Making his First Official appearance since the election was called. Hes staying mum, though, letting his allies and his tweets do the talking. Also in the programme 50,000 people have now died of covid 19 in the uk, europes highest recorded number of deaths. Plus, meet the potato head of palencia the spanish statue thats become the latest victim of a botched restoration. Hello. Im Laura Trevelyan in new york city. Christian fraser is in london. Donald trump re emerged today. The president was at Arlington Cemetery to mark veterans day. He still hasnt conceded that joe biden won, and he claims that myriad legal challenges will show the election was stolen. Some Senior Republicans are Still Standing by stand by him, even though they havent produced actual evidence of electoral fraud. 0thers others are keeping pretty quiet. But the president is busy, sacking and replacing those whove not been loyal enough. On monday, defense secretary mark esper was terminated. Yesterday, three other Senior Pentagon officials resigned, only to be swiftly replaced by trump loyalists. Why . There are reports the president has not had an intelligence Briefing Since october 6. Where is the Covid Task Force . And why so little focus on the pandemic . In delaware, joe biden portrays a picture of calm. But there are those in washington who are deeply unerved. Before we came on air, we spoke to the former cia director, former defence secretary leon panetta, who served as bill clintons chief of staff. Secretary panetta, how worried are you by what youre seeing in washington at the moment . you by what youre seeing in washington at the moment . I am always worried by uncertainty and chaos, and thats pretty much we have now in washington, although i was very proud of the american people, 150 million who turned out to vote, republicans, democrats, independents. We voted in record numbers and the result of that election is also pretty clear. An effect of the vote, in the different states and communities, it was done and done fairly with no evidence of fraud, so i am very confident about the pillar of our democracy, with regard to voting. What i am not very confident about is whether or not this president will go gracefully. The president sacked mark esper, the defence secretary, on monday, and then there were a series of high profile departures from the pentagon. Some were from appointees. Why is he doing that with just 70 days left in his presidency . It does not make a lot of sense, but again, with this president , you just assume that sense and rationality is not going to have lets do with what he ultimately tries to do. What he is doing essentially plunging the pentagon into uncertainty at a very critical time. Do pentagon into uncertainty at a very criticaltime. Do you pentagon into uncertainty at a very critical time. Do you feel confident that there will be a peaceful tra nsfer of that there will be a peaceful transfer of power when the president is sacking his enemies and he wont even recognise the Transition Team of the president elect . Even recognise the Transition Team of the president elect . This president has had a problem with the truth from the beginning, and i think that there is no question that the truth will prevail, and the truth is that the president has been defeated in the selection by a pretty good margin, really, a greater margin than the one he beat Hillary Clinton by, and sol greater margin than the one he beat Hillary Clinton by, and so i think when the electors meet in december, the vote will be clear who the winner is, and that will be joe biden. And i guess my hope is that at that point, regardless of what the president does, that the Republican Leadership will make clear that it is time to accept the truth and move on. Secretary, let me read you and exit from the knowledge and commission report. Im going to put it on screen for our viewers so they can see it. The 9 11 commission report. They came to this conclusion. Ijust wonder, as calm asjoe biden is right now, he is 19 any access to intelligence briefings. Are we repeating the mistakes of 2000 ain . Repeating the mistakes of 2000 again . I dont think theres any question that this is dangerous for the National Security of the country, to go into a situation where the administration is not helping in the transition to a new administration in providing very important information, particularly in the National Security arena, about whats going on with our adversaries. But in addition, it is very critical to provide the latest intelligence, so that a new president really understands what the potential threats are. Now, joe biden is experienced, he knows what the pdb is all about, the president s daily brief is all about, and he probably understands what some of those starts are in the world, but having said that, he does natalie have the latest information on all of those areas he does not really have it. And that means it will be difficult to have this administration get off the ground quickly. When it comes to that daily briefing, i have been looking through the president s daily schedules, and i appreciate they do not show everything, but they appear to show the last time the president had an intelligence briefing was 0ctober two, nearly six weeks ago. And i look at the list of arenas where the us is currently involved, interact, syria, negotiations with the caliban, the new Start Nuclear treaty what comes up in february, there is no flock there the president should be the taliban. There is an awful lot he should be interested in in the dayjob. There is an awful lot he should be interested in in the dayjoblj think from the very beginning, this president has been very irresponsible when it comes to the issue of intelligence, on the threats facing our country. He has not been willing to go through these briefings, he has gone through a few of the briefings, he has very little patience for intelligence that is presented that may not be in line with what he is thinking, and for that reason, its impacted on the intelligence agencies themselves, as to the quality of product that they are producing for the president. So it comes down to this. No president can protect the National Security of out can protect the National Security of our country without the very best intelligence. And this is a president who, by refusing to receive that intelligence, read that intelligence, i think just receive that intelligence, read that intelligence, i thinkjust put our country in furtherjeopardy. intelligence, i thinkjust put our country in furtherjeopardy. I am out of time, secretary panetta, but i have to you go do you fancy returning to government . i have to you go do you fancy returning to government . I have enjoyed my service in government and ive certainly enjoyed being back in my hometown at the panetta institute, so i am always there to provide advice, but i think washington, frankly, its nice being 3000 miles away. We will count that asa 3000 miles away. We will count that as a non denial denial. Secretary, thank you very much. 0ur north america editorjon sopel was listening to that interview. Hejoins us now he joins us now from washington. Does leon panetta reflect the concern washington where you are about where the president s official to concede is leading exactly . Refusal to concede. To concede is leading exactly . Refusalto concede. I to concede is leading exactly . Refusal to concede. I think there are a range of refusal to concede. I think there are a range of concerns, refusal to concede. I think there are a range of concerns, which cover the outer edge, on one side, this is donald trump preparing for a coup detat, a non transfer of power, right the way through to cub this is just donald trump, he can do this because he is the president. And hes doing what he has done throughout the four years of his presidency, which is to do his own thing, to be slightly and predictable into goes on way, but i think there is a general concern that if this goes on for much longer, then it becomes much more serious. Maybe what is at the heart of this, in the pentagon, is that donald trump that a terrorist desire to bring the troops out of afghanistan, he put people in there much more synthetic to that and maybe he is going to order pre christmas that everyone comes out. That may be the prelude to what we are seeing. Alternatively, donald trump thinks he is getting a second term and will stay as long as he likes and therefore once a defence actor terry that is more to his liking, but i think those in the Senior Leadership positions in the public and party are saying, of course every book must be coded properly, but is a time limited thing and it is very unlikely to affect the outcome every vote must be counted properly. Affect the outcome every vote must be counted properlym affect the outcome every vote must be counted properly. It is curious, jon, that the president has a story to tell, he wants to tell us all that the election was stolen from him, yet he has not been on the public scene, not been. Yes, he was there today at Arlington Cemetery because it was veterans day, but other than that, he is not president. Why . There has beena is not president. Why . There has been a record gap of donald trump not coming before the cameras. It was last thursday, six days of donald trump not appearing before cameras, and answer reporters questions. That is unheard of. Maybe it is because there is not a whole lot of evidence that he can supply. Between goes on, the allegations continue, that there was massive electoral fraud, but who has seen any of it . There are conspiracy theories being passed around, and all social media, you can see a lot of it, but in terms of concrete stuff where you say, oh, 20,000 votes went there . Who knew that . That is not come forward. Have you got your car out of the garage . was got your car out of the garage . was trying to. Full confession, i was was trying to. Full confession, i was trying to. Full confession, i was trying to. Full confession, i was trying to take the day off today, and i was going to go to the supermarket because the fridge was absolutely bare, and i go to the garage, try to get the car out. There are six black sedans right outside my apartment i go out, think, oh, there is Kamala Harris and she had stopped to get a cup of coffee and a doughnut. Good job she did not come to your house, she would not have got one laughter but she was going to the dogtag bakery, run by people who used to have dog tags or in the next, ie veterans, and she was going to support the military. And i thought two things for it was a good photo op, but there was no announcement. I just walked out onto the street, thatis just walked out onto the street, that is why i cannot get the car out of the garage it is also, the full security detail is already there. So i walked towards the bakery, which is 20 paces, for my front door, and within ten paces, a guy very casually just stops within ten paces, a guy very casuallyjust stops me, shows me his secret Service Badge and says, stay here, sir. And there were all the cars, the whole panoply that goes with full secret service protection, and if that is what happens for Kamala Harris, that is what you can expect forjoe biden. Very good. John simple, thick very much most ofjoe biden very relaxed, Mitch Mcconnell very relaxed, the shop owners relaxed. We have got some pictures for you. When we were there in washington ten days ago, there in washington ten days ago, there were offices boarded up. But ina set there were offices boarded up. But in a set of how people are relaxing, even though the president is not conceited, now you can see the shopkeepers are taking down those boards, that plywood, and the same thing is happening in new york, christian has not conceited. For those watching on bbc world news, well be right back. A nurse has been charged with eight cou nts a nurse has been charged with eight counts of murder by Police Investigating the deaths of babies at the concert of Chester Hospital in england. Keith doyle has more. This is an Ongoing Investigation into a this is an Ongoing Investigation intoa number of this is an Ongoing Investigation into a number of baby deaths and nonfatal units. And this evening, Cheshire Police have said that they have charged a Health Care Professional with murder in connection with this Ongoing Investigation. Lucy letby is facing eight charges of murder and ten charges of attempted murder. These charges of attempted murder. These charges relate to the pure in between june 2015 june charges relate to the pure in between june 2015june 2016. Charges relate to the pure in betweenjune 2015june 2016. She is 30 years old. She was rearrested, she had previously been arrested and failed and now has been charged, say Cheshire Police, so she is not in custody and is due to appear at Warrington Magistrates Court tomorrow. We reached a grim landmark here in the uk today. The latest figures on covid related deaths pushed the total number since the pandemic began beyond 50,000. The majority of those deaths came in the spring, of course, but the figure has been rising again, and currently the daily death toll is doubling every two weeks. Of course, the uk is hardly alone. Italy, spain and france are all experiencing dangerous second spikes. The four countries have each recorded more than a million cases and all of them except italy are in some form of lockdown. In naples, this hospital was so overwhelmed, doctors were forced to treat people with oxygen in their cars. Werejoined by professor devi shridhar. She is the chair of Global Public health based at the university of edinburgh. Thank you so much for being with us. When you look at these figures, that have been published today, what do you see in them . I think the clear message to people is that this is a dangerous virus, it is not like the flu, and that governments really need to make large efforts to suppress it and try to do it in sustainable ways. There are parts of the road that have not seen the kind of debt figures we have seen in europe, so we really need to look at those countries and thinking, what are they doing to keep their economies open, to keep their cove na nte e economies open, to keep their cove na ntee and economies open, to keep their covenantee and figures low and how can we move in that direction . Nine of ten of the deaths were in the over a5. Of ten of the deaths were in the over 45. Six children have died under the age of 14. 0f over 45. Six children have died under the age of 14. Of course every life is as precious as the next, but some will look at those figures and ask the question whether we got the strategy right. Actually, i think the place that has got the strategy right is where they have their economies open, very low numbers of deaths. East asian countries. 0ne economies open, very low numbers of deaths. East asian countries. One of the mistakes in europe has been to try to pick the economy, young people, jobs, versus suppressing the virus, in fact, new research from the United States looking under plumbing claims has looked at this and said it is only about 12 related to restrictions. The bulk of it is related to people changing their behaviour, even young people, in the face of this virus, because while young people may not die of it, they can get ill of it and suffer from lung covid. I think it is quite a sad thing to say people over 65 or some kind of an inseparable data. People who are 70 or 80 have a lot to live, to live for, so we should be protected life of all ages. Is the lockdown in britain having an effect of bringing new cases down even if we are seeing this grim milestone of 50,000 people having died in britain . We are already seeing that the deaths and the case numbers are not raising as rapidly as had been hoped, but r is still over one, which means we are still over one, which means we are still in a period of growth. I think the key message is that without testing and tracing in isolation, youre going to be in a much longer lockdown. And the other thing i think european leaders need to think really carefully about is what happened in the summer. Numbers were really low, prevalence was extremely much lower than what we are now, how could we have used the summer better to protect low prevalence . Once you get your numbers low, how do you protect that and keep your economies open . That is the rebalancing act. Right now, most of the countries are looking at winter and just trying to think, how do we keep a lid on it and keep our Health Services running over the next winter months . Absolutely. Devi shridhar, thank you very much forjoining us. The us centers for Disease Control and prevention has revised its advice on wearing a mask. It cites a number of studies showing that masks reduce the risk of transmitting or catching the virus by more than 70 . Previous guidance from the cdc suggested the main benefit of mask wearing was to help prevent infected people from spreading it to others. And we need to slow the spread. Right now, more people are being hospitalized here in the United States due to coronavirus than at any time during the pandemic. Texas has just become the first state to record 1 million coronavirus cases. If texas were its own country, it would now be ranked tenth in the world. The hospitals are inundated. Authorities in el paso have asked for four extra trailers to store the dead, in addition to six mobile morgues that are already there. Were joined now from houston by cedric dark, an emergency medicine physician. Thank you so much for being with us. Can you tell us what doctors and nurses are going through in texas right now . Texas, as you said, as the dubious distinction of surpassing place like california and new york to be the first to get to a nguyen cases, in texas, we have 18,000 deaths, we are at a point over we have 6000, more than 6000 people, in hospital, and that is one out of every ten hospital beds occupied by a patient with coronavirus. I spoke with one of my friends earlier today who is working in el paso, and the main thing he told me was, they need more more capacity. There are a lot of people dying and this is a serious illness we still have to get control of. The biggest problem is what we have been seeing, not only in texas, across this country, we have been playing one big of whac a mole. It started in houston, it went to the rio grande valley, and now it is in el paso. And were only going to get a hold of as we take care of this as a population, social distancing, masks and strategic shutdowns of businesses and events that are spreading the disease. But if it does not happen, if we do not do that, which would do not look like we will do, are we effectivelyjust waiting for a vaccine was blue the only thing we can do to control it is exercising the tools that we have. Right now, those tools, again, are social distancing, masking and washing your hands. One of the difficulties with this still remains the problem we do not have enough tests, to test everybody stop where i work, for every three patients that we test positive, that come in with symptoms, there is one that tests positive that had zero symptoms whatsoever, so there are people out in the community, wandering around, spreading the disease unknowingly to the family members, to their friends or anybody else they might come in contact with. As you said, the cdc reckoned as you wear a mask not only so that you do not spread it to other people, but so you can protect yourself and your family as well. Cani yourself and your family as well. Can i ask you about thanksgiving thatis can i ask you about thanksgiving that is just she weeks away . You say that is just she weeks away . You say that one hotspot arises and ended arises somewhere else. If everybody is on the road and travelling to theirfamilies, the is on the road and travelling to their families, the potential for this to spread even further is great, isnt it . Yeah, thanks giving Andy Halliday period is definitely a concern for most physicians and Public Health professionals around this country, but there are some things you can do. At Baylor College of medicine, weve actually released something called, howdy creature on thanksgiving holiday bubble, what you need to do, you need to start self quarantine if you plan on gathering with family how to create your own. So you are not exposing yourself to anyone that might give you the virus. And then next week, if you do plan on being with family members, you should take a test if you can get one so that you can test negative. If you test negative, the navy it is safe for you to travel and meet with your family members. I will be meeting with my parents, i have not seen them and probably a year at least, andl them and probably a year at least, and i am one of those people that is high risk. I will never be able to self quarantine because of the nature of the work i do, and so what im good to do for my family is each dinner ina im good to do for my family is each dinner in a garage with the garage door opening in the air free flowing and with tables six feet apart, but my parents live their own table separately, so we dont risk infecting one another. Well, i hope it isa infecting one another. Well, i hope it is a good day it is a good plan. Sounds like a safer plan. Dr cedric dark, thank you for coming on. Do you know what they are doing here . They are staggering the travel windows. 0ur Biggest Movement of people is the beginning of term, students, plus extended family, all on the move around. They are all coming back after christmas, and thats a huge concern. Absolutely. Controversy in london today a memorial to the mother of feminism has provoked an online backlash after being unveiled. The sculpture for Mary Wollstonecraft by artist Maggi Hambling was unveiled yesterday. It is the culmination of a decade of campaigning to raise the £143,000 around 190,000 required to create the statue. But it has been met with criticism for its symbolic depiction of a female figure, rather than being a lifelike representation of wollstonecraft, the author of such works as a vindication of the rights of women. Some have also queried the decision to make the figure naked. Yes, me included. But at least Mary Wollstonecroft is not around to see her statue unlike Melania Trump who had to see this tribute to her in her home country of slovenia. It has since burnt down. However, christian . Get away i am truly amazed. What a close likeness that was of Melania Trump, almost like that one of Christiana Ronaldo cristiano ronaldo. Where is it . Some portuguese island. Is it better than the Melania Trump one . Almost, almost. Good evening. Wednesday has brought as a transition to much more unsettled autumnal weather for the remainder of this week. Thats going to be the theme, in fact. This was the picture a bit earlier on. A lot of grey cloud around there. Heavy rain towards the west is now going to be tracking its way eastward. So overnight tonight, windy conditions for all of us. And that rain will be pushing its way east. Its all down to this weather front here which is heading its way to the atlantic. Quite a lot of isobars on the map showing the strong winds with that squally rain. Could be the odd rumble of thunder. The winds easing a little bit as that rain pushing its way eastwards. Wherever you are, you could well notice those brisk winds through the course of tonight with the heavy rainfall. During the early hours of thursday it looks like that rain will linger for a time on the east coast. It should gradually clear away. Still showers moving through in its way but a little bit quieter first thing tomorrow morning, and it will be frost free with temperatures in our towns and cities about seven to ten degrees. Thursday is a quieter day compared to wednesday because weve got this bump of High Pressure. Thats just bringing mostly dry conditions. Less windy on thursday as well. There will be a few showers to start off the day. Most of them easing away. A lot of dry weather with some sunshine breaking through. There will be more cloud piling in from the west later on in the day. As we move through thursday night and into friday, weve got this next frontal system bringing yet more rain and squally winds eastward across all of the uk. That frontal rain clearing from the southeast through friday morning, leaving some sunshine and scattered showers. Most of them in the northwest, where they could be heavy and potentially thundery. Rainfall totals mounting up across the west of scotland, for instance. A touch cooler, about 9 to 13 degrees on friday. Look away now if you dont like the wet weather because the weekend is looking very unsettled. More areas of low pressure and a frontal system with lots of isobars moving in from the atlantic. This moving in from the atlantic. Is the outlook for the plenty this is the outlook for the weekend. Plenty of heavy downpours, some strong winds at times, especially in the south. A bit of brightness in between those autumnal showers. Bye bye. Youre watching bbc news with me Laura Trevelyan in new york, Christian Fraser is in london. Our top stories. As donald trump refuses to acknowledge the result of the election, former defence secretary leon panetta tells us there is no question its dangerous for the country. This is dangerous for the National Security of the country, to go into a situation where the administration is not helping in the transition to a new administration. Georgia heads for a recount. The state where biden is currently ahead but has not yet been called will now count the ballots again, by hand. Also in the programme. The president , and others, continue to take to social media to airtheirclaims that the election was stolen. Well be taking a look at the details of those allegations. Plus why organisers of new zealands bird of the year competition are in a flap over fraudulent votes. Its four days sincejoe biden was projected to have won the election, yet still only a handful of senior figures in the Republican Party have congratulated him on becoming president elect. We must say it again, this is not normal. Hilary clinton called donald trump the day after the 2016 election to concede. But in the absence of any evidence the Trump Campaign continues to challenge the result in five key states. In arizona and georgia, biden stills holds a slim lead with almost all the vote counted, and since the weekend his leads in pennsylvania, michigan and nevada have grown further. In the popular votejoe biden leads by more than five million votes. Bryan lanza is the former Communications Director for the trump team. Hejoins us now. Thank you so much for being with us. So, where is this evidence of voter fraud . I think we have lost the sound. Sorry about that, we have lost brian there. We will see if we can get his sound back and we will go back. Is he there . Brian, can you hear us . Yes, yes, sorry about that stop you know you are there. Sol yes, sorry about that stop you know you are there. So i think laura was asking you where the evidence is that donald trump was going to produce. They have a hard task in providing enough evidence to show that there is massive fraud to overturn the election in five states. I think they have minor little cases here and there in between 3000 votes in pennsylvania that are in question that came in after the deadline, but overall, i think the campaign is far from having any evidence to turn over the tens of thousands of votes that would be needed to for donald trump to become the winner. So, brian, when you think the president is going to concede the election . You know, thats a great question. I think theres one particular case thats of interest that probably has the most merits, and that is the one where they are making the claim that the governors of wisconsin, pennsylvania and michigan exceeded their Constitutional Authority by changing the election laws during the pandemic. Youve seen cases in california where the courts have slapped the hands of governors who have done that already, so i think thats probably the best case Going Forward , thats probably the best case Going Forward, and that should get settled in the next ten days. I think from there, you will probably have the court decide if the rules were changed in the middle of the election and the governors did not have the its authorities, but you ultimately have what is the remedy for donald trump, you know, even if this did take place and they didnt have the authority, that becomes ultimately the challenging spot for them. We talk to you in recent days on the programme about the General Services administration. This is the federal agency that looks after building space, offices, it green light the Transition Teams connection with federal employees, and crucially, it holds all the cash. Leon was staying at the top of the programme that in his view, it does endanger National Security to not let the Transition Team have access to the intelligence documents and briefings. Is there any reason, even though the election is disputed, why the gsa couldntjust say, ok, we will give you the access, albeit, we need a final result. Listen to my think they should have the access, the Senior Administration person in transition for President Trump, i thought it was for President Trump, i thought it was helpful even though we started late because we threw away our programme and started from scratch. But i think its import for the continuity of our government. Youve seen it come out in the september 11 report that this. Displayed some of the delays between bush and gore ultimately led to a slower response and some of these terrorist activities. So listen, i think the president and his team feel that they dont want to give an inch on this. They have their supporters to back them up 100 . I think theyre going to litigate this and come to some kind of conclusion. I think at the end of the day, we have to look forward and see how we avoid these things in the future, because i think its critical for our National Security that biden has the minimal updates of what are required for him to know whats going on. Do you think that donald trump coming to terms with this comes from what hes hearing overseas . I noticed today borisjohnson hearing overseas . I noticed today Boris Johnson called him hearing overseas . I noticed today borisjohnson called him the previous president , Angela Merkel is calling for a new era of trust based cooperation, which in and of itself is an interesting choice of words. Of the rest of the world is moving on, and its recognising joe biden as the president elect. Does that have an effect within the white house is blue know, i dont think so. Knowing the president the way i do come i dont think it plays a role whatsoever. You know, i would tell these foreign leaders, you havent seen the last of donald trump if he actually did lose this election. I believe he lost the selection. Some dont. He is on but he who is going to come back and probably run again, and he will provide some type of shadow government for the next four years. So Angela Merkel, if thats her wish, she certainly not going to see that. She could come back he could come back. Hes unleashed, and he could come back. Right from its good to see you. Things are being with us. Thank you. I want to bring you news that the bbc has uncovered electoral fraud. Which it would seem did change the results. Ballot stuffing which has now been brough to the attention of the authorities. But it is in new zealand in the annual bird of the year competition. Yes this has truly put the cat among the pigeons. The judges have discovered someone voted 1,500 times for the kiwi pooki pooki, otherwise known as the little spotted kiwi. A blatant attempt to deny the true winner the an tipodean albatross. The fraud was spotted by eagle eyed election monitors. And you will see that the story is now trending on twitter. And amongst all twitters, i would think, wouldnt you . Electoralfraud in the bird world. Im proud of you, laura, im proud of those puns. I wouldve been proud of all of those. Meanwhile in georgia, they will hold a full manual recount of all the votes cast in the president ial election. Georgias republican secretary of state ordered the audit because the margin of victory byjoe biden was so close it is point three per cent. It is. 3 . The original count as it stands puts joe biden more than fourteen thousand votes ahead of donald trump. It has to be said recounts rarely lead to a change in the result, especially when the difference is 14,000 votes but state law determines there must be a recount. Lets bring in tuh mar hallerman, Senior Reporter for the Atlanta Journal constitution. Think so much for being with us. This was the republican secretary of state to order this recount. Do you think he is feeling the pressure from the president and his allies . Hes been under some pretty relentless pressure over the last couple of days. We saw georgias two republican senators who both will be ina republican senators who both will be in a Runoff Election in january called for the republican elections to his resignation because they were unhappy with the way that he ran the election. Of course, the president and his allies have been pushing for and his allies have been pushing for a recount is well here in georgia. The republican Election Team claims he is not under pressure, anyone who thinks this may help restrict some Public Confidence in the election syste m Public Confidence in the election system here in georgia, but no doubt republicans have been pressuring him to do this for days now. Meanwhile, control of the senate potentially rests there in georgia where you left out two senate seat Runoff Elections in january. Left out two senate seat Runoff Elections injanuary. Do you feel like you are in the centre of the political universe . It certainly seems that way already. We have already had our first visit today from a prominent republican surrogate, marco rubio, a republican senator from florida who ran for president against donald trump in 2016 came down today, and he is the first of many. We just heard Vice President mike pence coming later this month, and everyone is expecting President Trump to come again as well. Because these two runoff again as well. Because these two ru noff ra ces again as well. Because these two runoff races determine the balance of power in the senates, presumably, this just feels like a national debate. A National Election done all over again for another eight weeks. Absolutely. And the types of arguments that you are seeing from the four or meaning candidate so far very much nationalised in nature. Its no longer about local politics for different states, its all about control of the senates, and whether, you know, vote for these republican incumbents isa you know, vote for these republican incumbents is a vote to block the agenda joe biden in the senate, or if you are going to vote for the democrats to enable the agenda of joe biden. And its certainly feels that way already. Its amazing how the two republican candidates have turned on their own secretary of state filing for his resignation, and you can sort of understand why, because obviously, they have to keep donald froms based on side, but hes the guy saying theres nothing wrong with the election. And it makes sense when you look at the poll numbers. Trump is overwhelmingly popular with members of the Republican Base in georgia. He routinely pulls out more than 85 popularity. Hes an extremely doing well among Republican Voters here. And they know that to get the same levels of turnout that they got in november, if they were to get that again injanuary, november, if they were to get that again in january, that november, if they were to get that again injanuary, that should be enough to deliver them back to the senates, so they are very much hoping that they can use that Trump Network to bring out those same vote rs network to bring out those same voters again. Good to see you again. I wager that we will be talking again before january the 6th. Ijust i just feel it. Ijust feel it. Thank i just feel it. Thank you ijust feel it. Thank you very much for that. The interesting thing you know, laura, is that i was reading today that democrats there are knots, well, im sure theyd welcome a visit from joe biden, but they are not overly enthused. They much prefer not overly enthused. They much p refer to not overly enthused. They much prefer to have one of the 0bama is. Yeah, what year is the interesting thing about these Election Results is that usually when you get a president , their coat tails usually extend all the way down the ballot, meaning if you win at the top, you do well in the house on the senate too, butjoe bidens hotels are actually the weakest in 60 years since president john f kennedy. So he did really, really well, but democrats lost seats in the house and they only picked up one in the senate. Therefore, democrats are wondering how strong his coat tails will be in georgia. As you say, whether surrogates, particularly the 0bama is. Because they are pretty good his coat tails are pretty good. Yet, in 08, they got the senate and the house. So, there you go, coat tails, good work, isnt it christian . Good analogy. Stay with us on bbc news, still to come. A spanish restoration has gone wrong again. This time, resulting in a 100 year old statue and turning it into a potato head. A man who launched a knife attack in a park in reading has admitted the murders of three men. Khairi saadallah killed james furlong, david wails, and Joseph Ritchie bennett, during the two minute rampage in june. Our Home Affairs Correspondent Daniel Sandford reports from the old bailey with less than three weeks to go before his trial was do to start, the redding attacker, Khairi Saadallah is in a Late Afternoon Court Hearing has now pleaded guilty to all three murders and all three attempted murders. Khairi saadallah had onlyjust been released from prison where he was serving a sentence for three assaults and for possessing a knife when he carried out what the prosecution says was a terrorist attack. It was a warm june evening as the first covid lockdown was starting to ease when Khairi Saadallah launched his extremely rapid and deadly attack. Forbury gardens was full of people. The pubs, including the nearby blagrave arms, popular with readings gay community, were still shut. Three friends from the pub a schoolteacher called james furlong, an American Customer Service manager called Joseph Richie bennett and a scientist called david wails were sitting together when they were all stabbed from behind. James furlong and Joseph Richie bennett were killed with single stab wound to the backs of their necks. David wails died from two stab wounds. Minutes later, Khairi Saadallah was arrested. Hed apparently deliberately cut himself to make it look like he was a victim. The 26 year old pleaded guilty to three counts of murder and three counts of the attempted murder of stephen young, Patrick Edwards and nishit nisudan. At a hearing at the old bailey next month, the prosecution will argue that he should be given a whole life tariff, that he should never be released from prison. They say that this was an ideologically motivated terrorist attack and it was substantially premeditated. The defence will argue that the sentence should be reduced because of Khairi Saadallahs poor mental health. Daniel sandford, bbc news, at the old bailey. So President Trump continues to claim the election was stolen from him, and there are plenty of false or misleading posts on social media that attempt to back up that claim. None of them stand up to any real scrutiny. Nonetheless the president and his team are amplifying those claims. 0ur misinformation reporter Marianna Spring has been looking into some of them for us. Steal the vote seems to be the thing thats trending most, mariana. Steal the vote seems to be the thing thats trending most, marianam has been, stop the steel, this hashtag went viral on election night, but we have seen since been a numberof large night, but we have seen since been a number of large facebook groups have sprung up using that hashtag, they are full of Trump Supporters who have been sharing a number of videos and posts about voter fraud and rigged elections, which we actually debunked, they have been proven to be false or totally unsubstantiated. Facebook had to take down the biggest of these groups, which had almost half a million members by the time it was removed, and that is because of threatening comments about violence, calls for a civil war, calls to arms that were shared in the group. Nonetheless, since then, a numberof in the group. Nonetheless, since then, a number of other groups have continued to pop up, and there is a big march that these groups have planned for the weekend ahead. So it doesnt look like the stop the Steel Movement is going anywhere, but it appears to have become a hotbed for disinformation on social media. Tell us about the confusion about the state of georgia and the United States and how people have confused it with the country and claimed that, actually, this means donald trump should somehow have one georgia. This was perhaps the most entertaining bit of disinformation ive ever heard of this week. There we re ive ever heard of this week. There were claims made online that more people had voted in georgia the state than actually live in georgia, but it was because the person was sharing the population size of georgia the country, and people were very quick to point out that this didnt mean that there were loads of fraudulent voting, theyjust got the population wrong, they used the country not the state, and the claim we nt country not the state, and the claim went viral and it tells us a lot about how political disinformation spreads. When youve a storm like this happening on social media for of conspiracies and false allegations, doesnt member if something is almost observably wrong, it will continue to spread come even when someone points out, this isnt right, and the initial tweet wasnt taken down. And just how quickly is disinformation about the us election spreading . Very quickly, i think its been an especially fertile time for disinformation and conspiracy theories to spread, notjust in the days after the election particularly when we are waiting for a definitive result orfor one of when we are waiting for a definitive result or for one of the candidates to be declared the winner but actually, the groundwork for this has been laid for many, many months. We have seen President Trump has tweeted prior to the election, he tweeted prior to the election, he tweeted over 70 times about voter fraud or rigged elections, and a numberof fraud or rigged elections, and a number of these tweets were labelled by twitter as misleading. We also saw by twitter as misleading. We also saw the queue and on experiencing this is this Conspiracy Theory that suggests President Trump is waging a war against satanic paedophiles, and that conspiracy says that the deep state is trying to Read Everything against president ial. It went really viral, so a lot of people have subscribed to that worldview, the idea that everything is rigged. And actually come ive spoken to a numberof actually come ive spoken to a number of those running these stop the steel groups who are based in different states, particularly along the east coast of america, and nearly all of them have said to me, ive been seeing disinformation, ive been seeing claims about voter fraud and rigged to let elections on my social media feed since the summer. So my social media feed since the summer. So its my social media feed since the summer. So its not a surprise that the storm of disinformation online is happening right now. Mariana, thank you so much forjoining us. Christian, you know what is really, really interesting . If you look at the things on the app store which has been downloaded the most since the us election, there are three apps. The us election, there are three apps, all of which are favoured by conservatives, so for example, you have one called parlor, which is basically a conservative twitter where conservatives who feel they are being censored by twitter have gone from of the other one is a favourable facebook for conservatives, and then the other one is newsmax, which is a very trump website. So this is whats happening here in the United States, disinformation moves into a different echo chamber. Fox is not ha rd different echo chamber. Fox is not hard enough for some people. You people are leaving fox by the sounds of it as well. Well, absolutely. And you know why thatis, well, absolutely. And you know why that is, because fox was very quick to call arizona not for the president , but forjoe biden, and that was really the culmination of the Trump Campaign falling out of love with fox news. And now they are really favouring a one america news network. Interesting. Breaking news here in the uk in the last few minutes. A Prime Ministers chief medications officer and adviser is resigning. That man is lee cain he had been tipped for promotion to borisjohnsons chief of staff. That was just this morning in the times newspaper. Now it seems hell stay in downing street just until the new year. It comes at a crucial time for mrjohnsons premiership. Lets talk to our political correspondentjess parker. She is in westminsterfor us now. How significant is this . Well, he is perhaps somebody that not a lot of people up and down the country will necessarily have heard of, but he is a key figure in numberten. He is direct of communications in a close ally of borisjohnson. Direct of communications in a close ally of Boris Johnson. He direct of communications in a close ally of borisjohnson. He has direct of communications in a close ally of Boris Johnson. He has worked with borisjohnson for ally of Boris Johnson. He has worked with Boris Johnson for many years in various roles as the preminger had before he took office in number ten. So in that sense, his departure is quite significant. It follows all these reports of tensions, power struggles in downing street between various figures in number ten, but it seems likely cain has decided to depart downing street, as you guys say, at the end of the year, and of course, people may question, ok, is this important . We are in the midst ofa pandemic this important . We are in the midst of a pandemic will stop of course, many people are dying. Is this really a particularly in the neck and portman issue . Its downing street at the heart of government and at the heart of running things during this pandemic, and its pretty clear that all is not quite well in numberten pretty clear that all is not quite well in number ten tonight. The communications hasnt been that great, either. Ithink the communications hasnt been that great, either. I think we have pictures leaking, because he was the mirror chicken, wasnt he, before he went into politics. Let me ask you, he is known to be quite close to Dominic Cummings. So if this is the direction, do we read into this anything about where mr cummings may be in all of this and what his future might be . I dont think we necessarily need to read into it from ethic we need to wait and see what happens, to be honest, because you are absolutely right, there are questions tonight about what will happen in regards to Dominic Cummings. Of course, more well known in the numberten cummings. Of course, more well known in the number ten operation. This is him is the chicken. So thats fully kane in a priorjob that he had. Just to be absolutely clear. A Dominic Cummings obviously a very prominent figure, controversy earlier in the year when he took a trip up north in the heights of lockdown and came under a lot of criticism for that, but the Prime Minister back to them. His relationship is important, they are the vote leave alumni foraged in that fire, so seen as quite close allies, so i think it will be interesting to see. We dont know whats going to happen or whether this prompts unhappiness from Dominic Cummings or whether he wants to stay at number ten. But as i say clearly, look, you could talk about various names, lee kane, Dominic Cummings, stratton, the new press spokesperson, hes going to hold these white house style briefings, all of these names swirling around, but i think the big picture tonight is at the heart of number ten, there clearly have been some problems, some unhappiness and it has resulted in the departure of lee kane. He said some very warm words to the Prime Minister and vice versa as he goes this evening in various statements that have been sent out. It does follow hours and hours of fraud speculation about what on earth is going on behind that black door. Indeed so. Thats the biggest turnaround time is dick . Chief of staff and money come out the door by the evening. Just, very much for that. Ruffled business. Rough old business. Preserving europes rich collection of art for future generations is a painstaking process. The restoration is hugely time consuming when its done properly. But spain is developing something of a reputation. Yes, the latest aberation comes in palencia, north of madrid. On a statue originally unveiled in 1923 as you can see it needed some work. This is how it turned out the statue that social media has dubbed the potato head 0f palencia. Let me put them side by side its not even close is it. Anyway this is just one of a litany of botched jobs in spain. An invaluable opportunity to show them again. Here are some 15th century sculptures the one on the left jesuss robe has been painted in some radioactive green hue while mary is in a pink cloak. Then theres the work on the 16th century statue of saint george and the dragon in that left poor old george looking like fireman sam. Theres this on the face of the virgin mary in valencia. But best of all its still my favourite the 2012 restoration of a fresco in the town of borja. Known as monkey christ. Lovingly restored by elderly parishioner at the church. Can we pullup can we pull up the potato head of poland see just one more time . I wa nt to poland see just one more time . I want to know. I actually think its picasso asked. If you look at it, you will see that the restoration is definitely picasso. Thats what speaking to me there. I want to know what the restorer thought when they climbed on the ladder and they stood back and they looked at their word. And they thoughts, yes, smiling mated. Ive got itjust thoughts, yes, smiling mated. Ive got it just right. Thoughts, yes, smiling mated. Ive got itjust right. That is definitely some of my best work. Smiling maiden. I would say for sure. And then they toasted their excellent work, christian. Yeah. The restorers, the professional restorers said, this is not a restoration. Hello. Were seeing a real transition in weather types through the middle part of this week. Earlier in the week, we had High Pressure bringing quite a bit of mist and fog for many of us, but scenes like this through the day on wednesday, we had a lot of cloud. This is walton on thames in surrey. That cloud has been producing outbreaks of rain. Were also seeing some fairly windy conditions. So it remains pretty unsettled, really, for the rest of the week. The weathers going to be a bit up and down in terms of some strong winds, some rain at times too. What we have got is mild air in charge. Thats been with us, really, since the start of this week. Still with as at the moment, but we are going to be seeing this cold front introducing some slightly cooler air for a time at least through the course of thursday. But still temperatures are above average for this time of year. A ridge of higher Pressure Holding on for a time on thursday, so after all the wet and windy weather through wednesday night, its less windy and theres a little bit more sunshine as well, especially in the east. The cloud will increase from the west later in the day ahead of the next frontal system, which will push some rain into Northern Ireland and western scotland later in the afternoon and into the evening. Temperature still about 10 to 13 degrees, that is above average for the time of year, but not quite as mild as it was earlier in the week. Now, through thursday night into friday, thats when this next weather front moves its way eastwards across all of the uk, so another spell of pretty windy weather to start off friday morning for many of us. That frontal rain clears towards the east, and then it is clearer skies and scattered showers, and most of the showers in the north west, where they could be quite heavy and thundery at times too. Temperature still about 9 to 13 degrees or so on friday, a little above average. Were not expecting frost overnight because theres too much wind around, cloud and outbreaks of rain as well. So, looking towards the weekend now, and saturday sees the next fairly complex area of low pressure moving in from the atlantic, so quite a messy weather story for you on saturday. Lots of showers around, windy conditions, especially in the south as well. There could be real squeeze in those winds for a time on saturday, so squally, heavy showers through the course of the day. Its still mild, we could see 16 degrees or so down towards the south east. Were all well in double figures. Now, moving through into the second half of the weekend and the next area of low pressure moves in on that conveyor belt, so not much respite. Further heavy downpours through the day on sunday. It is further south in particular that you are going to be seeing the wettest and windiest weather. Most of that rain should clear to leave slightly brighter conditions, still with scattered heavy showers and thunderstorms possible later on in the day as well, so all in all, a really unsettled weekend ahead. Temperatures on sunday a little cooler than saturday, about 10 to 14 degrees. Then looking towards next week, the next working week, we just see this little ridge of High Pressure building in heading on into monday, so a bit of a quieter day on monday, certainly after that wet and windy weekend for many of us. A bit more in the way of sunshine breaking through, more cloud building from the west once again later on, and a few showers towards the north west of the uk. A little bit cooler, about 9 to 13 degrees again through the day on monday. So, through next week, then, this is the jet stream, and it is going to be pushing to the north of the uk. The orange colour is the milder air, not far away at all, particularly holding on in the south, and as we head through the course of next week, it does look like higher pressure will try to nudge in towards the southern half of the uk, lower pressure likely to stay in charge further north. So we are likely to see some slightly more settled weather, particularly in the south, through the course of the next week, but it will remain wet and at times quite windy in the north and north west, and things are set to stay mild for the time of year. Bye for now. Tonight at 10 a grim milestone for the United Kingdom as the number of coronavirus deaths passes 50,000, the highest in europe. 61 year old Steve Horsfall fell ill in september at the same time as his wife and suddenly deteriorated. He developed a complication, in that his heart had stopped and the reason why his heart had stopped was. A clot on his lung. With a new vaccine possiblyjust weeks away, government scientists seek to reassure the public about its safety. I think the mum test is very important here. My mum is 78, shell be 79 shortly and ive already said to her, mum, make sure when youre called, youre ready
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