Good evening, im laura coates. Thank you for joining me this friday evening. Tonight, donald trump is on some thin ice. In the first hearing with the judge in his third indictment, the one over Election Interference, she warned the former president about his rhetoric and his agreement, by the way, not to intimidate witnesses in order to stay a free man. But she also favored some of the arguments by his attorneys, for example, on whether evidence can be discussed publicly. More on that whole dramatic Courtroom Scene in just a moment. First, hunter biden. Hes likely going to trial. Attorney general Merrick Garland effectively appointed a Special Counsel in the guns and taxes investigation of the president s son. Youll recall there was a plea deal, and it also recently broke down. And weve talked about the questions surrounding how that could have happened. Even a judge that questioned the terms of the agreement with the doj. Before we get to all of that analysis, youre probably thinking,
welcome to the programme. plenty of elections around the world this year. now know a bit more about what could be happening here in the uk. rishi sunak says the general election is likely to happen in the second half of this year . he didn t rule out it happening earlier but says his working assumption is later this year. take a listen. so, look, my working assumption is we ll have a general election in the second half of this year, and in the meantime, i ve got lots that i want to get on with. that means cutting people s taxes this saturday. that s a tax cut worth £450 for the average person in work. we can do that because we d halved inflation. i want to keep going, managing the economy well and cutting people s taxes, but i also want to keep attacking illegal migration. last year, we got the numbers down by a third, and now we need to get our rwanda schema through parliament, up and running, so we have a full deterrent. and that s how we are really going to solve this
mr sunak said his working assumption is that a poll will be held in the second half of 202a. labour say he s delaying a vote because the tories are unpopular. here s mr sunak earlier. my working assumption is we will have a general election in the second half of this year, and in the meantime i have got lots that i want to get on with. this saturday, we will be introducing a significant tax cut for millions of people in work, worth on average £450 for an average worker, because we have halved inflation and we want to keep managing the economy well and cutting people s taxes. and i also want to keep tackling illegal migration. we cut the number of arrivals last year by over a third, but we have got more to do and we plan to get the rwanda scheme through parliament and up and running. so i have got plenty to get on with and that is what i am focusing on doing, delivering for the british people and it is great to be talking to people here in the east midlands about our progress
welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer in washington with erin burnett in new york. breaking now, 37 criminal charges against donald trump revealed in a detailed federal indictment that s now public. the former president of the united states accused of storing and hiding very sensitive, highly classified documents as mar-a-lago allegedly conspireing with an aide to defy a subpoena for the material. wolf, prosecutors say trump kept secret information in a ballroom, up on a stage, in a bedroom and in a bathroom and even in a shower. the former commander in chief showed off documents including a document trump is said to have described as a, quote, plan of attack. tonight, erin, special counsel jack smith is vowing a very speedy trial arguing laws must be enforced as the indictment warrants trump risked exposing military and nuclear secrets of the united states and its allies. this is a special edition of the situation room. the
welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in the uk and around the world. we start with the us secretary of state, antony blinken, who is headed to the middle east to visit israel, the west bank, and seven countries over the next week. the us state department says during mr blinken s trip, he will seek immediate increase in aid to gaza as the strip continues to deal with a humaniatarian crisis. the trip comes as the uk foreign secretary, david cameron, warns israel must allow more aid into gaza in order to avoid starvation and large outbreaks of disease. and there are reports of dozens more deaths from air strikes in southern gaza, as israel continues its military operation there. and in lebanon, people gathered for the funeral of deputy hamas leader saleh al arouri. he was killed earlier this week in an explosion. hezbollah a powerful iranian backed group in lebanon has blamed that attack on what it says was flagrant israeli aggression . israel has not commented, but