live from washington. this is bbc news. president biden calls monday's us supreme court ruling that gives presidents broad immunity a dangerous precedent. no—one is above the law. not even the president of the united states. today's supreme court decision on presidential immunity, that fundamentally changed. centrist and left—wing parties in france work together to try and block the far right in the second round of parliamentary elections. and hurricane beryl strikes. delivering strong tropical winds, intense rain and a life—threatening storm surge. hello. us presidentjoe biden addressed the country a short after the supreme court granted donald trump

immunity from criminal prosecution. all former and future presidents will now be shielded from criminal charges for any official acts taken during a presidency but not for unofficial actions taken as a private citizen. during his speech, joe biden said the ruling set a dangerous precedent and it has fundamentally changed democracy. he urged americans to vote tactically at the polls in november. the american people must decide if they want to entrust the president once again, the presidency to donald trump. now knowing he'll be more emboldened to do whatever he wants to do. you know, the outset of our nation is the character of george washington, ourfirst president to define the presidency. he believed power was limited, not absolute. that power always resides with the people. always. however 200 years later, today's supreme court decision once again will depend

on the character of the men and women who hold that presidency. that will define the limits of the power of the presidency. because the law will no longer do it. i know i will respect the limits of the presidential powers i have for 3.5 years. but any president including donald trump will now be free to ignore the law. i concur with the justices descents today. in every use of official power, the president is now a king above law. with fear for our democracy, i dissent. so should the american people dissent. i dissent. the top court's decision will also cause further delay in donald trump's election interference trial in washington, dc. it is now highly unlikely it will finish before the presidential election. in a social media post, donald trump praised the ruling as a big win for our

constitution and democracy. our north america correspondent has more on what the top court decision means amid a fraught residential election. this is seen as a huge victory by donald trump and his supporters and the republican party. they have been taking a victory lap, they view the ruling by the supreme court as some sort of defence against what they claim is the weaponisation of the political system by joe biden against donald trump, a claim they make without any evidence. for the democratic party, this is a loss in many ways because they believed that donald trump should be held accountable for the allegations against him. joe biden�*s campaign team released a statement after the ruling saying that it doesn't take you out what happened onjanuary 6. those riots, they believe that donald trump is responsible for that. we were on a call earlier,

a press call involving the democratic party, the campaign team and they said that this reiterates the message that they are giving to the american electorate that democracy is at stake. democracy is on the ballot. and what the supreme court has ruled today effectively confirms that. clearly they are going to make this a campaign issue going forward. whether or not this ruling and the implications of it matters to americans and compared to all the other issues they will be having to deal with and think about as they head into the election remains to be seen. it was a landmark decision, the first time the supreme court has ruled, presidents can be shielded from criminal charges. it was divided along party lines, six to three vote, the chiefjohn roberts delivered the majority opinion writing the nature of presidential power means a former president must have

some immunity from prosecution. i spoke to the former deputy solicitor general of the united states. you argued many cases before the supreme court, what did you make of the decision that it came down with here today? it that it came down with here toda ? . , that it came down with here toda ? . , . , ., today? it was a big win for donald trump _ today? it was a big win for donald trump and - today? it was a big win for donald trump and even i today? it was a big win for- donald trump and even before the decision was released today it was a big win for trump because the supreme court took months to prevent argue and decide on this case in a way that they don't normally like my very first case was bush buses call which the 2000 election decided all within 36 days went twice to the supreme court and the like. they recently decided trump disqualification case, or within a span of a short, of weeks. the court by delaying the decision made it so that trump could not have been tried for his crimes onjanuary 6 until after the election took

place anyway. the decision today went even further and made prosecution for donald trump even harder. it's a massive change in the rules, the way that constitutional scholars understood the foundational principles and the key principle is of course no person is above the law. that's part of the american revolution and this is really a step backwards from that. no person is above the law unless you happen to be the president. help us understand, there seems to be acute to stiction week between on official acts and official acts. —— and on official acts. —— and on officialacts. however official acts. —— and on official acts. however change the status quo here? it’s official acts. however change the status quo here?- the status quo here? it's a massive — the status quo here? it's a massive change. - the status quo here? it's a massive change. what - the status quo here? it's a massive change. what the j the status quo here? it's a - massive change. what the court said is if it's an official act you cannot enquire into you cannot prosecute someone for and if it is not official you can. they said trump pressuring the justice department to insinuate the

election in november of 2020 was false was an official act, something that he did as president and therefore could not be the basis for criminal charges. as thejustice set in the dissent, meaning an opinion disagreeing with the majority opinion today, she said if that is true that anything could be labelled an official act. she said trump's a lawyer so that if the president issued an order to navy seal team six to go and assassinate his political rival, and call that an official act, and the criminal law could not touch him and the president would be free to do that. that is the way that this decision is so transformative, it means if you are the president as richard nixon said, it cannot be illegal and to be sure they have this little sliver for unofficial acts. have this little sliver for unofficialacts. given have this little sliver for unofficial acts. given the fact that the court has deemed official acts to be as broad as

pressuring the press onjanuary 6, it is hard to see what could be not official. the courts are just maybe the pressuring of mike pence maybe a not official act but they didn't even decide that. i act but they didn't even decide that. ., ., ., a act but they didn't even decide that. ., ., ., ., ., that. i want to ask about what republicans — that. i want to ask about what republicans are _ that. i want to ask about what republicans are saying - that. i want to ask about what republicans are saying todayl republicans are saying today because it's a much different message there, many calling it a victory for the rule of law. essentially saying that this judgement by the court will free up the president to act in ways that they may feel is necessary and would be prosecuted after they leave office. do you agree with that reasoning?— office. do you agree with that reasonin: ? ., . , ., , reasoning? no, what they really mean to say _ reasoning? no, what they really mean to say is _ reasoning? no, what they really mean to say is a _ reasoning? no, what they really mean to say is a victory - reasoning? no, what they really mean to say is a victory for- mean to say is a victory for donald trump. i suspected joe biden started doing the things trump was accused of doing and holding power after the election, should he lose, they would be crying foul and saying the decision is horrible and who knows what else. generally

we understood and have gone through over 45 presidents and have never had any decision requiring presidential immunity before. this is the first time and no president as president even asserted such a notion. the closest was richard nixon three years after he left the presidency in interview in which he said if the president doesn't it's not legal. that statement was widely ridiculed by constitutional scholars on the left and right but politicians on the left and right. unfortunately as a result of our polarised and politicised age, you have people now making basically bogus claims about the constitution like the republican saying this is a restoration of the rule of law. there is no possible way it could be and the president is now above the law and the criminal law even for great and hannah's crimes is not the american system.- american system. briefly i wanted to _ american system. briefly i wanted to bring _ american system. briefly i wanted to bring up - american system. briefly i wanted to bring up some l american system. briefly i | wanted to bring up some of these hypothetical things

coming at this could potentially be well if the president orders the navy seals to assassinate their rival, that could be considered an official act. a military coup taking a bribe in exchange for a pardon. looking into the future here, what kind of legal precedent do you think this sets and how will this change the office of the presidency? it's a horrible precedent and we have been fortunate in our country to have elected presidents who don't push the envelope and believe in the constitution both republicans and democrats alike. i worry that our next president may not share that same solicitude for our constitutional values so i think it is a dangerous precedent for future presidents. it also dangerous for the united states supreme court. normally in decisions of this magnitude the court is unanimous and they speak with one voice, here you have the opposite with six republican appointed justices to the

supreme court siding with republican candidate donald trump, three democratic appointmentjustices siding against the republican nominee will trump. that is a horrible place for the court to be, that i remember the last time something like this happened in 1974, the nixon tapes get the court was almost unanimous in saying that nixon lost and he could effectively be prosecuted that the tapes had to be turned over. indeed even nixon's own appointees to the supreme court ruled against him there. here we cannot say anything like that. �* ., �* i: we cannot say anything like that. another 6-3 decision. thank you _ that. another 6-3 decision. thank you very _ that. another 6-3 decision. thank you very much - that. another 6-3 decision. thank you very much for i that. another 6-3 decision. i thank you very much for your thoughts. donald trump's former top advisor steve bannon reported to prison on monday to serve a four month sentence. you was convicted for defying a subpoenae from a committee probing the january 6, 2021 attack on the us capitol. he

claims his conversations with all trump that day should be protected under executive privilege but on friday the supreme court rejected a last—minute bid to delay his sentence. 0ur north america editor sarah smith sat down with him for an interview last week and began by asking him how he feels about his prison sentence. how do you feel about that? it doesn't make a difference, that's four years on a navy ship, i serve my country now for the last ten or so years focusing on this. if i had to do that in prison i will. no difference at all. still several months away from the election, do you accept it is possible that joe biden could barely win the election in november? impossible. remember, early voting, the ballots get mailed but early voting starts in this country around mid—september. we are only 100 days away from when it starts. if you say it's impossible for him to win fairly... crosstalk you are declaring now are you that if he... hang on, hang on. if he is declared the winner you will claim the election is stolen?

hang on, hang on. he didn't win in 2020. he is totally not legitimate. this is the basic thing, this is why the show, our audience have never wavered from this ever. there were 60 court cases where judges found no evidence. that is not true. they didn't have standing. this is never adjudicated. look into this november... if he is declared the winner you will immediately cry foul and say... how do you say declared winner? by certification by the states? he will not get certified by the states. he would not have been certified last time if we didn't have the fiasco of january 6. you said to supporters that they need to be ready to fight back. what does that mean? we mean on tables like this, it is not votes it is ballots. right now we have trained up on army of poll workers, poll watchers, election

officials, we have been training upforyears, lawyers will be ready and this time they will have their filings ready to go and there will be outside the courthouse. just some clarification on those comments. joe biden fairly won the 2020 election as certified by all 50 states and washington, dc, and according to a non—partisan fact checking operation run by appointer institute, donald trump's election fraud lawsuits failed either to error or lack of evidence. in addition the associated press reviewed every case of potential voter fraud in the six battleground states that were disputed by donald trump, found fewer than 475 of the cases which would not have changed the outcome in any state. the first major hurricane of the atlantic season made landfall on the coorabie in ireland on monday. 0ne landfall on the coorabie in ireland on monday. one person has died neighbouring saint

vincent. beryl continues to move through the region causing flash flooding and bringing wind speeds of more than 200 kilometres an hour. here is a look at the projected path of the hurricane. it is expected to continue through the caribbean. the category 4 storm shattered records becoming the strongest atlantic hurricane to form this early in the year. i'm joined by meteorologist and journalist bob hanson, great to have you here. we were saying that this really is an unprecedented storm. tell us a bit more about what we are seeing about hurricane beryl and how unusual it really is. it's startling for those of us watching for many years. we did aet some watching for many years. we did get some four — watching for many years. we did get some four years _ watching for many years. we did get some four years but - watching for many years. we did get some four years but this - get some four years but this one as we speak right on the threshold of category five. i wouldn't be surprised if it

gets that designation in the next few hours. it's not so much getting a storm, you're getting it so early as you pointed it out and so far south. this is the strongest hurricane ever to affect the the southern half of the island chain that is on the eastern korean. we are talking about domenico southwood. —— caribbean. the only counterpart really is to this far south, one was in 1980 and another was... i'm forgetting the other one. that certainly has not been anything like this in july. been anything like this in jul . ., been anything like this in jul. ., . , been anything like this in jul. ., ., ,_ been anything like this in july. you say that this type of hurricane _ july. you say that this type of hurricane hasn't _ july. you say that this type of hurricane hasn't gone - july. you say that this type of| hurricane hasn't gone through this trajectory, the countries and areas it is heading. they are not necessarily prepared for it. could that be a danger we see a powerful hurricane going towards laces that don't see that kind of storm? exactly, they don't see this kind of storm often if at all

and certainly not injuly. we think about preparations for the things like holidays and so forth you think of it in terms of seasons and this is really the kind of hurricane you might get if they were in august or september, not in the first of july. fortunately the bigger islands it did go right over carrico as you mentioned. hopefully no loss of life, it is now hurtling into the caribbean en route to very close passage to jamaica on wednesday could go right over jamaica and to the south. jamaica and to the south. jamaica has never seen hurricane force winds in any time of the month ofjuly much less worst week ofjuly. 0nce less worst week ofjuly. once again it's weeks and weeks before expectations.- again it's weeks and weeks before expectations. what does be ltell before expectations. what does beryl tell us _ before expectations. what does beryl tell us about _ before expectations. what does beryl tell us about this - beryl tell us about this upcoming hurricane season? you said it is early, is it a sign of bad things to come? it’s of bad things to come? it's been of bad things to come? it�*s been abundantly clear from looking at ocean temperatures in the last year in fact that the atlantic has been setting

records for warmth and basically we have been pumping the greenhouse gases in the apathy and warming the oceans. at a high point even on that warming trend and if you hit up the burger early then you will get more public and its exacting what happened. at ocean temperatures it's like kindling in a dry forest, you don't know you will get a fire but it leaves the potential down and you need to have that spark and that is all we were waiting on was a spark in the form of an easterly wave coming of africa that formed a nucleus for the hurricane and we expect more as we get into august and september with all the fuel we need. certainly forecasters who do seasonal forecasting i unanimous it will be an exceptionally active and busy year. it all comes down to whether and where they make landfall, it is hard to imagine not getting some bad levels. will this be the new normal? you mentioned the role climate change please here and the extreme tab which is we are seeing in the oceans. could we be seeing more intense pro cans

seasons to come? is it the beginning?— seasons to come? is it the beginning? certainly in the atlantic the _ beginning? certainly in the atlantic the trend - beginning? certainly in the atlantic the trend has - beginning? certainly in the| atlantic the trend has been upward in terms of the number of hurricanes coming intense category four and five. that's been the case in many parts of the world. the total number of hurricanes globally is pretty level, there is an evening out where one bessant is busy and another is less busy. the pacific has been quiet this year. when the hurricanes to develop in any of these oceans, the warmer waters get more of a chance to grow so the precaution of pro cans to get bad is growing and i see no sign of that changing. bab sign of that changing. bob hanson. _ sign of that changing. bob hanson, meteorologist and journalist at the dell climate connections. thank you very much for that information. hurricane beryl a definitely hoping for the safety of everyone in its path. thank you so much- _ everyone in its path. thank you so much. around _ everyone in its path. thank you so much. around the _ everyone in its path. thank you so much. around the world - everyone in its path. thank you so much. around the world and across the _ so much. around the world and across the uk, _ so much. around the world and across the uk, this _ so much. around the world and across the uk, this is _ so much. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc - across the uk, this is bbc news. let's look at other stories making use.

just days left to convince voters before thursday's general election, parties have been hammering home its core messages. rishi sunak want about what he called the danger of an unchecked labour government with a supermajority but denied having given up hope of winning. the labour leader has called for a summer of change. and england midfielder jude bellingham has been investigated for a gesture he made during a game. the governing body says it is looking to a potential violation of the basic rules of conduct. he says it was an insidejoke with some friends at the game. military horses broke free and ran loose through the centre of london on monday, the second such incident since april. the uk ministry of defence that the three horses came loose from their riders during exercises. they was soon returned to their barracks. 0ne horse sustained minor injuries. none of the horses were involved in that previous incident.

you are live with bbc news. it is back on the campaign trailfor france's it is back on the campaign trail for france's political rivals after the board suggested the national rally has made historic gains. the anti— aggression party led by marine le pen secured one in three votes in that election round. pushing manual macron's party to third place. voters will head back to the polls on sunday for a second round of voting in an election which could plunge france into a political crisis. with the far right national rally when the majority in france's parliament likely seeing on our conference calls cohabitation. man or will be president until 2027, he says he will not step down before that date and it is centrist reticence party loses that would force into nominate a prime for the winning party which puts a political opponent in charge of running the government. voters prepared the far right national valley to a

strong lead in sundays first round of those stuck legislative elections opening the door for potential new leadership. if the party gets an absolute majority, the far right candidate will run the government as the country's youngest ever prime minister. it will also mean the government under president will be at odds as the prime minister reports to the parliament that lead to the government and introduces bills. while the president will still hold powers of a foreign policy, european affairs and defence. they haven't been three other times in french history where it's experienced this habitation, the last one was from 1997 to 2002. the israeli military has ordered palestinians to leave the southern gaza city of khan younis, after rockets were fired towards israel. many had already fled after first receiving audio messages telling them to leave before the military posted a second warning on social media. the latest evacuation order covers the area around

the european hospital to the southeast of khan younis with staff already moving some key equipment to the hospital. the israeli prime minister said on sunday that the intense phase of the war with hamas was about to end but they will continue operating in gaza until the group is eliminated. meanwhile the director of al shifa hospital, muhammad abu salmiya, has been released after more than seven months of detention, after testifying he was subjected to severe torture while in custody. he is among dozens of palestinian prisoners who were returned to the gaza strip. israel said it was not aware of the claims. 0ur correspondent has more on this injerusalem. muhammad abu salmiya was released this morning and has made several statements. he alleged that he was tortured and saw torture in the prisons as well. we saw similar allegations from prisoners who had been released recently. there were many more prisoners who have been detained by israel since the war erupted between israel and hamas and the internal security service here in fact said the reason

why people like this doctor are being released is because prisons are overcrowded and there isn't the space to keep them. there's been growing criticism. the former war cabinet minister has said the government should resign over this. but someone who is a suspect accused of sheltering those who carried out the october 7 attacks should not be released. when muhammad abu salmiya himself made his allegation of torture, we contacted israeli prison service which essentially said it had not heard any complaints so far. they said all rights of prisoners are respected and everyone who goes to prison in israel has the right to file a complaint and it will be fully examined. let's ta ke let's take a look at some other stories making headlines at this hour. nigeria's vice presidents has 32 people are dead and dozens injured after multiple suicide bombings over

the weekend in the north—eastern part of the country. saturdays co—ordinated attacks targeted a wedding, funeral and hospital and was believed to be carried out by female suicide bombers. the attack is one of the worst in northeast nigeria in years. at your opus is one of its planes had to make an emergency landing in brazil after being hit with severe turbulence. reportedly injuring 32 people. the boeing flight plane hit turbulence of the resilient coast. in alaska it is temporarily closing its most popular tourist destination after a nearby wildfire forced hundreds to evacuate including 150 national park service employees. alaska dealt with more than a hundred wildfires this year alone, burning more than 430,000 acres. 17 of those fires broke out in just last week. stay with us, more coming

up week. stay with us, more coming up on bbc news. hello there. not much change to the weather as we move into tuesday. in fact, the upcoming week will remain pretty unsettled, i think, with low pressure always nearby. it will be breezy, even turning windier across northern areas by the end of the week. some rain at times, mainly in the north and the west, and it will remain on the cool side for earlyjuly. this ridge of high pressure, though, bringing quite a bit of dry weather, i think, on tuesday. we'll start off with quite a bit of sunshine around in northern, central and western areas. more cloud for eastern england, a few spots of rain — that rain will tend to ease down. and then as we head into the afternoon, skies will turn cloudy again as the temperatures rise a little bit, and we'll see some patchy rain pushing into western scotland, mainly through the afternoon. again, disappointing temperatures, 13 to maybe 19 or 20 degrees across the south. so i think it should stay mostly dry for wimbledon on tuesday — temperatures around 20 degrees — but with low pressure moving in on wednesday, i think there's a greater chance of seeing some

disruption to play with temperatures also at around 18 degrees. so as you move out of tuesday into tuesday night, we start to see this low pressure system moving in, bringing thicker cloud, outbreaks of rain, and stronger winds. i think the far southeast will stay dry until we reach the morning period, but because of the cloud, the rain, and south—westerly winds, i think it'll be a slightly milder night for all. so wednesday, we have this area of low pressure and its weather front crossing the country. it'll be a breezy day for most and a cloudy one. i think cloudy from the word go, outbreaks of rain splashing their way from west to east. i think it stays quite wet across northern and western scotland through the day. we could see something a little bit drier, perhaps, into the afternoon across eastern areas, maybe skies brightening up out west, certainly for northern ireland, but a breezy, even blustery day to come for all areas — these are mean wind speeds. temperatures disappointing for earlyjuly at 12 to 17 or 18 degrees across the south. so that's wednesday out.

as we move through thursday, this area of low pressure will bring even stronger northwesterly winds to the country, most of the rain across the north. and then for friday into the start of the weekend, could see another area of low pressure hurtling across the uk to bring another spell of wet and windy weather. so yes, an unsettled outlook for the end of the week. most of the rain in the north and the west. there will be a little bit of sunshine at times in the south and the east.

voice-over: this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. hello and welcome. on this week's media show, as the wikileaks founder julian assange walked free, we ask what lessons journalism can learn from his case and his career. and i was also joined by a tv icon — the scriptwriter and executive producer of global hits including sherlock and doctor who, as he launches a new tv series about cancel culture. that's all coming up. let's start with the julian assange story, because the founder of wikileaks has walked free from a us court after pleading guilty in a deal that ends a 14—year legal battle. he's now back in australia.