And the hunt is on for a missing lynx thats on the loose in mid wales, after escaping from a wildlife park. Good evening and welcome to bbc news. Donald trumps former president ial Campaign Manager has been charged with conspiring to defraud the United States. Its one of 12 criminal charges brought against Paul Manafort and one of his business associates, including conspiring to launder money. Both men have pleaded not guilty. Its alleged they received 75 million in all from pro Russian Politicians in ukraine. Its also emerged that George Papadopoulos, another adviser to President Trump, has pleaded guilty to lying about his links to russia. Paul manafort, are you handing yourself into federal authorities today . This is not how it was meant to be. Mr manafort has no comment. Just over one year ago, multimillionaire Paul Manafort was Donald Trumps campaign chairman, a figure of huge influence. Normally talkative, today, more tight lipped. The indictment runs to over 30 pages and details of a complex web of Financial Arrangements to keep vast amounts secured from us authorities. It details how Paul Manafort was working as an agent for the pro russia party in ukraine from whom he received tens of millions of dollars in payments for decades until 2017. Its alleged he laundered 18 million through various accounts and companies, and by any means. Almost 1 million was funneled through an antiques rugs store in alexandria, virginia, millions laundered through a mens clothes store in new york. It adds a substantial layer of complexity, just the ukraine and the russia connection could add months and months to this investigation. In response to the indictment, the president has treated angrily. Sorry, but this is years ago, before Paul Manafort was part of the Trump Campaign, but why not crooked hillary and the democrats the focus . And another tweet on russia. Also, there is no collusion. That is the line taken by his lawyer. The allegations in the indictment are focused on their business activities, not campaign activities, not campaign events. But today, a separate, deeply damaging disclosure. This man, George Papadopoulos, a Foreign Policy adviser to the Trump Campaign, who President Trump once described as an excellent guy, secretly pleaded guilty earlier this month to lying to the fbi about his contacts with russian officials during the campaign. And this former state Department Official and International Lawyer said that could be much more significant. Manafort is a bigger figure, but we expected the charges and indictment against him to come at today. This guilty plea by papadopoulos discloses facts of communication between the Trump Campaign and russia that we didnt know about and that could be a much bigger problem for trump. The charge sheet against papadopoulos says he is cooperating fully with the authorities. In other words, it looks like hes prepared to reveal more information as part of a plea bargain. That might give other white house officials lawyers, and quickly. Earlier, an attorney for manafort spoke at a Media Conference in washington. He told reporters that there is no evidence of manafort or the Trump Campaign colluding with the russian government. Well, i think you all saw today that President Donald Trump was correct. There is no evidence that mr ma nafort there is no evidence that mr manafort or the Trump Campaign couuded manafort or the Trump Campaign colluded with the russian government. Mr manafort represented Pro European Union campaigns for the ukrainians. And in that, he was looking to further democracy and to help the ukraine. Those activities endedin help the ukraine. Those activities ended in 2014. Over two years before mr manafort served in the Trump Campaign. Today, you an indictment brought by an office of special counsel that is using a theory to prosecute regarding a prosecute mr manafort, regarding a file. The United States has only use that offends six times since 1966 and it only resulted in one conviction. The second thing about this indictment that i myself find most ridiculous is the claim that maintaining offshore accounts to bring all yourfunds maintaining offshore accounts to bring all your funds into the United States as a scheme to conceal from the United States government is ridiculous. Thank you. Jane 0brien is in washington. Two separate cases. Paul manafort and his associate and George Papadopoulos, how and his associate and george pa padopoulos, how has and his associate and George Papadopoulos, how has the white house been reacting to these two bits of news . The white house is trying very much to dismiss them. You heard the statement earlier from donald trump in a tweet, saying that this happened long before paul ma nafort this happened long before Paul Manafort was part of the campaign, that was were treated by the white house spokeswoman Sarah Sanders this afternoon. Reiterated. But the most significant details to emerge today those surrounding George Papadopoulos. Who was very much a pa rt papadopoulos. Who was very much a part of the campaign, the Foreign Policy adviser, and the allegations surrounding him go to the heart of this probe into whether or not anybody colluded with russian interference into the president ial election. So that is a very significant development. It also shows that bob mueller the special counsel is prepared to go after anybody, for anything, as he goes down this road of trying to uncover who knew what, exactly what happened in the 2016 campaign. Jane, we are going to leave it there, thank very much. Joining me now is renato mariotti, who is a former federal prosecutor and candidate for the illinois attorney general. Thank you very much indeed for joining us here. What strikes you, looking at the charges that have been brought against Paul Manafort and his associate . Well, regarding Paul Manafort, a couple of things. First, there are a number of charges that very narrow and straightforward for a prosecutor to. For example, that very narrow and straightforward fora prosecutorto. For example, mr ma nafort fora prosecutorto. For example, mr manafort and mr gates were both charged failing to make certain disclosures. Id you make the disclosures. Id you make the disclosure or you dont, that is a very straightforward thing for a prosecutor to prove. Similarly, these offshore accounts that the lawyer was talking about a minute ago. There is nothing ridiculous about them and frankly, that is a simple thing to prove. Either you have these foreign accounts or you dont and you made the disclosure about them or not. And the second thing, there is this wide ranging conspiracy that was charged. That, i felt, was very surprising to me because mr manafort was charged in a conspiracy with gates to conspire against United States in those wide ranging allegations. If you asked me a week ago what i thought the mr manafort charges would look like, i would say very narrow and very careful. That charge was a much larger, broader based charge. As a takeaway, i would say in terms of a conclusion, if i represented paul ma nafort conclusion, if i represented Paul Manafort or mr gates, what i would be hoping for is my client was not going to get a pardon, i would advise my clients to consider cooperating with mr moller. Andrew advise that because . A couple of reasons. They are facing very significant criminal power naughties, ten years or more in prison. That would be the recommended penalty from the government. In addition to that, some of these crimes are very straightforward to prove. And it is very ha rd to straightforward to prove. And it is very hard to believe, for example, that manafort made the disclosures that manafort made the disclosures that he is alleged to have not made. It is possible that bob mueller, this is a big mistake, but i would bet strongly that he has not. Just looking at this as somebody who was a prosecutor for a looking at this as somebody who was a prosecutorfor a decade, a federal prosecutor, and now represents people on the other side is a criminal defence lawyer, these are the sort of charges i think that very ha rd to the sort of charges i think that very hard to mount a defence against. Typically in the United States, federal prosecutors tends to win their cases most of the time, the majority of the time. These type of charges are fairly easy to prove. The statement we had a moment ago, it is fine for talking to the press, the statement by his lawyer, but frankly, i think that it is a disservice to his client. Because i would be more professional and respectful of the prosecution, given the strength of the charges here. Im looking forward, and is looking forward to the rescue of the task that Robert Mueller has, can we expect further charges or is this likely to be at . I would be very surprised if there were not further charges. The pa padopoulos surprised if there were not further charges. The papadopoulos charges may be receiving less attention but in the long run, they could be more important because mr papadopoulos in the long run, they could be more important because mr p with ipoulos in the long run, they could be more important because mr p with mr ilos has agreed to cooperate with mr mueller and his team and what that means is he has agreed to testify against other people. Hes providing information. If you look at the allegations in the document filed, those were very serious e mails that showed that he was looking for assistance from others, surrey, from the russian government. And he was e mailing others in the trump team about that. One of those individuals it has been reported in American Media a moment ago, that was the co chair of the Trump Campaign. That could be muellers next target, so i think he will continue this investigation and mr papadopoulos will be on his side while he does so. Well have to leave that, but thank you. And well find out how this story and many others are covered in tomorrows front pages at 10 40 this evening in the papers. Deputy editor of the express, and the political commentator daisy mcandrew. The government has called for action within days to deal with allegations of Sexual Harassment at westminster. The leader of the commons has told the house that she wants to see a new grievance procedure as soon as possible and a fresh code of conduct introduced, following claims of misconduct by some mps. 0ur Political EditorLaura Kuenssbergs report contains flash photography. What really happens within westminsters walls . Its work for thousands of people, but often, for young staff making their way, it is a place where they fear they could face harm. With suspicions in the air about politicianss behaviour. Order . The speaker told the parties it is theirjob to clean up. There must be zero tolerance of Sexual Harassment or bullying here at westminster or elsewhere. Andrea leadsom. With a stern faced theresa may alongside, the leader of the commons promised a new complaints system for staff and vowed the parties will Work Together. 0ur constituents will be rightly appalled at the thought that some representatives in Parliament May have acted in an entirely inappropriate way towards others. Parliament must take action in days, not weeks. A new support team for staff is planned, but how to tackle the more complicated question of culture . No woman, or man for that matter, coming to work in this house should be subjected to unwanted sexual advances from those in a position of power over them. No one should have to work in the toxic atmosphere of sleazy, sexist or homophobic banter. Dont think for a moment that much of this is really new. This place is about power and it has been an open secret for years that too often, its used for the wrong reasons. Suspicions are running high once more, but its too early to say if this is the start of a turning point, ora refrain of the same old story. Concerns about westminsters boozy culture where alcohol, ambition and long hours collide are long held. In 2014, the tory mp nigel evans was tried and cleared of sexual abuse of young men. But his lawyer described drunken overfamiliarity. And the then boss of the liberal democrats, lord renard, was accused of behaving inappropriately to female party members. He was never charged, yet eventually admitted he might have invaded their personal space. One of those who accuse tim said that kind of behaviour was hardly rare. I also can see this behaviour being seen as quite normal, to bum pinching or inappropriate kissing, or any of the kind of social norms that you think on the one side might be ok suddenly goes into the wrong direction. One of the problems mps employ their staff directly. Who can easily complain about the bass to the boss . As a rep for commons staff summed up. If there is an issue and you have nobody to go to, youre just going to slip away with your tail between your legs because you dont want to get a reputation as a troublemaker and the member gets away with it time and again because nobody will stand up and say, do you know what, there is a problem there. But whether victims are willing to spill this places secrets could change the view of this place. Laura kuenssberg, bbc news, westminster. Well, Harriet Harman whos a former caretaker leader of the labour party, and the first ever minister for women in tony blairs government described the kind of reform shed like to see introduced to tackle sexual at harassment at westminster. I think that what is really important is that has to be anonymity in the process so that complainants can make their complaint and complainants can make their complaintand a complainants can make their complaint and a fairly, independently investigated. Ive been for decades, this has gone on and its absolutely time that it stopped. John bercow seemed to suggest that the house must put in place procedures, but it is also up to the parties to get their house in order. Why do think it has taken until now for parties to look properly at their procedures on Sexual Harassment and bullying . |j think Sexual Harassment and bullying . think there is two things, one is it is difficult for some at the bottom of the system to complain about somebody at the top of the system. But also, the tribal Party Divisions in the house of commons mean that people going up in support of their own side. And actually, i think what weve got to do is to be even harder on our own side than we are on the other side. Certainly, i on our own side than we are on the otherside. Certainly, ifeel on our own side than we are on the other side. Certainly, ifeel even worse about accusations made against labour members of parliament because it reflects on all of those labour mps. Also, expect there to be Higher Standards from labour mps than mps generally. So it big we have to get out of our party tribal trenches, weve got to Work Together to have a process to sort it out, and weve got to be very unflinching on our own side and not going up to defend those of our own side who carry out misdemeanours like this. Who should decide whether or not a case of Sexual Harassment or harmless behaviour . Well, there is a thing about hamas, innocent behaviour because people are not stupid. Harmless. If they find something uncomfortable, it is not innocent and mps should bear on the side of caution. Id think we are fed up with the idea that people cant take a joke or it isjust with the idea that people cant take a joke or it is just innocent banter. Its not, we are here to do a job banter. Its not, we are here to do ajob and banter. Its not, we are here to do a job and really, it is for mps to stay the right side of a very firm line. And what concrete steps to you wa nt to line. And what concrete steps to you want to see stake in both at party and parliament level to stamp this out once and for all . I think as far as the labour party is concerned, i think misogynist or homophobic abuse online, one strike and you should be out. You can either do misogynist and homophobic abuse or you can be in the labour party. You cant do both. As far as parliament is concerned, i want to see all parties sign up to a very strict code of conduct. I want to see independent adjudication said the complaint can know that it is beamed out with belly, and i want to see anonymity for the complainant because it is very difficult for a junior person to complain against people who very powerful. That was Harriet Harman there speaking a little earlier. Joining me is anne mcelvoy, Senior