Transcripts For BBCNEWS 100 Days 20170207

And the Supreme Leader of iran says his country will stand firm in the face of american threats. Ayatollah kahmeini urges huge protests this friday, for the anniversary of the 1979 revolution. Hello and welcome to 100 days. From the moment she was first introduced in late november as President Trumps nominee for education secretary, betsy devos has been taking the heat. Shes a millionaire Christian Conservative philanthropist who critics said knew very little about the job she was up for. And she was widely ridiculed in her Confirmation Hearings when she was asked about having guns in schools. You cant say definitively today that guns shouldnt be in schools . Well, i. Iwill that guns shouldnt be in schools . Well, i. I will refer back to the senator and the school that he was talking about in wyoming. I think probably there i would imagine that theres probably a gun in the school to protect from potential grizzlies. Not her finest to protect from potential grizzlies. Not herfinest moment. Her support for directing taxpayers dollars to privately run schools, and her efforts to re shape education in her home state of michigan made her the most high Profile Target of democratic opposition. The democrats in the senate promised to stop her. Two republicans said they would also vote against her. The vote was suddenly split at 50 50. But in the last hour betsy devos has been confirmed. 0n on this vote, the yeas are 50, the noes are 50. Only after the unprecedented intervention of the Vice President mike pence, who had to come to the senate to give his casting vote and ensure the president got his way. The White House Press secretary is speaking, lets listen to a little of what he has been saying. The fact we had to get to the point where the Vice President had to be pulled in to ove rco m e Vice President had to be pulled in to overcome the partisan logjam is another glaring reminder of the unprecedented obstruction the Senate Democrats have engaged in throughout this process. Obstruction is exactly the word democrats used to use about republicans. Ive been speaking to the democratic senator chris coons, who is also a member of the judiciary and Foreign Relations committee. I think you said you were notjust voting no on betsy devos but no way on the education secretary that donald trump wants his cabinet. Whats so wrong with her . Thats right, i voted whats so wrong with her . Thats right, ivoted no whats so wrong with her . Thats right, i voted no way today. No small part because of the river of calls, e mails and letters ive got from people from delaware who watched her Confirmation Hearing very closely and followed the whole process of her coming to the floor and said to me with a single voice that she is utterly unqualified to serve as secretary of education. She has no classroom experience, she has no school, School District management or leadership experience. She has not ever had a degree in education or hands on experience of Public Education except for having dedicated millions of dollars and yea rs of dedicated millions of dollars and years of her life for advocating for vouchers, a vehicle for defunding traditional Public Schools. She has also advocated for access to taxpayer dollars through vouchers without accountability. It is her disastrous consequences in michigan and because of that record and are very wea k and because of that record and are very weak performance in her Confirmation Hearing that i voted no way. As you suggest the senate phones have been jammed way. As you suggest the senate phones have beenjammed with democrats and supporters of democrats and supporters of democrats calling in to say they oppose betsy devos. Democratic senators were up on oppose betsy devos. Democratic senators were up on the floor all night long with a parliamentary stunned to try and stop her confirmation, and yet you failed. 0n this confirmation that you have put so much effort into opposing, democrats have failed. Doesnt say much for your ability to oppose the president. This will be the first time in American History a Vice President has to be called in to cast the tie breaking vote to make it possible for Cabinet Nominee to advance. It is a reminder that in a 5248 advance. It is a reminder that in a 52 48 Republican Controlled Senate we will only be able to stop President Trumps Road Nominees if we are able to persuade more than two republicans to cross the Aisle Andjoin two republicans to cross the aisle and join us. Given the disastrous confirmation of betsy devos, her record of opposition to traditional Public Schools and her thin record of positive ideas for how to improve education im really stunned that we werent able to persuade one more republican to the aisle and join with us in voting no way against betsy devos. So what does it say about your future chances of opposing Donald Trumps agenda . Even in this case when the public did seem to call in and make their voices heard you did not get those republicans to support you, what are you going to do for the next four yea rs you going to do for the next four years to oppose this agenda . M you going to do for the next four years to oppose this agenda . It is greatly concerning that we here in congress with republican control of house and senate arent able to make Real Progress in stopping donald trump unless there is a groundswell of opposition that is heard by republicans. Ive gotten, as you mentioned, thousands of calls, e mails and letters, but i was likely to be a no vote given the record of betsy devos in her Confirmation Hearing. I dont know that a Combo Double Volume of calls and e mails were sent to wavering republicans. Donald trumps dizzying and concerning a Ladder Match Putin and concerning a Ladder Match Putin and distancing of our vital allies, from australia to nato to the uk, whether a comparable volume of opposition is being heard in republican offices, thats what it is going to take. Ok, so for the next four years, with due respect to yourself as a male democratic senator, it looks pretty much like the democrats are emasculated in trying to fight President Trump. We arent going to have a difficult Uphill Battle against President Trump without mobilisation from the grassroots, speaking to republicans in the senate. But ill tell you that some of the unmeasured, im careful, unbalanced actions from President Trump in just his first two weeks have raised real alarm with republican senators in congress. Just in the last day President Trump attacking a Sitting Federaljudge in Washington State caused real concern notjust for senator ben sass who has stood up to President Trump but for mitch mcconnell, who said that the so called muslim ban was perhaps still considered and that attacking individual judges still considered and that Attacking Individualjudges was uncalled for. I think as President Trump engages in more and more outlandish actions you will see greater and greater concern among republican senators. Thanks very much. Thank you. The president has such a Skeletal Tea M the president has such a skeletal team at the moment. Lets show people be top picks in his cabinet. Here are 15 people. The top line have been confirmed. Ten are still to go through the process and get the vote of the senate. In his first ten days president 0bama had ten Cabinet Picks confirmed. In 17 days donald trump has secured just five. 0ther Democrats proving a point here . Right, donald trump likes making history, right . This is the slowest Confirmation Hearing process for any cabinet since george washington. Im not sure hes going to love that bit of history but thats what the democrats have decided to do. Senator kunz said they needed to mobilise the grassroots. Im just wondering if this is something to coalesce around. Is this going to prove a point to the democratic grassroots . I think what the democrats are deciding is that they have no interest in trying to combo mice with republicans compromise with republicans, they wont get anything from the white house seems to be the calculation. For eight years republicans basically said no to resident 0bama and the Republican Party is in great shape. The calculation of the democrats, being the party of obstruction did not hurt the republicans. My question is do they have the stomach for being the party of opposition, they havent always liked being in that position. Its going to be interesting watching their strategy. Ididnt interesting watching their strategy. I didnt think chris coons sounded very confident of their chances of opposing President Trumps agenda. Democrats say they cant confirm the outstanding candidates because of complications with their tax affairs, Share Holdings and conflicts of interest. Today they got another reason. Mr trumps pick for Labor Secretary has confirmed he employed an undocumented immigrant as a housekeeper. In a statement Andrew Pudzer said he immediately ended her employment when he learned of her status. But this could delay his confirmation even further. President trump has had another busy day he has been meeting with County Sheriffs and veterans to talk about his travel restrictions, he has also been reaching out to foreign leaders. A whitehouse statement said the president had phone calls scheduled today with both the spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy and turkish president tayyip erdogan. Trumps nominee for the Supreme Court, neil gorsuch, has been Holding Meetings to try to smooth his Confirmation Process. Today hes been to see republican senator mike crapo who sits on the judiciary committee. Last week crapo praised gorsuch, saying he has a strong background of legal experience and knowlege. and, back to those Cabinet Picks. One of the few who has been confirmed is Rex Tillerson at the state department. Trump is due to meet later with secretary tillerson and former state Department Official Elliot Abrams whos believed to be under consideration for deputy secretary. Abrams last served in government in the bush white house. There were more developments on brexit in Parliament Today katty. You will remember they are debating the brexit bill. During that debate the government minister david jones said there will now be a parliamentary vote on the deal so mps will get a say at the end of the negotiation with the eu. We intend that the vote will cover not only with the Withdrawal Arrangements but also the future relationship with the european union. And furthermore i can confirm that the government will bring forward a motion on the final agreement to be approved by both houses of parliament before it is concluded. And we expect and intend that this will happen before the European Parliament debates and votes on the final agreement. Tom bateman is At Westminster for us. This is what the Opposition Labour Party were hoping for, a vote on a deal. If they vote no, what happens, then . Well, this was one of the questions asked to david jones, the brexit minister that youve just seen there in the commons. Well, you know, if Parliament Rejects the negotiated deal, what next . He said essentially we would fall back on International Trade rules, so that would involve ta riffs trade rules, so that would involve tariffs and things like that. Whether or not he meant to go that far is unclear tonight. Certainly the concession he offered in saying giving a verbal guarantee, if you like, that the British Parliament would get a say on that final brexit deal seemed to be enough to buy off any potential opposition. Its intriguing actually that it was enough to see off a potential rebellion. What is happening is a grappling for control of the brexit process. Members of parliament want to have their say, and they want that say to be stamped into law. And the government is very keen to have the government is very keen to have the right to go to the other Member States and negotiate as the British Government and not having to keep coming back to parliament. It looks as though some mps want to Add Conditions to the bill to trigger article 50. The government remains on track to have control of the process. Meanwhile back row. The row that surrounds the Commons Speakerjohn Bercow is still rumbling. He faced further criticism for voicing his opposition to President Trump addressing the parliament during the state visit lets listen to what nigel farage had to say about it a few hours ago. The whole point of the speaker is that he is the neutral chairman of the forum for debate. And he has breached those bounds of neutrality ina way breached those bounds of neutrality in a way that i have never seen before. He has also added to that, been deeply insulting towards the president of the usa, whether you like him or hate him, ithink president of the usa, whether you like him or hate him, i think some of the term is applied to him were outrageous. And i think he should go very quickly. Nigel farage, there. Not surprising that he would come out against speaker burke out on this issue. I wa nt to speaker burke out on this issue. I want to ask you more broadly, was this an own goal for people who dont want donald trump to come on that state visit to address parliament Question Mark as it brought out more voices in support of mrtrump, brought out more voices in support of mr trump, perhaps. Intriguing question. Just as the debate has been had in the us about how do you handle donald trump, this completely unorthodox nonpolitician is now in the most powerful political role in the most powerful political role in the world. We have now had the same dynamic happening here in the uk because of course that very trenchant opposition, with the speaker coming out, somebody in a traditionally neutral role, said he was opposed to him speaking in parliament because he was opposed to racism and sexism. What it has triggered today is a bit of a backlash and a number of conservative mps in the uk saying, look, whats more important is the uks relationship with its historical ally, with the United States, and therefore what this requires is diplomacy, and not, as one mp put it, the referee to get involved in the game. I dont think its enough to see off mr bercow, there is not much weight of opinion behind it, but it has added to the view for some to stay a bit more quiet and to try and gain traction and leveraged with the white house behind the scenes. And leveraged with the white house behindthescenes. So interesting. 0pponents behindthescenes. So interesting. Opponents of donald trump on both sides of the atlantic trying to figure out how to best advance their case. In the clearest admission yet that the president s controversial travel ban had been mishandled, the head of Homeland Securityjohn kelly told congress this morning that that he wished the rollout of the Executive Order had been delayed so that he could have prepared lawmakers in advance. A panel of federal appeal judges are considering whether to reinstate the ban later today, President Trump has said that if he doesnt get his way he is prepared to go to the Supreme Court. Were going to take it through the system. Its very important for the country regardless of me or whoever succeeds at a later date. We have to have security in our country, we have to have the ability. When you take some place like syria you take all of the different people. And if you remember isis said we are going to infiltrate the United States and other countries through the migration. And then were not allowed to be tough on the people coming in . Explain that one. So well see what happens, we have a big court case where were well represented and were going to see what happens. This is going to be something of a long legal battle for the white house, i suspect. Lets talk now to governor tim pawlenty the republican representative for minnesota from 2003 until 2011. You were a lawyer. Should the appeals court, now that its about to hear the case from thejustice department, from the white house on this, reinstate, using, the president s travel ban . They may or they may have a mixed result. The circuit hearing this is notably liberal in its traditions, san francisco, seattle and other places, so that may not be the best Home Court Advantage for the administration. Wanting to keep an eye on, there is difference that should be paid under the law to the president in International Security matters. It will be curious to see how much weight they put on that. You are a republican but youve also been pretty critical of donald trump. During the campaign you once said that he was unfit for office and you werent going to vote for him. What do you think about the travel ban more broadly . him. What do you think about the travel ban more broadly . I think he campaigned on it, nearly half the country campaigned on it, nearly half the cou ntry voted campaigned on it, nearly half the country voted for him and for that approach. And we need to strike the right islands between illegal immigration and our security. In the past it has been out of balance and out of control to some degree. And this is only a 90 day ban, so the idea that it is somehow permanent or going to be more than what has been sent it is overreaching. You are from minnesota, one of the largest muslim populations in the United States, im sure you are aware that many muslims see this as religious this cremation, im sure they do in your home state as well. How does america get round the perception that it has taken up a position that seems antithetical to its constitution . Again, we certainly appreciate immigration. The very idea of american exceptionalism. These are Refugee Patterns from some of the most troubled countries in the world, places you would probably not travel yourself without fear for your security. These arent the only muslim countries in the world. It is a band limited to 90 days on seven countries that some the most troubled in the world, i dont think. I wonder if i could get your thoughts on the comments from the speaker of the parliament here in london, mr bercow, who voiced his opposition to donald trump addressing mps and peers in parliament. He says our opposition to racism and sexism and our support for Equality Before The Law and an independent judiciary are for Equality Before The Law and an independentjudiciary are hugely important to us. Is that a slap in the face for republicans . Those are some of the concerns i shed in the campaign about candidate donald trump, but he is the president of the United States. For this gentleman, i am the United States. For this gentleman, iam not the United States. For this gentleman, i am not familiar with him, to work to disinvite him from speaking to parliament is something he may want to take into consideration. Hes going to need donald trump for things like helping with the Bilateral Trade Agreement after brexit. So are those concerned something that rational . 0f after brexit. So are those concerned something that rational . Of course, but you have to look at the whole relationship. Sticking his thumb in the eyes of President Trump may not be in the best interests of the uk when it comes to negotiating a trade deal. Precisely. When you look at those whove been to address parliament, weve had the america kuwait, xi xinping of china. Kuwait are allowed to address parliament but not your president. Thats what you call a double standard. This is an individual who is obviously playing games and not acting in the best interests of his country. Very briefly, i wanted to ask you, you are also involved in financial services, there has been a big business backlash against this travel ban, what are you hearing . Business leaders are generally in favour of legal rational immigration. 0ur organisation hasnt taken a formal position but many Business Leaders are concerned or opposed in their individual or corporate capacity is. Thank you for coming in. If you follow mr trumps twitter account, youll know that when the president is awake, he usually has a view on something. And this morning, it was this that is a reference to mr trumps comments on Fox News On Sunday about president putin being a killer, and the other part of that tweet is of course his rising frustration with iran and the nuclear deal that was signed by his predecessor. Well, in iran today, the Supreme Leader ayatollah khameini said President Trump had revealed what he called the real face of america. Lets talk more about the iranian reaction with Rana Rahimpour from the bbcs persian service. The white house said the ayatollah needs to recognise there is a new president in town and donald trump will take actions as he sees fit. There are many different factions in iran, they will not all see it in the same way, why dont you just give us an impression of how donald trump is perceived in iran. Although there are different factions in iran, anti american is is in every faction. So that is universal . If you can call it universal in iran, yes. In order to be part of the establishment you have to be anti american. 0f Establishment you have to be anti american. Of course there are different degrees of being anti american. The most radical would be the Supreme Leader and some of his closest allies. I think president rouhani and the Foreign Minister and the people involved in the Nuclear Negotiation last year, they are more pragmatic. And in the long term they would prefer to have some sort of relationship with america. But they dont see that happening any time soon. We keep bringing these eminent republicans onto the set and i keep asking them, arent you going to undermine the moderates here . Each one says the hardliners in iran are undermining the moderates. How would you see it . Is he pushing the moderates to the side . He definitely is, he definitely is. What happened today, one of the leaders of the opposition came out and said that on the 10th Of February which is the anniversary of february which is the anniversary of the Iranians Republic and every year there are huge demonstrations, he asked the opposition to join that, and he said that if it comes to defending our country, we are all united and we are together and we have to put aside our disagreements. So whats happening is that its actually mobilising people, and thats exactly what the Supreme Leader once. This is a great gift to the Supreme Leader. Despite all the differences, he now has this course, and hes going to ask people to get together and be in his side and be anti american. Together and be in his side and be antiamerican. Ok, just very quickly because we havent got very long, there is this getting together on friday, the anniversary of the revolution, should we be watching numbers on the streets for a sign as to the mood in town . Its very difficult to find out how many of those people are there because they genuinely still believe in the causes of the Islamic Republic and the revolution that happened in 1979, or how many are there because its almost like a street festival, there are food stalls and a lot is going on. So many people are there out of curiosity or to get gift bags. Its very difficult to say whats the real reason for people to go out there. Thank you very much. Rana willjoin go out there. Thank you very much. Rana will join me go out there. Thank you very much. Rana willjoin me for Facebook Live tonight. Youre watching one hundred days from bbc news. Still to come for viewers on the bbc news channel and Bbc World News fighting for theirfutures in france as a former president and a candidate from the same party face separate scandals weve the latest reaction from paris. The weather is certainly going to be a lot better this evening compared to what we had yesterday, in fact some clearer skies today across the west of the uk and A Touch Of Frost, but this is not the case for everybody. Some wind and a bit of Rain Flirting with the eastern counties of the uk and some showers occurring across the south west of the country and those showers will continue, at least for a time into tonight. Some Western Areas getting missed, fog patches and A Touch Of Frost. Around freezing very early on wednesday morning. Zooming into the south for rush hour, the weather is looking quite across cornwall, devon, somerset, wiltshire, most of wales. Thick cloud across the midlands, the southeast. All the way up midlands, the southeast. All the way up the spine of the country, particularly eastern areas, thicker cloud. Patchy rain. It will not feel doesnt in the morning, leeds and hull, 4 degrees, outbreaks of rain. This is the frost across Western Areas. Northern ireland, western isles, at least inland away from the coast, touch of frost. 0n isles, at least inland away from the coast, touch of frost. On wednesday it remains fairly cloudy. We may start to see that whether changing, transitioning into something a little bit colder, those Cold Easterly Winds starting to set in. Norwich only a high of three degrees, newcastle four degrees. Still some sunshine and maybe temperatures of seven to nine across Western Areas. Wednesday evening we will see A Touch Of Frost again, so thursday morning frosty across parts of the uk, and then that colder air well and truly establishes itself across the uk for thursday. So, nippy wind, temperatures dropping, low single figures for most of us. Three degrees across yorkshire, only six in plymouth, four in belfast. That Cold Willjust become more apparent through the course of friday until we get some wintry showers, initially, we are thinking across yorkshire, north east, possibly eastern scotland, and look at these temperatures, only three degrees. Summary for the end of the week, cold, biting easterly wind, rather cloudy and occasional snow showers. Welcome back to 100 days im katty kay in washington, christian frasers in london. A reminder of our top story. For the first time in American History the Vice President has been forced to vote in order to confirm a Cabinet Nominee. And coming up, how do mexicans in texas feel about the planned border wall which should be under construction within two years we learned today. Lets turn to france. Lets turn to the Fun And Games of the french president ial election. The centre right candidate Francois Fillon is tumbling in the polls over allegations he paid his wife a salary for work she didnt do. Today we learn the former president Nicolas Sarkozy from the same Party Will Stand Trial over allegations of fraud, relating to the financing of his failed campaign in 2012. Christian, you covered french politics for a long time. Three or four senior french politicians under investigation of some kind. All those at the top of the polls fighting some allegation. Marine le pen Facing Allegation she paid her bodyguard from European Parliamentary funds. Now this mysterious story following Emmanuel Macron that he has been leading a double life of some kind, and allegation that he is married to his former teacher but has a gay lover. He hasjoked former teacher but has a gay lover. He has joked that off and said last night physically im so busy im not up night physically im so busy im not up to that. But the real problem is for the right wing party, now called the republicans. And of course Nicolas Sarkozy also obtained the party because theyre looking into his campaignfinancing. Party because theyre looking into his campaign financing. I followed him into thousand 12 and these were really high pitch events, champagne and people with flags and this is one here in front of the eiffel tower. People saying this is great but how is he paying for this. Because there is a 22 Million Euros cap on president ial campaign funding. It turns out this Event Company where Writing Outfalls in voice is which they passed onto Nicolas Sarkozy does not party to the tune of 18 Million Euros. The big question for the magistrates and this is where sarkozy comes in, did he know about it and did he ordered his office to follow those built in a different direction. So lets talk about those polls with brunojeambart from the 0pinionway. It is clear it is bad news for Francois Fillon who was the favourite for the french president ial election because after five years of false or her longed people are dissatisfied with the way things are going on in the country. Francois hollande. So they wanted a right wing candidate is the best way for them to change. But now it seems it is going to be a very Difficult Campaign for him. The problem is he cannot talk about anything except this affair. Of course the man profiting from this is Emmanuel Macron and yet he has not yet put out a manifesto and of course he was a former minister in the socialist government that was so unpopular. That is one of the mysteries of this election, the fact that people are really dissatisfied with the last government but for the moment the new favourite is someone who was a minister for two years, minister of the economy and also before the campaign he wrote the president s Economic Programme and was his economic counsellor for two yea rs. Was his economic counsellor for two years. That is the strange situation and the strangest thing is that he is gathering people from the left and the bright and it is difficult to know how it can last the course obviously when he has to explain what is going to do if elected, it is possible but some people both from the left and from the right are going to be disappointed by what he is proposing. I was wondering whether you have noticed in europe polling as you dig into it whether you can see anything of what might be called the trump effect on the french candidates, either that helps or does not help Marine Le Pen . French candidates, either that helps or does not help marine le pemm is difficult to say because we know for a long time it is always difficult to measure the level of support for the national front, difficult to measure the level of support for the nationalfront, the far right has always been underestimated in the polls and we know for a long time, in 2002 when her father went know for a long time, in 2002 when herfather went on know for a long time, in 2002 when her father went on the run we did not see it in the polls. So were used to that and in the last election we did not have this problem with her but obviously with what has happened with trump in the us we are pretty worried about that and pretty worried also about what is going on with Francois Fillon. This clear that now the media are very strong and strong against him. And we really think that maybe we also could have this kind of effect on him because it seems to be in the new difficulties but perhaps some right voters do not want to admit that they will vote for him in three months. This is interesting because this is what happened in cullingworth donald trump, he does better in online and Telephone Poles because people do not necessarily wa nt to because people do not necessarily want to tell pollsters that they him. There is a similarity because Marine Le Pen is the disruptor and does not have a party system behind a bit like donald trump when he arrived at the white house. So she probably would not win in the second round anyway because she will boost to the other candidates but Dodgy A Nyway to the other candidates but dodgy anyway have the infrastructure to runa anyway have the infrastructure to run a government . Well christian weve talked a lot about the Immigration Ban ordered by President Trump and one of those caught up in it was an iraqi translator who worked extensively with the us government. Yes, he spent six years getting a visa to come to america only to be pulled off a plane in turkey when the ban went into effect. The bbc has followed his familys journey to start a new life in the us. I was scheduled to depart on the sist i was scheduled to depart on the 31st of january. We i was scheduled to depart on the 31st ofjanuary. We heard i was scheduled to depart on the 31st of january. We heard there would be a new Executive Order that could affect us. When they took us off the plane i was shaking, my world had ended. It was shaking, my world had ended. It was a devastating moment. Hopefully this time everything will be ok, hopefully. Fingers crossed. Ido be ok, hopefully. Fingers crossed. I do not know how to describe how im feeling right now. Finally, it was a struggle. How do you feel now . I super, so much excited and happy. A week ago i felt like everything had just fallen apart. Now im feeling very blessed and privilege to be here. I want to go to the Statue Of Liberty and see ellis island. We always see it on movies and stuff but i cannot believe im going to see it for real. The Homeland Security secretary said today that he expects a wall on the Us Mexico Border to be well under way within the next two years. Secretaryjohn kelly said the wall would be some kind of physical barrier, perhaps including a fence in some places. So how are people on both sides of the border reacting to these plans . In the next few weeks, our colleagues from the bbcs Mundo Service will be trying to find out. Heres a taste of Whatjuan Paullier discovered in el paso in texas. From almost anywhere here in El Paso In Southern Texas you can see the Mexican Cityjust on the other side of the border. But despite being divided by the fence for almost a decade, there is a tight bond between both communities. Many people here cross the border every day to go to work, to go to school, or to do some shopping. I have been talking to people here about their worries about what President Trumps policies will mean for the area and there is uncertainty about what impact it will have for these two deeply connected cities. Juan paullier reporting from el paso in texas. I want to talk about the democratic Minority Leader in the senate, hes been Meeting Supreme Court nominee neal course such and said he felt asked the questions he wanted especially when it comes to his independence. He said he asked questions about things like the muslim ban and conflict of interest issues with President Trump and did not get a satisfactory answer. Right at the start of the programme with spoke about the democrats gearing up for another big confirmation fight over the Supreme Court judge. For another big confirmation fight over the Supreme Courtjudge. And trying really to sort out what their Opposition Strategy is going to be. It sounds from the most senior democrat in the senate that going to fight that hard. And it is about the worst cabinet ive seen, another line flashing up. And that is why it has been the slowest Confirmation Process in history of the United States. But it looks as if if he gets betsy devos he will get the rest as well. Thats it for todays programme you can follow us on social media with the hashtag one hundred days. And ill be on Facebook Live straight after the programme talking trumps foreign policy. Be good to have your company then. And well be back at the same time tomorrow. Good bye. Hello. This is bbc news. The headlines. The government has defeated an amendment to the final draft Brexit Agreement before its put to the European Parliament. 0pposition Mps wanted to be able to approve any treaty the government wants to put forward. Us government lawyers had to the courts to try to reimpose the donald trump travel ban. A jailed royal marine goes to court to appeal his conviction for murdering an injured afghan fighter. An update on the Market Numbers for you heres how london and frankfurt ended the day. And in the United States this is how the dow and the nasdaq are getting on. Fixing the broken Housing Market in england that was the pledge from the government today as it set out new plans to build a million new homes by 2020. The new strategy includes putting more pressure on councils and better deals for people who rent. Labour says the measures are feeble beyond belief. From manchester, our home editor mark easton reports. This part of england could be seen as a test bed for central governments housing ambitions. Local councils recently produced a joint plan for the new homes they say must be delivered if Greater Manchester is to become the engine for a northern powerhouse. Creating the jobs that will drive the growth will need, councils estimate, another 227,000 homes in the next 20 years. Some on Greater Manchesters green belt. The ink was barely dry on the draft plan before the protests began. Demonstrations have been held across the region in recent weeks. At least nine of the local mps, both labour and tory, have come out against the proposals. Todays white paper demands Councils Come up with realistic plans for delivering the houses their area needs. Four this side and four that side. But these campaigners dont think Greater Manchesters plan is realistic in the slightest. The campaign to save burys green belt is adamant the proposal to turn farmland into a new Residential Community is based on faulty logic. I know we need housing, but use the brownfield first. Theres 11,000 empty homes in Greater Manchester, get them filled up and then start looking at greenfield. But those looking to restore Greater Manchesters industrial greatness say it cant grow unless it builds. We are not in the business of tearing up the green belt. We believe we have looked at the brownfield land supply all across the conurbation and that we cannot accommodate our Growth Without taking a small part of green land into account as part