Cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. Nonstop flights are available from most major airports. More information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. And now, bbc world news. This is bbc world news america. Im jane obrien. Former fbi director gets his dealings with President Trump. He said he wanted to set the record straight following inspiring. Administration chose to defame me, and one from it, the fbi. Those were life, plain and simple. Jane the trump team fires back at the president s personal lawyer to mr. Trump never demanded loyalty, fbi director. In the voting is over and the counting is underway in the u. K. We have the first exit polls in the british general election. Jane welcome to world news america. Can i, there are major events playing on both sides of the atlantic. In a moment, it will get to the testimony of james comey. In the u. K. , the voting is over and the general election and the exit poll by all the major broadcasters has been released. It shows that Prime Minister theresa may could fall short of an overall majority in the house of commons. But the conservatives are set to be the biggest party. That is just the exit poll and we will know much more when the actual results began to filter through in the next two hours. Of course, we will be speaking to our correspondent in london shortly. Well, it was a day of high drama here in washington as former fbi director james Comey Told Congress he wanted to put the record straight after President Trump fired him in may. He accused the administration of defaming him and the fbi, and called into question the president s ability to tell the truth. He also confirmed that the president himself was not under investigation. Lawyers for mr. Trump said that indicated the president , but added the mr. Comey wasnt telling the whole truth either. Our north american editor jon sopel reports. Jon people talk about the crackle of expectation. In washington this morning, and this room is james comey walked in, it was palpable. You solemnly swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you god. Please be seated. Jon it is being called a political super bowl and the former fbi directors Opening Statement did not disappoint as he reflected on the manner of his being fired. The shifting explanations confused me an increasingly concerned me. They confused me because the president that i have had multiple conversations about my job, both before and after he took office, and he had repeatedly told me i was doing a great job and he hoped i would stay. Jon he spoke of the president portrayal of him in the organization he led. The administration then chose to defame me, and warm front, the fbi by saying that the organization was in disarray. Hat it was poorly led but the workforce have lost confidence in its leader. Jonthose were life, plain and simple. Jon but first, the Committee Chairwoman to go over russian involvement. If this were a game show, this was the quick fire round. Do you have any doubt that russia attempted to interfere in . He 26 elections wester no doubt. Theo you have any doubt of subsequently said the information . No doubt. Do you have any doubt that the russian government was behind the russian was behind the intrusion of the file . No. Jon Michael Flynn, fired about whoconnection with russia, the president wanted to protect, asked was annt know if that effort to obstruct. It was concerning. That is what the special counsel will work towards to find out if that is an offense. Jon if what the president had asked about Michael Flynn was so wrong, have hadnt the fbi director cried foul immediately . I was so stunned by this conversation i took it in, and the only thing i could think to say because i was playing in my mind trying to member every word he said, playing in my mind, which should my response be, and that is why carefully chose the words. Jon comey was at his most damming when he chose to keep records. I was concerned that he would lie about the nature of our meeting, so i thought it important to document. The combination of things i never experienced before. Days after his sacking, President Trump fired out a warning shot on twitter that comey better hope there are not tapes of their conversations. Seen the tweet about tapes, i hope there are two spirited jon for all the positive emerged from james comeys testimony all revolves around one question dr. Donald trump obstruct justice and the conversations he had with the former fbi director . That will not be decided by the special counsel, but on that decision, will hinge the future of the trump presidency. Donald trumps lawyer insistent there had been no obstruction of justice. And he went on the attack. Mr. Comey had now admitted that he is one of these leakers. Today, mr. Comey admitted that he unilaterally and surreptitiously made unauthorized disclosures to the press a Privileged Communications with the president. Jon mars opened early today in washington so people could watch this small piece of history. Everyone will have their own views on the rights and wrongs, but this is not the end of the story, just the end of act i. The next age of the drama goes the office of the special counsel and the russian investigation. Jon sopel, bbc news, washington. Today,long capitol hill this has drawn strong reactions. I spoke to Chris Van Hollen from maryland. Is and is a monumental distraction from the actual russian inquiry, the investigation that you are supposed to be conducting, but seems to be getting sidetracked by this theater . You have to separate two things one is the fact that it was the unanimous verdict of our intelligence agencies that russia interfered in our elections, and in fact, many of us are calling for the senate in the next couple of days to take action to impose sanctions on russia for interfering in our elections. The rest of the world is looking at us and saying, hey, they interfered in your elections. Are you really want to let them just get away with it without doing anything . Commission move forward on that. Secondly, we should get to the bottom of what happened opened terms of whether there was collusion between the trump whether in russia, there is an effort to obstruct the inquiry into that matter. Jane but today seemed to be all about who was telling the truth. Do we believe the former director of the fbi or the president. How does that move things along . Can disagree with james comeys decisions over the years, but he has an impeccable track record of telling the truth versus somebody who has a welldocumented track record of abusing the truth, violating the truth, not telling the truth, and that is the president of the United States. Clackum to the credibility of the witnesses, i do not think that will be the biggest issue. The biggest question is the question of judgment. President trump demanded a personal loyalty test from comey instead of a test of loyalty to the constitution, and told him to lay off the Michael Flynn investigation and then fired him. Jane but we also know that he is not under investigation. That is the first thing that that has been publicly confirmed. We know that he was not under investigation at the time comey was investigating this, but investigations lead to where the evidence goes in this is just the beginning, after all, we just appoint a special counsel a few weeks ago and that will be an ongoing investigation. And then there is the other question that was raised in your earlier segment about the president and tensions with respect to a legal finding of obstruction of justice. I think every american would agree that the president crossed the line between politics and asserting political influence, over what should be a nonpartisan Law Enforcement function. Every american will be disturbed by that. Jane you have a special counsel now, Robert Mueller who is investigating. What are you going to do with his testimony in your inquiry . Well, i was one of the people who called for the appointment of a special counsel. Q1 a make sure that Robert Mueller has all the information we wanted to make sure that Robert Mueller has all the information. Needed to do his job the senate and the house need to pursue to get theiligence details of russian interference in our election, more importantly, take action to make clear to the russians had we are not going to tolerate this. Get to theontinue to bottom of what happened in 2016 so that people can be held accountable. Jane center Chris Van Hollen, thank you indeed for joining me. Of course, we cannot cover this story without turning to our political analyst ron christie who worked for demonstration of george w. Bush. Ron, good to have you back. Regardless of the legal issues that this testimony raised, how politically damaging is this for President Trump . The shortterm, it is pretty damaging to have a former director of the fbi come out and say that he kept a memo or a log of information because he thought the president of the nicest wasnt telling the truth that is really damming testimony. Clearly, there is an investigation is going on, but theounsel headlines tomorrow and the weeks to come is comey decided to afford based on the tweet that was enough by the president of the United States leading the former director to keep a log. Jane it is a top of the trump team to focus on the fact that mr. Trump has been vindicated in their words because he is not the subject of an investigation by the fbi . The podium atat the white house today or tomorrow, that is exactly the lines i would come out with an say there has been a lot of innuendo in the press and a lot of insinuations, but the former director of the fbi admitted on three separate occasions you are not under investigation to the president. The white house has said all along that the president has not been under investigation. Becauset isnt enough republicans must be looking at this, thinking at what point do we have to withdraw our support . Point do we break from the president whose ability to tell the truth is now been called into question . Ron the lawyer in a look at this and you hear senator van hollen talk about obstruction of justice. You have to knowingly and corruptly try to influence a public official doing their duties. Heard from director, he is finally the president did not do that with the fbi director, but he didnt do it with the acting director of the deputy director. For those who are saying that the president s veracity is in question, they are making a more political witchhunt. It is ironic isnt it that the president hoped to take the pressure off, and his words, by firing james comey. But with this, he seems to have opened up another can of worms. Where does this end . Ron where it has to end is him putting down twitter. If you look very carefully, mr. , he decided he wanted to keep a journal because of the tweet the president sent. If you look very carefully, President Trump said james comey better hope i had not recorded him and send that out. The president of United States needs to recognize that everything he says, everything he does will be scrutinized. What has led him to this point for political trouble is his use of twitter. Jane no tweets today, ron. With that last . Ron until tomorrow. [laughter] jane thank you for joining us from new york. Back to the british general election and we reported that at the top of the program, according to an exit poll, theresa mays conservative party, as its majority in Parliament Despite winning the most seats. For more analysis, we can cross now to Gary Odonoghue in milbank. What are we to make of this . Gary it is a pretty shocking result. If it turns out to be true after all, theresa may the not have to call this general election, she chose to call it in order to get a bigger majority in parliament, in order to have a stronger hand to conduct those brexit negotiations. Believed if these are to be believed, these numbers, she is 12 feet short, making it impossible for her to have two of the vote everyone else with her own mps. Our executive has gone from parliament you need those majorities to get your way through parliament. That is incredibly important. And it will undermine your credibility and make her position very difficult if it turns out to be true. On the other hand, she still has a lot more seat than the labour party. They are up 30 on 266. They are short on an overall majority as well. The parties may have to do some kind of deals with one another to form a government that can get its way in parliament. Lots to play for tonight. Very early days, the results yet, but everyone is on the edge of their seats waiting to see how this will play out. Jane as you say, this was supposed to be all about brexit, but what other factors came into play here . In manchestercks and london overshadowed this campaign and turned it into an extraordinary and unique campaign really. Campaigning stop after the attacks and the whole agenda was pushed towards security and terrorism in a way that theresa may and the labour party did not want to talk about. They wanted to talk about their own issues. , veryame a very sort of Difficult Campaign for both parties i think. But this would be an extra ordinary upset if it turns out to be the case. Grow into some doubt, i think, britains ability to have a sort of strong stance in the coming months when those brazen negotiations begin. They will begin in about two weeks time. Jane and very briefly, is this going to further divide the country . Gary this kind of outcome for an election is incredibly tricky because it does raise the possibility of having to have another election in order to get a stronger mandate. People wont go much happy about that. They have had three big polls in three years, with a referendum in the previous general, but it does show you, if it turns out to be the case, perhaps the conservatives didnt realize, or didnt really gauge the level of support of some part of the labour party agenda. That will give people pause for thought. Jane gary donahue, that you very much. You are watching bbc world news america. Coming up, special report from the taliban were they are gaining ground. We oftens something shy away from, but that could be slowly changing. A museum of failure has opened in sweden filled with products it shows that failure is good. Richard galpin was at the opening. Richard the doors of the worlds first museum of failure for opened in the swedish city. It is the brainchild of this man, samuel west. He is a psychologist on a mission to show people here and around the world that failure should be celebrated. It is part of the process leading to successful innovation. Before the opening party, i was given an exclusive tour of this unique museum by its director, samuel west. Other 17 exhibits . 17 products and services. I failure because it did not take privacy issues seriously enough. And another food innovation. 300 million invested in a luxury burger that did not work out. Richard what success has you had in persuading companies to reveal their failures and hand over exhibits of some of their field products . Zero. Richard what does that make you think . It drives home the point of how sensitive failure is in what extent are willing to go to sort of hide it. [applause] but the hope is for the opening of this museum, failure will be seen in a very different light. Richard galpin, bbc news, and house and bark. Sweden. Look out some of the other days news. The Qatari Foreign minister set the dispute between qatar and several other arab states threatens the stability of the whole region. Qatar still favored diplomacy to ray ball the rapidly escalating crisis with other gold states over its alleged with terrorism and he ruled out any military solutions. The outlook on church in scotland despicable church has voted to allow samesex couples to marry. This makes it the First Anglican Church in britain to do so. The mobile alignment can couples and the rest of the country apply to have a Church Wedding in scotland. Clergy has proposed samesex marriage will not be compelled to perform gay weddings. The World Health Organization says the number of cases of cholera in yemen has passed 100,000. Said 189health body people have died from the disease, which is active in 19 of yemens 23 divisions. It said yemen needs it says yemen is facing a triple threat of cholera and famine. On to afghanistan, in recent years, the taliban have been regaining ground. For nearly two years, little has been seen of light under their rule until now. We have the First International journalists to visit the territory under close scrutiny of official minders. We just entered the territory. We passed through were so many british soldiers fought and died. Our taliban minder always with us. The bustling market looks like any in afghanistan, but there are telltale sounds that we. , then telltale signs that we are in taliban territory. The women are nowhere to be seen. Maybe the market and head for the local high school. It is religious studies and only boys get an education. Insists thatinder there are other lessons, and that girls can go to school, just not here. Schoolsban used to burn down. Now, they are running them, funded by the central government. The government and inspectors do the supervision. The telegram dont have any problem with it. And the playground, the Main Attraction seems to be our cameras. Most of these children have never seen anything like them. It is a reminder of just how isolated these communities are. It is not just schools that the taliban are running. This is a local hospital. It is also funded by the government, but lacks supplies. There is no female doctor or top specialists. You can even have a chest xray here. Leaving,he surgeon is too, because he has not been paid in the past six months. The next day, we meet the talibans spokesman. Remains a deep organization in afghanistan responsible for many deaths. But they claim that their push to governance has changed. The taliban has separate committees for education, health, and local government. We dont only have military setups, but also administrative systems. Patella vans have captured huge territories, and now they have to govern them. The next challenges how much will they join the modern world, and how much they will reject it . And a reminder of our two major stories tonight the former fbi director james comey has told congress that he wanted to put the record straight after fired him andp make is in administration of defaming him and the fbi, and called into question the president s ability to tell the truth. The when it came to obstruction of justice, he said, he would leave that up to others. And of course, there is a special investigation that is being overseen by the special counsel, Robert Mueller, which will determine that question. If you director james comey seemed to imply that the instruction of justice issue was something that that special counsel would be looking at. Meanwhile, President Trumps lawyer says the testimony actually vindicated him because james comey also confirmed publicly, for the first time, that the president himself is not the subject of an investigation. Polln the u. K. , and exit published at the end of voting in britains snap general election is predicting that the governing conservatives led by the Prime Minister theresa may, will lose their majority. It suggests they will remain the largest party, but will lose 17 seats. The main Opposition Labor Party is predicted to gain 34 mps although a large number of seats remain too close to call. We will bring you the results of the election as they come in. Do keep an eye on our website. All the results will be there, and you will get constant updates as they start to pour in from all over the country. Thank you very much for watching, and do tune in tomorrow. Make sense of International News at bbc. Com news. Funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for americas neglected needs. Planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. You can find it here, in aruba. Families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. Nonstop flights are available from most major airports. More information for your vacation planning is available at aruba. Com. Bbc world news was presented by kcet, los angeles. Captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc woodruff good evening, im judy woodruff. On the newshour tonight. Those were lies, plain and simple. Woodruff . James comey speaks publicly for the First Time Since being fired as f. B. I. Director, telling the Senate Intelligence committee President Trump could not be trusted. Ive seen the tweet about tapes. Lordy, i hope there are tapes. Woodruff we break down the biggest moments from the hearing and what they mean for President Trump and the russia investigation moving forward. Plus, the United Kingdom votes in a critical election at stake is the approach to leading britain into a new era marked by brexit and terror threats. All that and more on tonights pbs newshour