ice hello. this is bbc news. the headlines. president trump's national security adviser michael flynn resigns after being accused of misleading colleagues over his contacts with russian diplomats. it's the first senior resignation since mr trump came to power and senior republicans say it was the right things to happen. as soon as this person lost the president's trust, the president asked for his resignation and that was the right thing to do. the brother of the north korean leader, kim jong—un, appears to have been assassinated. an official says kimjong nam was attacked and killed — possibly with a spray — near airport shops in the malaysian capital, kuala lumpur. inflation has reached its highest rate for two—and—a—half years largely down to the rising price of fuel. average wages also rose — by two—point—seven per cent. sean spicer has been briefing

members of the press in the wake of the resignation of michael flynn after it was revealed he had conversations with the russian ambassador before donald trump took office. sean spicer said that president shot had been tough on russia but he wanted to get on with vladimir putin. let's hear more from the press conference. the first matter is whether there was a legal issue. we had to review whether there was a legal issue which the white house counsel concluded there was not. this was an act of trust. whether or not he actually misled the vice president was the issue and thatis the vice president was the issue and that is what led to the president asking for and accepting the resignation of general flynn, that

is it. it isa it is a matter of trust. we went through a very fair review and the first part of it was clearly to understand the legal aspect of this and that was simply concluded, there was no legal aspect and then what happened was that the president evaluated the trust aspect of it. it was asked about reports about conversations with the russians and he said he did not know about it. he said he would look into it. osi been truthful? was he aware of a washington post story, he had not seen it. i said he was aware of the situation right after the white house counsel informed him back in january. house counsel informed him back in january. that was strictly about the legalities involved, not the propriety of the conversation between general flynn and the russian ambassador. was this about sanctions before the trump

administration had been inaugurated? the acting attorney general informed the white house counsel that they wa nted the white house counsel that they wanted to give a heads up to us on some comments that may have seemed in conflict with what he had said to the vice president in particular. the white house council informed the president and he asked to conduct a review of whether there was a legal situation. there was determined that there was not and that is what the president believed from what he had been told and he was proved to be correct. the issue came down to a matter of trust and the president concluded that he no longer have the trust of his national security adviser... for the incoming national security adviser, not part of an administration to be discussing and issue like sanctions with the russian ambassador... his job is to discuss issues with his counterparts. that is what he is supposed to be doing. that is his job. we were constantly read out throughout the transition who he was

speaking to, how he was getting ready, the president had been receiving calls of congratulations from around the job of his is to sit down and start that dialogue and thatis down and start that dialogue and that is exactly what he did. the question was not whether he did something improper, it was a question of whether he could be trusted further and it was that which was the issue. did the president instructed to talk about sanctions? no. absolutely not. i think the president had no problem with the fact that he acted in accordance with what his job was supposed to be doing. he had the ability to talk about issues of that importance. that was his part of his job and has been noted by many people. that is what the national security adviser and other positions do, they begin the process of preparing their incoming job by talking to counterparts, if he had not done that, there would be

questions as to whether he was properly prepared. the issue is not whether or not what he discussed, there has been a legal review and there has been a legal review and there is no issue with that, the issueis there is no issue with that, the issue is whether or not he failed to properly inform the vice president oi’ properly inform the vice president or not be honest with him or not remember it. that is the simple issue and when he lost trust with the president that is when he asked for and received his resignation. yesterday kelly and conway said that the president continued to have trust in general flynn, what happened between yesterday morning and yesterday evening that led the president to lose confidence in general flynn. i will not get into the specifics but i will say, it was an evolving and eroding process and at the end of the day, the president made a decision as he does on all subjects and asks for and received the national security advisers, but he is one of those people who we have noted before, when he is ready to make a decision, he makes it. once

he is determined that he has made a decision on any subject, that is when he informs the staff. it was an evolving situation, he made his determination late in the day and he executed on it. general flynn was loyal, was at a difficult decision for the president to let him go? general flynn is a dedicated public servant, years ahead of the dia, an outstanding member of the army, both as an officer and as a flag officer, he has served this country admirably. and i think the president appreciated his service to his nation and his commitment to his campaign enters service to this country so far but at some point the decision came down on whether or not that trust had eroded and the important matters, as i mentioned, that are

before the president when he is dealing with issues of world matters, from all of the issues, friends and allies, hotspots, he needs to rely on national security adviser to give him sage advice and ata adviser to give him sage advice and at a certain point —— back—up point that trust was eroded and the president ultimately decided that when he is ready to make a decision he. does the president believes that anything discussed with general flynn might have been construed by the general as an encouragement to discuss sanctions with the russian ambassador? so, as i made clear, there is nothing that the general dead that was a violation of any sort. he was well within his duties to discuss issues of common concern between the two countries and i will say it again, what this came down to was a matter of trust. the president was a matter of trust. the president was glad he was out there conducting hisjob and was glad he was out there conducting his job and preparing for his job and going back and forth with his counterparts. much as the president

had done with all of these world leaders calling him, looking to set up leaders calling him, looking to set up calls with him once he was inaugurated, similarly general flynn was beginning that process with his cou nterpa rts was beginning that process with his counterparts around the world and that was never a concern for the president. the issue came down to a matter of trust. once that occurred, it was over. i am sorry. the president does not believe that any discussion that might have taken place had no form of intel, but it did, though sanctions, it does that create a problem for the president in any way? that is not a problem that general flynn discussed sanctions with the russians? no. i cannot state it clearly enough, there was nothing in what general flynn did in terms of conducting himself that was an issue, what a came down to with him misleading the vice president and others and not having a firm grasp on his recollection. lawmakers on capitol

hill would like to investigate or ask more questions about this, does the president hoped to cooperate with those investigations and would he instruct members of his staff who work here and in the administration to cooperate with those investigations? we will comply with the law. i think the president feels confident that the review was very thorough and concluded conclusively, as he had first come to instinctively the conclusion that there was nothing wrong. people are free to do what they wish, but i think that they will find exactly what the president first believed and what the white house council concluded and a bigger couple of publications reported there was no investigation for a reason because there was not an issue of law, there was an issue of trust. george. when do you expect to have a replacement in place and secondly, on another topic, there was a report yesterday

that one of your colleagues said that one of your colleagues said that the white house is keeping dossiers on reporters, can you say is true or not? that is absolutely not true. there are no dossiers being capped. it was a joke. one second. i am sorry, george, being capped. it was a joke. one second. iam sorry, george, the first part. a timetable on a replacement. just like the way he handled the situation, the president will meet with individuals and when he is ready to make a decision and he is ready to make a decision and he feels the other person is qualified, and can't properly advise on the issue, he will make the decision, but the decision rests with him. i will go to my first skype conversation. john. thank you so skype conversation. john. thank you so much. as you know, las vegas has suffered terribly in the last recession, more so suffered terribly in the last recession, more so than perhaps any other city in the country and as the administration moves forward with

repealing financial regulations, what guarantees can you make to people in the mad at that those actions will encourage investment bikes to re—engage in risky behaviours and leave taxpayers to bail them out. behaviours and leave taxpayers to bailthem out. i think behaviours and leave taxpayers to bail them out. i think one of the things, if you look at the intent of that it was to make sure that we did not have institutions who were too big to fail and it has created institutions that are now too big to fail... sean spicer, the white house spokesperson giving a little more detail the background surrounding the resignation from the jog—macro white house after three weeks of the national security adviser michael flynn who had conversations before he was officially in the job with the russian ambassador. sean spicer making it clear that this was a matter of trust, not the details of the conversation exactly, it was about the fact that something happened in that conversation and mr

flynn told them that something else had happened. it was a question of trust, according to sean spicer. before he started taking questions, sean spicer gave some of the background to the resignation.- the president heard the information, he thought that that general flynn did not do anything wrong and the white house council review corroborated that. it is not ordinary for corroborated that. it is not ordinaryforan incoming corroborated that. it is not ordinary for an incoming national security adviser to speak with his cou nterpa rts security adviser to speak with his counterparts about the issues of concern to them. in fact he spoke with over 30 of his counterparts throughout the transition. as it was said last night, it is perfectly reasonable for him to do so. the issue here was that the president got to the point where general flynn had misled the president and others and there was the possibility that he had forgotten critical details of this conversation and back created a critical mass and an unsustainable situation. that is why the president decided to ask for his resignation

and he got it. the irony of this entire situation is that the president has been incredibly tough on russia and continues to raise the issue of crimea which the previous administration allowed to be seized by russia. his ambassador in the united nations stood before the un security council on her first day and strongly denounced the russian occupation of crimea. as she said at the time, the dire situation in the east of ukraine is one that demands clear and strong condemnation of russian actions. president trump has made it clear that he expects the russian government to de—escalating violence in the ukraine and return crimea. at the same time, he fully expects and wants to be able to get along with russia, unlike previous administrations, so that we can solve many problems together facing the world such as the threat of isis and terrorism. sean spicer speaking in the last few minutes. the prime minister, theresa may has also been talking to donald

trump today. downing street says that this was part of their regular engagement and that they discussed a range of issues including trade and security and they also discussed president troubles upcoming state visit to the uk. we still do not have the date for that, but they discussed that visit and the prime minister said she looks forward to welcoming the president to britain —— president trump and his upcoming state visit. now on bbc news it's time for sportsday. hello and welcome to sportsday — i'm tim hague, and coming up for you this evening... will manchester city's gabriel jesus play again this season? it's been confirmed that he's broken a bone in his foot.