like. and even though he s twice impeached and gone, retired, disgraced, facing legal and financial trouble, blocked from social media and playing professional wedding crasher at mar-a-lago, the great purge is on. congresswoman liz cheney is on the verge of being booted from her house leadership position and the gop s heir apparent is openly campaigning to replace her. that s elise stefanik whose embrace of trump has propelled her to the front of the line. her only apparent qualification is her willingness to repeat the big lie over and over and over again, even after the capitol siege on january 6th. naturally she was among the 139 house republicans who tried to invalidate the results of a democratic election. now stefanik says she supports the odd it in arizona which is being conducted by a firm literally called the cyber ninjas with the help of a january 6th insurrectionist to boot. she is also checking another maga world box, seeking the blessing of trump pardon recipient
now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. month by month, us president joe biden is shifting away from trump era foreign policy positions. but how dramatic will the pivot be? in the middle east, there are signs of a changed approach to the region s two oil rich adversaries, saudi arabia and iran. more pressure on the saudis, more engagement with tehran. my guest is the influential boss of saudi arabia s al arabiya english news channel, mohammed alyahya. have the saudis forfeited america s unstinting support? mohammed alyahya in dubai, welcome to hardtalk. thank you for having me. it s a pleasure to have you on the show. would you accept that life has become much more difficult for saudi arabia under the presidency in washington ofjoe biden than it was under donald trump? ithink, you know, us saudi relations have always had their ups and downs and, you know, disagreement between the united states and saudi arabia has never reached 100%. the disagreeme
middle of the month and condemn violence, extremism and calling for cooperation, we are live in iraq where pope francis on the first people visit to the country. a royal family feud and the world is watching. the roof deepens ahead of prince harry and meghan markle s bomb shell interview. live from cnn center, this is cnn newsroom with robin curnow. # . so we begin with that view, millions of americans are waiting to hear, financial help could finally be on the way. the u.s. senate passed president biden s $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief bill. it does include direct $1,400 payments for some americans. he did not get bipartisan report. not a single republican voted for it. president biden spoke shortly after the bill is passed. this is what he had to say. i promised the american people help is on the way. today i can say we have taken one more giant step forward delivering on that promise that help is on the way. this plan will get checks out the door starting this mont
today i can say we ve taken one more giant step forward in delivering on that promise. reporter: the american rescue plans includes a $1,400 direct payment, $ a 300 boost to unemployment benefits through september 6th, $350 billion for state and local governments, as well as more funding for hospitals. the bill now heads back to the house for a final vote. speaker nancy pelosi said she expects to have it passed and ready for the president s signature before march 14th when unemployment benefits for tens of millions of americans, set to expire. with more we head to capitol hill and nbc news political correspondent ali vitale. nancy pelosi announced the house bill would come this tuesday. how close are they trying to get this to biden s desk and how soon can american people start to see these things? their every day lives? the answer to both of those questions is as quickly as possible. on the treasury side, they re already preparing for what comes next with these direct st
railroading, not a single gop member of the senate voted in favor of sending more hem to struggling americans. democrats did it alone. shortly after the senate vote, this from president biden at the white house. when we took office 45 days ago, i promised the american people help was on the way. today i can say we have taken one more giant step forward in delivering on that promise. here is what just pa passed the senate and how it helps you, the american rescuer plan including a $1,400 direct payments. a $300 boost to unemployment benefits through september 6th, $$350 billion for state and local governments. as well as more funding for hospitals. the bill now heads back to the house for a final vote. speaker nancy pelosi says she expects to have it passed and rtd for the president s signature before march 14th, when unemployment benefits for tens of millions of americans are set to expire. with more we head to capitol hill and nbc political correspondent. ali vilgtsly. s