this is bbc news. the headlines at 11 o'clock. donald trump has hit back at allegations that russian intelligence has compromising information on him. it was a group of opponents who got together, sick people, and they put back together. the head of hospital trusts in england says it is time to stop pretending that the nhs can do everything with the money it is being given by government. and on newsnight donald trump lashes out at those who publish unverified allegations as news. we also hear from the doctor fired for questioning whether or not transgender children really questioning whether or not tra nsgender children really know their own tra nsgender children really know theirown mind. good evening to you and welcome to

bbc news. donald trump has called allegations that russia has compromising material about him phoney stuff put together by sick people. the allegations are contained in an intelligence dossier which also claims some of his team can indicated with moscow during the election campaign and suggestions thatis election campaign and suggestions that is to trump 8/ prostitutes. none of the claims have been verified. today in his first news conference and winning the presidency, his to criticise the media outlets which published the stories and suggested that intelligence agencies could be responsible for leaking the allegations. donald trump is nine days away from inauguration as president and america's commander—in—chief but his path to the white house is now tangled in extraordinary controversy. what role might the kremlin under president putin have played to help mrtrump to undermine hillary clinton and perhaps also to gather compromising material to use against president

trump, once he is in power? my friend and the president—elect of the united states of america, donald trump. this afternoon, donald trump was blunt. the allegations against him are totally untrue and designed to undermine him. it is all fake news. it is phoney stuff. it didn't happen and it was gotten by opponents of ours, as you know, because you reported it and so did many of the other people. it was a group of opponents that got together, sick people, and they put that crap together. so what could moscow's role has been? in shadowy work, both to promote donald trump and also gain a hold over him? here he is visiting the russian capital in 2013, for the miss universe pageant, then co—owned by mr trump. the most lurid claim is that he used the same hotel suite which president obama had stayed in for unusual acts involving sex workers, all of it allegedly recorded by russian spy cameras

and microphones. i was in russia years ago with the miss universe contest, which did very well, in the moscow area. it did very, very well. and i told many people, be careful because you don't want to see yourself on television. cameras all over the place. and again, notjust russia, all over. does anyone really believe that story? i'm also very much of a germophobe, by the way. the source for the unproved claims is said to be a former british spy and ex—mi6 officer who was once based in moscow. today dmitry peskov, putin's spokesman said the claims were pulp fiction and a clear attempt to damage relations. mr trump says he is in no way compromised by vladimir putin's preference for him as the next president. if putin likes donald trump, i consider that an asset, not a liability, because we have a horrible relationship with russia. russia can help us fight

isis which, by the way, is number one tricky. i don't know that i'm going to get along with vladimir putin. i hope i do, but there's a good chance i won't. and if i don't, do you honestly believe that hillary would be tougher on putin? does anyone in this room really believe that? give me a break. the press conference got most heated when cnn, one news organisation which has covered the latest allegations, tried to put a question. no, not you, not you, your organisation's terrible. your organisation's terrible. don't be... i'm not going to give you a question. you are fake news. these papers are just some of the many documents... mr trump also used the occasion to display some of the legal documents turning his business over to his family. it is his response to accusations of future conflicts of interest. but the controversies

surrounding donald trump and russia are not going away. those who voted for him and those who rejected him all know his presidency will be a stormy one. james robbins, bbc news. the author of the elite dossier has been named as christopher steel. he is said to be a former mi6 officer and once worked as a director of the corporate intelligence company. and once worked as a director of the corporate intelligence compa ny.l correspondent has the latest from washington. but not lose sight of the central allegation here which is donald trump, president—elect of the united states is vulnerable to blackmail by the russians. that is such an extraordinary claim, so much depends on the credibility of author of this dossier. he has now been named as christopher steele, a former mi6 agent who was in moscow in the early 19905. agent who was in moscow in the early 1990s. speaking to one intelligence source he is apparently very highly regarded among his peers as it

turned and trustworthy and that reputation, i think, turned and trustworthy and that reputation, ithink, is turned and trustworthy and that reputation, i think, is one of the main reasons why what he said, the allegations that he repeated from russian security officers, were taken so seriously by the american intelligence institutions. i spoke to one intermediary, we cannot speak the case offers directly, but i spoke to an intermediary and the message came back that the people dealing with this file found a credible, that there was more than one tape, an audiotape as well is a video tape, that there were several times that these activities supposedly took place and in more than one location, not only the ritz carlton in moscow but saint petersburg as well. the fact that the ch signs those allegations credible enough to put on the death of president obama is not then saying they believe the allegations, they are just saying they are worthy of consideration. one further thing— the former mi6 officer is not the only source. i spoke to a retired

spy only source. i spoke to a retired spy last august who said he had been told of the existence of a blackmail told of the existence of a blackmail to buy the head of an east european intelligence agencies over the summer. we should stress in all of this that these are allegations and mrtrump is this that these are allegations and mr trump is literally correct when he says they are unsubstantiated. nevertheless, america's within a credible position of my days before an inauguration to decide whether or not their president is a russian agent of influence. evans eva ns stood evans stood as the independent candidate in an election and is a former cia operative who joins me now. good to see you and thank you for being with us. the relationship between the commander—in—chief and spy between the commander—in—chief and spy agencies is critical to any country's national security. how would you characterise the relationship between a donald trump, the cia and the fbi? it is highly troubled and the reason for that is

that chiefly because donald trump remains committed to aligning his administration and a country with the very regime, the very country thatis the very regime, the very country that is directly attacking and undermining our democracy. we depend on our undermining our democracy. we depend on oui’ democracy as undermining our democracy. we depend on our democracy as a fundamental defence of our basic rights and as a source of power for our interests. how for our country. donald trump is attacking mat or vladimir putin is attacking mat or vladimir putin is attacking mat. meanwhile, donald trump continues to want to align our country with this very regime that is undermining our democracy. that was a fundamental issue that is causing the tension between the intelligence community and donald trump. these other things are symptoms of a problem but that is the core issue. given his pronouncements on vladimir putin despite syria, despite crimea, despite syria, despite crimea, despite ukraine despite the murder of activists and a opponents and putting them injail, you are

of activists and a opponents and putting them in jail, you are chilly tweeted in september that vladimir putin may be blackmailing donald trump. what was your basis for that then? well, iwas trump. what was your basis for that then? well, i was asked while on television to explain the unexplainable which is why is it that we have come at the time, and republican party presidential nominee so closely aligned with the foreign atmospheric, and adversarial not just the united foreign atmospheric, and adversarial notjust the united states but of the free world. and so i was asked to explain that. i had heard back in july from a couple of very well—established investigative reporters and from my own intelligence contacts from my service in the cia during those days that there was an issue related to some of donald trump's activities in russia and had's ability to hold some of those activities over trump. and so when i was asked to explain the unexplainable, trump's

relationship with vladimir putin, i offered that is a possibility. there are many people in washington who have heard from a variety of sources about this issue. i am one of them. these reports need to be better than they should be vetted but the fact that the cia and the fbi have brought them to president obama's desk and the president—elect trump isa desk and the president—elect trump is a big deal. the fact that they are willing to bring that information forward suggests they already have done some vetting, at least on a basic level. it would have been out of order, wouldn't it, you might agree, if it was a member of the security services who leads this offer yet that had been handed to the president—elect and to president obama and could you characterise what you think the level of morale is within the security services with what just over one week to go before donald trump actually takes the oath of

office. first of all i would say that the information and the memo existed, the media had it, has had it for months. this is, perhaps, the worst kept secret in washington and in europe over the last several months. it hasn't been exposed in the public eye until now but there are many people who had this information before this week. so the idea that it was leaked by the intelligence services here in the united states, i think that is actually unlikely. and hard to prove, given that so many other people already have this information. but, look, the core issueis information. but, look, the core issue is that donald trump is trying to align our country with the very foreign power that is undermining the rocks in europe and in the united states and we, as americans and europeans, are going to need to work against this if we want to have our systems of government protected and our basic rights protected, we

need to resist the influence of foreign adversarial like vladimir putin and his administration that is willing to kill and imprisoned opposition, journalists, is not supportive of free and fair elections, that is for certain. we need to resist this. i must add, of course, that mr trump denies all the allegations. thank you very much for joining us. meanwhile, donald trump's nominees as secretary of state, rex tellers and has told a senate confirmation hearing that america was right to be alarmed at russians activities. he said that open dialogue was needed to determine the ambitions of russia. we must also be clear about our relationship with russia. russia today pledges poses a danger. it is not unpredictable in advancing its own interest. it has invaded the uk,

including the taking of crimea. it has supported syrian forces. our nato allies are right to be alarmed ata nato allies are right to be alarmed at a resurgent russia. but was in the absence of american leadership that the store was left open and unintended signals were sent. now, the head of nhs hospitals in england has told mps it is time to stop pretending that the nhs can afford to do everything with the money it has been given by government. he added that if the current situation continues, the health service could become unsustainable. he says the government needs to tackle the crisis in social care funding in order to relieve the pressure on amd. the truth is that by defending the nhs as i sometimes say, a city on the hill, as a silo divorced from the rest of public service and social housing, social care, all of the rest of public service is meet

demands that are real and human and when they don't meet that demand those individuals end up too often in gp surgeries and in amd departments. we need to see the nhs in the context of the broader range of public services. that is why the argument about funding of social ca re argument about funding of social care is not a different argument from the funding of nhs it is precisely the same argument and is also why i, along with others today have been arguing that we need to look at the way our health and care system is funded and also the way that the systems are managed to make sure they are able to change them so they work better together than they do now. national insurance, would that help? i think it is inescapable that help? i think it is inescapable that we are going to need to provide more resort, in particular, for

social care. i think it is a mistake to think all you need to do is raise taxes and money. what we need to address, and that is why i am in favour of looking at a more fundamentally, is the to break down the silos which are, in themselves, a major cause of inefficiency and service failure. that is the summary of the news. newsday is coming up at the top of the our. now won bb then use it as newsnight. that something nazi germany would have done and did do. i think it's a disgrace that information that was false and fake and never happened got released to the public. that's right, you heard america's president—elect compare america to nazi germany. why? he thinks intelligence agencies spread salacious slurs to a hostile media.