Transcripts For BBCNEWS Newsnight 20170711

To swing last autumns election. But today, Donald Trumps son, donald junior, was forced to release a string of emails suggesting he knowingly met last summer with russian officials who promised to dish dirt on Hillary Clinton. Today, democratic senator tim kaine mrs clintons running mate said, in terms of whats being investigated, this is moving into perjury, false statements and even potentially treason. A former watergate prosecutor described the emails as a smoking cannon. The president , meanwhile, defended his son as a high quality person committed to transparency. They only actually met last week but the exact relationship between President Trump and his russian counterpart is a constant theme among critics. There were plenty of allegations but not much fact. Now, details of a meeting between Meeting Willett were members of the Trump Campaign and a russian lawyer have changed that. The picture is rapidly evolving, the president s son having to shift his position over the last three days and the publication of fresh details of the Meeting Injune Last Year by the New York Times prompted the president s eldest son to release what he said was the entire e mail chain. On the 3rd ofjune, rob goldstone, a british Publicist Acting for russian clients told mr trumpjunior that he could introduce him to someone who had been briefed by the russian authorities who. The tycoons son replied within minutes saying. Later on the 7th ofjune, the date having been set for the meeting, mr goldstone referred to the person coming over as Donald Trump Jr replied that the meeting would take place at trump tower in new york. In releasing the e mails, Donald Trumer wrote that he was being totally transparent and reiterated that the russian lawyer, Natalia Veselnitskaya ,. Earlier today the lawyer insisted that she was never in possession of information that could have damaged Hillary Clinton but that trumps people definitely wanted it. Translation its quite possible that maybe they were looking for such information, they wanted it so badly. Rob goldstone has previously told the New York Times that the meeting produced no new information. He has also clarified that the lawyer was not a kremlin official. The president s legal team have said that he was not aware and did not attend the june meeting. But the E Mail Publication raises questions about the various shifts in Donald Trumers position on the meeting, from initially denying it had anything to do with the Hillary Clinton campaign. The bbcs paul wood has been investigating President Trumps alleged links with russia since last summer. He joins us from now washington. Paul, youve come in on a day when you were moving house, i think, so i assume you think this is areas . You couldnt miss this one. There have been many bad days for the club Trump Administration on russia, this is the worst, the most serious. First principles, the Us Intelligence agencies and say that russia interfered in the us president ial election and did so to get mr trump elected. The white house has always denied that narrative. I had lunch with a senior aide to trump recently and he said that it was political, from the top of the agencies. I think it will be difficult for the white house to keep to this line now that we have Donald Trump Jr accepting a meeting on the basis that it is the russian government trying to hand over information. Theres a huge investigation going on, hundreds of fbi agents, all looking at whether the Trump Campaign colluded with the russian Intelligence Services, specifically, according to members of the Obama Administration whove seen the intelligence, it is alleged that members of the Trump Campaign directed the kremlin to hack and co ordinate the leaking of the documents. Looking at these e mail exchanges that Donald Trumer published today, the meeting was not about telling the russians where to hack, he was being offered official russian information, damaging to Hillary Clinton allegedly, but it was not the result of illegal actions on us soil, at least according to those e mails. That may not help him much, not least because if you cast your mind back to the Christopher Steele dossier, the former mi6 man who sat this hare running with these reports, he said that there had been an eight Year Exchange of information between russia and the Trump Campaign and this information fits into that. One Network Anchor said today that it if Donald Trumer wasnt colluding, then he was collusion curious. You have given some hints about your contacts with people from the administration and weve seen a tweet from the president saying, who wouldnt be interested in information from the opposition . Is that the line they are going to take . What is their strategy . I think they are in a panic. It was very telling that once again the White House Press briefing wasnt on camera and the spokesperson said, basically, talk to the lawyers, whenever she was asked a question. Telling that Donald Trumer changed his story. His explanation was initially that he was meeting with russian orphans who were being adopted by American Parents but when the New York Times had the e mails, he went public. I think you can see the white house falling back on the naivete defence, we have heard this from their supporters in congress, well, we wernet involved in politics before, didnt really know what we were getting into. They say they did not realise that they were breaking the law, that was the defence Whenjared Kushner did not mention a meeting with a Russian Ambassador on his official forms. Whether that works, remains to be seen. There is an investigation, probably more to come out. Having spoken to three intelligence sources who have seen classified intercepts they have said there is no specific Conversation Speaking of a conspiracy but there are a number of suspicious contacts and that is what this investigation will be looking at. You can bet if the New York Times has this transcript then the Intelligence Services have many more of them. This is the worst day so far but i think there will be more bad days on russia for the Trump Administration to come. Thank you, youd better get back to your moving. Michael wolff is a leading american author whos writing a book about president Donald Trumps white house. He has been a critic of the liberal media. I spoke to him earlier. I asked what he makes of the latest chapter in the saga. This is a real one. We now have evidence, and lets be very precise about what we do now know, we now know that the russian government reached out to embrace the Trump Campaign and that the Trump Campaign was very willing to be embraced by the russian government. Now, theres no crime there that we know of yet but we certainly are a big step forward to the circumstance in which there could be collusion in the commission of a crime and thats important, because just to establish collusion, as the trump people are desperately saying today, is not a crime. What about electoral law, soliciting a foreign contribution, doesnt that put Donald Trumer into difficult legal waters . I think thats kind of a sideshow at this point. One of the other aspects of this is going on is the Media Response to this, which is a paroxysm of glee and delight and i told you so and game over. The media has gone through this paroxysm many times before and if the media has done anything on this story, its gotten ahead of where the story really is. So, this is. This has taken a clear step forward but it is by no means where the media thinks it is or thinks it is where it should be. People have obviously got carried away, we note mr trump has plenty of enemies in the liberal media but you yourself, as someone with very good. I would like to clarify that. Everyone in the liberal media is a trump enemy. Ok, well, wouldnt you say, and i think you have been so far, that this is real. Of course it hasnt been judged by a court yet, there hasnt been a real legal thrashing out of the issue but it is important and quantitatively different. No, youve just taken a major leap beyond what we know. Its not a question of a court. You could not at this point say what crime may have been committed here. It looks terrible, i mean, they associate with really a lot of dubious characters, it is russia, after all. I mean, the story couldnt sound. Appear worse, but, but, there is no nexus in which anyone can establish a crime. Just taking dirt from the russians on Hillary Clinton isnt a crime. Its a benefit potentially under the law. Lets park that for a moment. No, somebody slipped you a little mickey here. Forget the electoral laws, it is not relevant. You have done bad research on this. Its a benefit potentially under the law. You have good lines into the trump white house, you have good access. How obsessed do you think the president has become with this issue . We heard reports at the time of the james comey dismissal of him saying to the russians, i got rid of the problem. This seems to be an issue that has bedevilled him. There is no question about this. The president is. This is top of mind for the president , top of mind forever be in the white house. They have taken steps, structural steps, to deal with this. They have modelled their response after the way the clintons handled monica lewinsky. Which resulted in the impeachment of the present, by the way. This is central to what is going on in the white house right now. Thank you so much. Where does this go from here . Mark mazzetti is the Washington Investigations Editor for the New York Times. He has been overseeing the papers investigations into Donald Trumps links to russia. Hejoins me now from dc. Can ijust start by asking you, doesnt this meeting injune 2016, and the fact that these people in trump tower seemed so keen to take it, suggest there was no pipeline or formal connections with the russians until this point . I mean, i wouldnt draw eye conclusions either way necessarily. Certainly there were contacts, there was a relationship going back several years before between Donald Trumer and the man several years between Donald Trumer and the Man Associated with the Miss Universe pageant in 2013. I would be careful and i would caution everybody else to not draw direct conclusions either way about this meeting, and to not go beyond where the facts are. We know based on the reporting of the last several days that this meeting was brokered because Donald Trumer believed the russian government had damaging information about Hillary Clinton, and was very eager to take the meeting. Were still trying to figure out what became of that, if anything. What information was discussed. I think it is a Significant Development in that we now have a detail about a significant meeting, but there is more work to be done to put pieces together either way. Where does it take us in terms of the familiar Trump Allegation that the trump tower was bugged . I mean, just in terms of potential incidental collection by Us Intelligence agencies, that may have brought these e mails to light, does that suggest there was incidental collection in that case . Not at all. No one has alleged that these e mails were intercepted by Us Intelligence agencies, or american law enforcement. So no, there has been no suggestion at all. You are saying they werent . Im saying there is absolutely no evidence to suggest that. The whole story will come to light. Nothing reported so far suggests there was any involvement of american intelligence agencies. Where do you take your investigation next . What are you hunting for in terms of connections and communications between these key individuals . A lot of it is where the same questions remain. Was there a concerted effort between the Trump Campaign under the russian government to share information, to coordinate on message, to some are actively try to help donald trump . We saw from this meeting that there was at least interest on the part of the Trump Campaign. It does not show that there was an active campaign of collusion or really that there was any direct evidence that their actions taken that had any impact. There are still questions about the president , there are still questions about some of his advisers and a lot of the suspicious contacts that need to be run to ground. Clearly we will watch the pages of your paper and await your next instalment. Thank you very much. Whats happening to the workplace, workers rights, and how the government regulates or taxes all this . Theyre big questions, which Matthew Taylor attempted to answer today, as he published his review on the future of employment. But will the government implement it . And do Companies Even observe the rules in their present form . Newsnight teamed up to with colleagues from bbc london to investigate the Work Practices of one high Street Company and the results, such as pay equivalent to one third of the minimum wage, are shocking. Heres guy lynns report. We have been investigating a Company Working in some of the uks largest shopping centres. We found workers exhausted and controlled. It is long hours. You need to work six days a week. Seemingly paid below the minimum wage and denied key work benefits. Youve made £15 in five hours. Ive made zero in seven hours. In whats called bogus self employment. There are none of the hallmarks there, really, of true self employment. But worse still, this seems to me to be exploitation of workers. This is our undercover researcher carla not her real name. She will try to get a job in a Company Called soap co, who sell skin products from the dead sea. They have got Stores Across london, including at one of the uks largest shopping centres, westfield. So you need a place to live . Yeah. I have to look for something where to live. So, yeah. Because we provide as well. Do you . Oh, thats amazing. Carla has been invited for an interview with the compa nys manager. And youre working on commission only. 0k. And was clear about one thing right from the start. Youre working as a self employed person. 0k. Yeah. I have that, yeah. Thats good. So youre working as a self employed person, so you are in charge of how much you are earning. 0k. And to pay tax and everything. Yeah. Youre working in our company as a self employee. It is not like we are hiring you, ok . 0k. And carla goes on to sign the contract. So here it is. Plenty of references to her being self employed, an independent contractor. The key though isnt necessarily whats in the contract. Its what actually happens in practice. She should be able to choose as someone who is self employed. But she has to work a schedule at soap co at westfield shopping centre, and also at covent garden, at the companys affiliate. From 11 to 21 30. From 9 30 to 20 00. Yeah . If you look at the schedule you will find your name as well here. 0k . And after that, on sunday, youre coming at 11, youre finishing at eight. Yeah . Hello, gentlemen. A gift for you. She commences work, selling Skincare Products on commission, made to work around 60 hours a week. Ok, you want to do them all the time. 0k . It doesnt matter who, just go. 0k . And staff are compelled to work with only one day off a week. Do you know if we can take days off on the weekends . Not quite. Eh . Not quite. What does that mean . Usually on the weekend you work. No one has a day off. Were not allowed two days off, are we . No, no. So only one, yeah . A self employed person would ordinarily be free to do the work, or not to do the work, on a given day. And if they chose not to do the work, then they have the right to provide a substitute, someone else to do that work in their stead. And thats not what we saw was happening here. And it quickly becomes clear that staff are heavily controlled, forced to clean without pay, reprimanded for arriving even slightly late. Sorry, this is. Sorry, yeah. Why didnt you send a message . I didnt realise i was running late, sorry. You should realise and you should have been paying more attention to it, because this is serious work. And subject to intense scrutiny, and penalties, including fines for using mobiles. Not using your cellphone means not using your cellphone, even when im not here. You were on the phone all morning. Whenever i look, you were on your phone. This time i will not charge you, because you are new. Next time i see you on camera writing a message, or your back is turned on the customers when youre on the phone, i will charge you like i charge them every time. Yesterday i took £15 from them when i saw them on the phones. Some of the workers carla speaks to are exhausted and struggling financially. £15. Youve made £15 today . Yeah. So youve been here like six hours, five hours . Icame at 11 30. Whats the time . Five hours. You made £15 in five hours. Well, ive made zero in seven hours. Did you just get your salary, no . You got £200 for a month . 100. £100 for a month . No, for two weeks. For two weeks. You know, everything. And im smashed quite physically and mentally. This is not normal. If you are really greedy and you dont think about these things, you dont mind. But when you see your bank account, no. Snezhana from bulgaria, like many of the workers here, was recruited from abroad by soap co, with the offer of accommodation and a job. Now she has quit. When people are pushing you and they stress you every day six days, 12 hours, you are under stress all the time and in one moment you are like, ok, thats it for me, i cannot handle it any more. I was thinking that i would come to do something with my life. And after that, i become like without any money. Basically, they left me without nothing. By claiming staff are self employed, this company avoid having to pay a whole host of in work benefits, such as sick and holiday pay and the minimum wage. And when carla collects her first pay packet, it is well under the National Minimum wage for the hours she has worked. For 90 hours i have received £200, which makes it like less than £3 an hour. We dont get paid by the hour, we get paid by sales. The sales are Getting Better and better, your salary is going up and up. Arpita dutt is one of several Employment Lawyers who have now reviewed the bbcs evidence and footage. It reminds me of our bygone days, those days where we used to have master servant relationships. Based on all the evidence that ive seen, this is false self employment. And this is much more an Employment Relationship than any i have seen. But unfortunately, quite an exploitative Employment Relationship. Soap co says it takes its responsibilities under uk law very seriously, and are extremely concerned about the allegations about their compa nys working arrangements. They are now reviewing those allegations and the implications, if any, regarding the Employment Status of those who work with them. We also tried to contact these managers we filmed. They are yet to respond. Bogus self employment allows companies to get away with not spending vast amounts of cash on their staff. We have been told of many similar cases of Employment Laws being abused, orkers exploited, their basic rights denied. Guy lynn with that investigation. Westfield told us tonight, that the company was concerned about the reports regarding soap co, but was unable to comment on specific allegations. In a statement, the firm said shops in their stores were responsible for managing their own staff. Separately, we should point out that our report was about the company soap co. There is another organisation with a similar name the soap co but it has no connections to soap co. It has been described as the worst treatment disaster in the history of the nhs. Between 1970 and 1991, around 6,000 people became infected with hepatitis c after receiving Blood Products from the nhs. Another 1,500 were infected with hiv. Most had been receiving treatment for haemophilia. More than 2,000 are since believed to have died. In the years since then, governments have apologised and some of those who suffered received compensation. But calls for a full Public Inquiry into the scandal have fallen on deaf ears. Today that changed, when theresa may announced unexpectedly to her cabinet that she would order an inquiry, precise format to be confirmed. The move may not have been entirely unconnected to the threat the Prime Ministerfaced of potentially losing a commons vote on an Emergency Motion on the subject. Tonight, she said this. I want to ensure that this inquiry is going to provide the answers that the victims and their families want, as to how this was able to happen. And it has affected so many people. And they have waited too long for these answers. What we want to do is talk with the families, talk to them about the shape that this inquiry should take, so we ensure that it is able to provide the answers and justice that they want and deserve. One of those who has been waiting for almost two decades for light to be shone onto the scandal of the nhs contaminated blood is lauren palmer. Her father steven was a haemophiliac who contracted hepatitis c and hiv through a contaminated Blood Transfusion in the mid 1980s. Before he realised he had unknowingly passed hiv to his wife barbara and when lauren was just nine years old, she lost both her parents in the space of eight days. Having gone through that terrible tragedy, did you feel all so that you were growing up with a stigma . Massively. I was told that i couldnt breathe a word of what had happened, with the association, the stigma around hiv alone. So i never spoke of it when i was younger at all. Its only really recently, the last couple of years that ive been more open about it, especially with myjob as well, its quite encouraged because charity is based around hiv so ive started telling my story but, yes, growing up, it was literally just, couldnt talk about it. Who did you live with after this happened . I was taken into care by legal guardianship of my auntie and uncle, so my mothers sister at the time. What does todays announcement mean to you . Such a relief, it couldnt have been better news. I know for a fact that so many people have been fighting for this outcome for many, many years. Im one of the lucky ones, ive literallyjust come into the campaign off the back of the panorama tv show but there are people who have been relentlessly fighting and continually campaigning for this for such a long time. Iam beyond happy with the results today. It wasnt expected so even more of a relief i think for us all. You say that it wasnt expected and its 20 years. Presumably for much of your life youve gone through this assuming that this thing would never be properly dealt with and you would never receive a real explanation, of everything that happened and why. No, this. Like you say, very unexpected but we are over the moon with it and it is just the beginning now. Its going to take a long time, a long fight to get the real Truth And Justice and answers about what actually happened. What is the end point of the process . Is it seeing people in the dock, prosecutions . It is close off all of us who have been affected, and those who have been infected, that no one has been accountable for it. Thats what we all want. We want to know what happened, how it happened, how a mistake of this magnitude can occur. And just us wanting answers, thats all we want. We just want the justice in this system. And if that means people being taken to court, as happened in france for example, then thats part of the process for you . It is, yes. To what extent did your parents understand the cause of what had happened to them and to what extent would they have wanted to see this day . I know my mum was fighting for about three years before she passed away, and she never got anywhere with it. It was passed onto my aunt, who then continually tried to find answers and fought for a good few years, but it fell on deaf ears and didnt amount to anything so now i am holding the flag for my mum, doing it for her and the other families that have been affected by this. Its a Real Community out there now and we all want the same thing, thats what we all want. Thank you so much for explaining that to us. Thank you for having me. The Grenfell Tower tragedy has yielded many extraordinary human stories. From some miraculously saved, to others who had to leave behind family members, never to see them again. Many of us probably remember the story of a 16 Year Old Girl who sat her gcse exams in her pyjamas the morning after that dreadful night, one month ago. That was ines alves, who lived on the 13th floor. Well, her mother, fatima alves, hasnt spoken publicly before about what the family has been through. But she and her husband have been recounting their experience to our special correspondent, katie razall. Im very lucky to be here. Many people, they passed away, they died, they are ashes now. Keeping busy helps miguel alves forget. His family escaped from grenfell. Now, ironically, he and his wife are at a fundraiser for victims of recent fires in portugal, his home country. They put on a brave face but they are tormented by what happened in the home they owned and had lived in for more than 20 years. The worst thing is seeing the people waving and banging for help on the windows. This was most shocking thing. When i close my eyes, every time i close my eyes, i can still see them, people waving and begging for help. This was the worst thing. We met them again a few days later at their hotel. It seems unreal, even now, a month after it seems unreal. I think in my mind, i still have that hope. Its just a dream. That im going to my flat, you know, wake up from the nightmare and say this was just a nightmare, we all go back to that place where we built ourselves, you know, with love. We raised our kids. We raised our kids there. Famously, their daughter, ines, sat her chemistry gcse the day after the fire. Shes a very strong willed girl. She was very determined to go. I said, you cant go like that when she said shes going to the exam. You cant go because you have no uniform and she said, i dont care, im going. Ive been studying very hard, im not going to miss my exam. For this past month, the alveses have reflected on their good fortune. The important that we are alive. We can. Continue our lives, with or without the belongings. And i know that there are people much worse than us, they lost their belongings and they lost their families. And their lives, yes. Members of family. So we are very lucky. I think we are the luckiest family in the building. Thats because although their children were already upstairs in the flat, the alves parents arrived home as the fire was starting and, as luck would have it, they got into the lift with two men going to the floor where the fire had broken out. They exited at the fourth floor and we saw smoke, so our instinct was to get out of the lift, straight to the staircase and he said to me, you go down to the garage and get the phone i left in the car, while i go upstairs and bring the children down. And they woke up all the neighbours, the our children and then when i came out of the building i asked, i opened the door for the firefighters, they were arriving at that moment and i opened the door for them. I led them to the staircase and then i asked one of them, is it safe to stay in the building, and he said no, you stay here. I said yeah but my children and my husband are upstairs because at that moment my husband was already upstairs in the flat. And he said yes, but my husband and children are upstairs in the flat and he said, which floor, and i said 13. He said to tell them to stay inside, close the doors and windows and stay inside. Of course we now know that was the advice given to many of the families in grenfell on the night and was part of the towers fire safety drill. Fortunately, for everyone on the 13th floor, miguel didnt heed it. I was calm when i went out to get the kids, i was very calm. I thought it was just. Just for a few hours. A self contained fire. I thought it was too much to wake them up but i did anyway. I think i did the right thing. Even if i broke the rules, they are there to be broken sometimes. For now, home is a hotel. The family turned down the offer of a flat, holding out for more permanent accommodation. A month has passed but for them its as if time stands still. I know there was a distance between us but it was like looking at us, help, help, help, begging and waving with the clothes and torches outside the window, and saying, im here, im here, and we couldnt do anything. Me and my husband went to a police officer, a policeman and we said there are a lot of people inside the flats and he said, calm down, the firefighters are inside, they deal with the situation, they know what to do and we trust because they are professionals, we trust them. And at the end, how many casualties . The family treasure the few videos and photos they still have of their flat. Their daughter playing piano with a young friend, but nothing can bring back their home or the neighbours theyve lost. Every day i look for that tower and. Katie razall there. Thats it for today, which also happens to be the First Anniversary of theresa may becoming leader of the conservative party, and shortly thereafter the Prime Minister. Its been a long year since then. And for mrs may, it included one particularly long night. Heres a reminder of both. Goodnight. I hereby declare that may, theresa mary has been duly elected. Id like to ask the successful candidate to come up and take a few words. Applause my pitch is very simple, im theresa may and i think im the best person to be Prime Minister of this country. You have a job but you dont always have job security. I have just chaired a meeting of the cabinet, where we agreed that the government should call a general election. That the only way to guarantee certainty and stability for the years ahead is to hold this election. Nothing has changed. Jeremy corbyn will find himself alone and naked in the Negotiating Chamber of the european union. Remind him of anybody . I wanted to achieve a larger majority and im sorry. When future generations look back at this time, they willjudge us not only by the decision that we made, but by what we made of that decision. Good evening and thank goodness we have the roof on centre court at wimbledon because it was one of those days today. This is a picture taken and it looks like spectators came well prepa red. This taken and it looks like spectators came well prepared. This is the radar picture, which shows it wasnt just the south east of england, it was the southern half of england and some of wales. Some of the rain was heavy. A few showers in the north. They fade away overnight. We keep the rain further south. It slowly d rifts the rain further south. It slowly drifts southward and eastwards. I the end of the night we have temperatures about 14 15 for cardiff and london, but dipping into single figures for northern parts of scotland. A bit breezy for eastern parts first thing. That will blow away and that the cloud follows, saw pretty decent day across the board. Light winds by the afternoon for most places. Good spells of sunshine. The low 20s quite widely. A fresher feel the things in the north sea coast. This is newsday on the bbc. I am rico hizon in singapore. The headlines. Donald trumps sun reveals e mails he was keen to use russian information to dig dirt on Hillary Clinton. This is a serious situation and one that is a long way from home. A 2 million boost for Family Planning as governments around the world pledged to make contraception more widely available. Also in the programme. China is putting on quite a show with the promise of a golden age of trade along the new silk road. They have built twice as much high speed rail as the rest of the