yearold was the first female officer in argentina to serve on a submarine. An investigation into the submarines disappearance has been ordered by argentinas president. Some family members have accused the navy of lying to them and giving false hope, but the navy denies any failure in the search operation. Others say a lack of investment and corruption in the armed forces could have made the san juan and safe. Unsafe. Rajini soccer fans around the globe held their breath today as they learned who will play whom in the 2018 world cup. The 32 qualifying teams split into 8 groups in todays draw. The ceremony took place in russia, the country hosting next years tournament. Who got lucky, and who didnt . To explain it all, i was joined a short time ago by our soccer analyst tommie smith. Who are the winners in this . Tommie he must be living his life right, because england in my opinion got a really good draw. They got drawn against panama, newcomers, and that would be the first game. When you get off to a good start in the world cup, things go well for you. Then they got tunisia. Ok, they got belgium. Belgium has not beaten them since way back in the 30s, and so many of these players play in england with belgium and their there is a golden generation of belgian players, but you have 2 spurs players playing against 2 spurs players. England and belgium will probably be the winners of that group. And there is a lot of teams to look pretty good. France got themselves a reasonable draw. Germany looking for two in a row. They look like they got a pretty good group as well. The russians themselves, im not sure. We dont have a defined group. Theres is probably the group of light, because any of them can win it. Saudi arabia, egypt, or uruguay, i think any of those can come out of that group. Im calling out the group of light. Rajini saudi arabiarussia are is going to be opening game because russia is the host next year. Tommy always a big day in the world cup when the first game comes along, and it gives you the advantage being the host. The problem with being the host there is a lot of political overtures, or undertures, whatever you like to call them, at this meeting. Brady got a get yourself a victory. If you are the host and dont get yourself a victory the first day, you are looking at problems after that. Rajini and the launch today in russia was attended by Vladimir Putin. What else did we see earlier . Tommie we saw mariana in an outfit he never should have been in. You know, it is the usual hoopla, and everybody talks about all of these things Everybody Knows before hand. I dont buy into that at all. I think was fairly well handled. It looked very glamorous, and putin spoke for a while, and he obviously has an interest. But does that interest translate into making a very successful world cup . That is what we have to worry about. Rajini just before you go, who are you going to put your money on . Tommy im putting my money on france or germany. The french have a very good young team. I think they will be very good. The germans, you can never count them out. Theyre going for two in a row. Not many teams have won it to two in a row. One team to keep in mind when you are handicapping the world cup 20 world cups have been won by 20 teams managed by the nationals in that country. The manager has always been from the country that won the world cup. No foreign manager has taken the team to the world cup finals and won it. Keep that in mind when you are handicapping it. Rajini i will put my money on whoever you are. Thanks for joining us. Tommy thank you. Rajini days after announcing they were getting married, prince harry and his fiancee, Meghan Markle, have carried out their official public first engagement. Crowds of wellwishers greeted them in the city of nottingham, where the couple visited a charity fair and then went to a local school. Nicholas witchell has more. Nicholas as an actress, she has been used to a public stage. Shes accustomed to meeting crowds and in dealing with fans. Little surprise that Meghan Markle handled her first appearance in her new role with considerable confidence. Husbandtobe was on hand. There was a lot of eye contact between them and supportive arms going around each others backs. At times they met the crowds together, but then meghan branched off on her own, stopping and taking time with people. While harry did the same thing on his side of the streets. Moments later, they were reunited, the cue for more back rubbing. This clearly is a team effort. The new recruit seems a natural. She will do hundreds and hundreds of events like this in the years to come, but she will remember this one, her First Official encounter with the british public. And the verdict on her performance . I think she is great. Good addition to the royal family. An american mixed kid. Mixed in the royal family now. We are just so excited that they have come to nottingham for the first public appearance, and we are very excited about the wedding in may. Nicholas the couple heard about the work of the Terrence Higgins trust, the charity that has worked for years to help people suffering from hivaids. It is a cause that harry along with meghan wants to take forward in tribute to his late mother. At a local college, they heard about the efforts to help young people keep out of trouble. Serious issues to which harry through a Charitable Trust is devoting serious attention. But through all that, there is no doubt who sparkled the most today, the woman with the diamond. I saw her ring, and the diamond is massive. It is absolutely gorgeous. Just knowing that you are sitting near meghan and prince harry, it is jawdropping. It is really nice. Nicholas glittering future, then . It seems to augur well. Nicholas witchell, bbc news, nottingham. Rajini lets get a quick reminder of our top story today. President trumps former National Security advisor Michael Flynn has pleaded guilty to line to the fbi about his contacts with russias ambassador to the u. S. Mr. Flynn is the most senior former official to be charged in the investigation, exploring russian meddling in the u. S. President ial election. He says he will cooperate with special counsel robert mueller. You can find more on that story and the rest of the days news on our website. I am rajini vaidyanathan. Ask for watching us here on world news america. Have a wonderful weekend. With the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through the news of the day and stay up to date with the latest headlines you can trust. Download now from selected app stores. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. You can find it here in aruba. Families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. Nonstop flights are available from most major airports. More information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. Bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening. Im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight the investigation into any russia connection to last years Trump Campaign landed at the doorstep of the president himself today, with a guilty plea from his former National Security adviser, Michael Flynn. Then, after another round of urgent, lastminute dealmaking, republicans push ahead with their massive tax bill in the senate. A look inside the sweeping plan, and what it means for americans. And its friday. Mark shields and Michael Gerson take on a packed week of news. All that and more, on tonights pbs newshour