hello and welcome to one hundred days plus. a car plows into a crowd in times square. one person is dead and 23 are injured. officials say there is no indication it was terror—related but the driver is in custody. this was the dramatic scene as the vehicle drove at speed onto a pavement in the popular tourist area. a special counsel, congressional enquiries, an fbi probe, the investigations into trump and russia stack up. the president says it's all a witch hunt. what does the former head of the cia leon panetta make of the string of stories about the white house this week? we speak to him live. also, this all comes as president trump is set to depart on his first foreign trip. so what can the world expect? we're live in saudi arabia, donald trump's first stop. and, fox news founder roger ailes dies at the age of 77. i'm katty kay in new york.

tim willcox is in london. not farfrom where i am a car has ploughed into a group of pedestrians in times square. one person is known to have died and 23 are injured. police are saying it isn't terror—related but the location draws tourists from around the world and it comes at a time when people on both sides of the atlantic are on edge about cars being used in attacks. the mayor of new york has been speaking, this is what he had to say. so far what we know, 23 individuals were injured in this incident. that includes tragically one young woman who has passed away. the perpetrator is in custody, a united states citizen and a former memberof the united states citizen and a former member of the armed forces. inaudible the bbc‘s nada tawfik is on the scene for us

and has an update. what more do we know about the driver? what the nypd has said is that this was a 26—year—old man from the bronx, here in new york, new york native, former member of the navy, they say that he does have a criminal history, he had two arrests for drunk driving, criminal history, he had two arrests fordrunk driving, and criminal history, he had two arrests for drunk driving, and after this incident happened, very quickly the nypd arrested him and they say he is now being questioned. obviously, if this happened in some other location, we might not be leading the programme with it, it might not be such important news, but this is a city still on edge from the prospect of terror attacks and looking at other countries were similar terror attacks have happened, what are they saying specifically about any link to possible terrorism? it isa

it is a scene that automatically brought up the biggest fears in the minds of new yorkers, the authorities say that this is an hour and a half after the incident, from the best knowledge, they do not believe it was terror related, but of course we know that a car ploughing into pedestrians in times square, it really made people fear the worst in terms of it being a tactic that isis has used over the atlantic, in europe, severaltimes, in new york, this past september, an incident where a fuel pressure cooker bombs went off in lower manhattan, and those words seem to be terror related as well. while the nypd has said that they do believe this is isolated, they have ian forced other key spots in new york city, out of an abundance of caution, but i suppose you could also say, to reassure new yorkers. it's not that unusual for american presidents to be the subject of a special investigation. presidents reagan, clinton and bush all faced special prosecutors. it is however unusual for presidents to respond to those probes

in the way donald trump did this morning. the president is lily frustrated at the appointment of former fbi director robert muller to investigate his ties to russia, this is what he said on twitter: he also complained that there wasn't ever a special counsel appointed to investigate hillary clinton or barack obama. donald trump did not appoint mr mueller — the deputy attorney general did. and the president was only told after the appointment order had been signed. but house speaker paul ryan said it's but house speaker paul ryan said its business as usual. but house speaker paul ryan said it's business as usual. it is very important that people know that we can walk and chew gum at the same time, drama is not helpful in getting things done but we are still getting things done but we are still getting things done and that is the important point. so mr ryan says things are still getting done, but how serious is all this for mr trump? from monterey, california,

we're joined by former us defence secretary and cia chief, leon panetta. what is your take, as you look back at the last ten days, i cannot believe it has been that quick, we have the firing of james comey, the revelations that donald trump gave secrets to russian officials, and reports that he tried to interfere with the investigation into the russia probe. how damaging is all of this for the president?” russia probe. how damaging is all of this for the president? i don't think there is any question that a numberof think there is any question that a number of serious issues have been raised by these incidents is, that involved the possible violations of war, —— violations of law, there is no question, all of the incident you have mentioned, whether it is the flint investigation, and efforts to deter that, the rush investigation, the firing of james deter that, the rush investigation, the firing ofjames comey, the issue

of whether the president released classified information to a foreign adversarial, all of those are issues for which he could be investigated. —— flynn investigation. from be the best that has happened is that the deputy attorney general did point robert mueller, a man of impeccable integrity, to act as special consul on this, and that is of some comfort to all of us in this country. it looks like mr trump protected michael flynn, put him in as national security adviser, out of some sense of loyalty and that he felt he had a right to interfere into the probe of russia, by firing james comey, putting pressure on him not to investigate michael flynn, does this raise questions for you about not so much if there is some nefarious deal between the trump administration and the russian government but whether mr trump has the character or the temperament to be able to make a success of his

presidency? we all know that president trump lacked political experience, lacked experience in governing, did not fully understand or appreciate the rules and laws that are involved when you are president of the united states. it shows in the way he behaved here. it was more the behaviour of somebody who operates is in the real estate industry, in new york city, as opposed to the president of the united states. a lot of questions. behaviour that does not take into consideration the possibility of violating possible laws, he was acting more out of personal concern for what was happening, to somebody like general flynn, but when you are president of the united states, your first responsibility is to protect

and enforce the constitution of the united states, and the laws of this country. and i think the president has not appreciated the level of responsibility associated with his oath. you were brought in in 1994, to be bill clinton, president bill clinton's chief of staff, clinton presidency had got into trouble, needed a reboot, you were the man brought in to oversee the reboot, do you think it would be possible now to have somebody come into the white house and get this presidency back on track, away from the scandals and back to doing business. not impossible but an awful lot depends upon whether or not the president of the united states is willing to change the way he behaves in that office, if he does appoint a new team of individuals that are experienced in politics, appreciate the laws, appreciate how you deal

with congress and with the different institutions of democracy and is willing to listen to that person, thenit willing to listen to that person, then it is not impossible. he does have a strong national security team, for example, i have a great deal of respect for the quality of his national security team, he seems to want to listen to them, which is good. can he do the same thing when it comes to domestic issues and issues that relate to the laws of this country? that is the question. that will determine to a large extent whether he survives in office. we are still not any clearer, are we, if mr trump was recording the conversations with james comey, with also do not know if those contemporaneous notes exist, whichjim if those contemporaneous notes exist, which jim comey if those contemporaneous notes exist, whichjim comey allegedly made after the meeting, and what about the involvement of vladimir putin, offering to release transcripts of the meeting with

donald trump, said a lover of and the russian ambassador in the white house. any time vladimir putin decides that he's going to inject himself into issues in this country, that becomes cause for concern. -- sergey lavrov. i'm pleased that congress rejected that offer, he is a foreign adversarial, his interest is not in the interest of protecting the united states of america, his interest is in destabilising them, the united states, and i'm sure that he's enjoying the fact that in this country we are going through a certain amount of turmoil largely because the russians tried to directly interfere in the election process. this country is smart enough to understand that we are not in the mood of cooperating with

somebody who is a foreign adversarial. it seems you do not trust the benevolence of bad in putin(!) so far, but the saudis and israelis have said they will carry on sharing intelligence information with the united states is. —— seems you do not trust the benevolence of vladimir putin. how dangerous do you think, the meeting with sergey lavrov, the intelligence that was passed on, how dangerous has that been to america's relationships? as somebody who was formerly involved in the cia —— formerly. and with intelligence people... not just formerly involved, you ran the place! and i really respect those people who work in our intelligence agencies, who are willing to put their life on the line in order to be able to gather the kind of intelligence that was presented to the president. ithink intelligence that was presented to the president. i think it is

irresponsible of the president to reveal classified information, particularly to a foreign adversarial, particularly classified information that could jeopardise the very source of intelligence that was presented to the president. it is not responsible, it is very damaging, sending a terrible signal to all of those sources that are out there, putting lives on the line to gather that kind of intelligence. this is a matter that i believe all to be investigated and looked at, andl to be investigated and looked at, and i think the president as to understand his responsibility as president of the united states, to protect the very people that are providing that kind of intelligence. leon panetta, thank you very much for joining leon panetta, thank you very much forjoining us. thank you. so democrats had been calling for a special counsel and they got it. republicans, at least the ones on capitol hill seem pretty happy too. so what powers will mr mueller have in this role? a special counsel is

a person appointed by head of the justice department, when an investigation by the department itself might pose a conflict of interest, or if it's believed it's in the "public interest" to appoint one. he has the power to initiate investigations, subpoena records and bring criminal charges. robert mueller will also be able to widen his jurisdiction, although he'd have to ask the attorney general for permission to do so. but not everyone thinks this appointment is a good idea. joining us from washington is ron christie, a former adviser to george w bush. why not? it is important to recognise what is going on in the united states government, it was engaged in a counterintelligence operation to ascertain whether or not the russians had on properly influence the election, the appointment of a special counsel takes it out of the realm of counterintelligence, when there is not a prosecutor involved. —— unproperly. now we have some blue

with prosecuting powers. question a lot of republicans ask in washington, what is the underlying crime, i don't understand and i have not, from looking at the statement from robert mueller, i cannot see what underlying crime he may be looking at which donald trump, the president, or his associates are allegedly having considered violated. one possible case with the attraction of justice, violated. one possible case with the attraction ofjustice, if it was proven that donald trump asked jim crow me to drop the investigation into michael flynn. -- james comey. in the statutory, obstruction of justice, not only are you in a position where you are impeding somebody carrying out their response abilities but it is also about whether they bribe that individual, specific intent, the resident would have had to specifically intended not only to impede james comey and his investigation but also bribe them as well, ice on the evidence i

have heard so far, the facts in the case do not seem to meet the case that the president of the united states could have done that. let's be clear, you are a republican, you have conversations with this white house but often you have been critical of donald trump, so when donald trump tweets out this morning, using his own language, that this is the greatest witchhunt in history... is there something there, that he is the subject of an unfairamount of there, that he is the subject of an unfair amount of investigation, do you think, and pressure from democrats? you know, it shouldn't matter, you are the president of the united states, chief law enforcement officer in the country, sadly, i think donald trump, in some measure, if not large measure, brought the special counsel appointment on himself. you cannot send out a tweet that says, i hope it wasn't being recorded when i spoke to james comey, he had better watch out...! cannot say those things and not have members of congress on both sides of

the aisle in a nonpartisan way saying, is the president of the united states recording people who come to the oval office? where are the transcript? and also, what else could he have been doing? ! his behaviour on twitter, seems to be bringing this on himself, and he does not seem to have learned a lesson and heeded the warning that that can have serious consequences which he is now facing. thank you for coming in. always a pleasure. there is a long game and a short game here, in the short term, looks like the appointment of this special counsel is something of a blessing, because it takes the heat off, because it takes the heat off, because you can say, there is a special counsel investigating it, it is under control, we will let robert mueller get on with the job. in the long term, the risk is that the special counsel comes up with something that proves some kind of illegality, then there is a whole heap of problems for the white house. interesting how republicans

are saying, having resisted the idea of some kind of special investigation, right now at least they feel it is taking off some of they feel it is taking off some of the political pressure. the point that interests me, this could take yea rs, that interests me, this could take years , we that interests me, this could take yea rs, we have that interests me, this could take years, we have this enquiry, plus all the others, which will take priority? there is the risk, donald trump could be completely exonerated, what there is the risk, this drip of more damaging headlines and information, keeping it there in the public domain, and eroding anymore confidence in the presidency. yes, this is not going anywhere. absolutely right! ! in brazil there are calls for the president to resign following newspaper reports that he authorised bribes to silence a potential witness in what has become a huge corruption scandal. president temer is denying the allegations that say he authorised payments to eduardo cunha, a politician who was jailed in march for corruption, money laundering and tax evasion. still in latin america,

venezuela says it's sending more more than 2,500 troops to the region of tachira in order to control looting and rioting. there have been violent anti—government protests and three people were killed in tachira this week. president nicolas maduro has accused the opposition of inciting violence by calling people on to the streets. john mccain called for the expulsion of turkey's us ambassador after violence erupted between protesters and turkish security personnel during president tayyip erdogan's visit to washington. this is the video posted online. eleven people were injured. senator mccain said, "we should throw their ambassador the hell out of the united states." meanwhile, britain's governing conservative party, has published its manifesto, for next month's general election. it dilutes measures to protect pensioners' incomes, and adopts policies aimed at helping less wealthy groups. it includes, proposals to address the shortfall in the social care budget, as people live longer. viewers in britain can get up to

date with all of those events in the election wrap, which follows 100 days plus. that is on the bbc news channel from half past seven, right across the united kingdom. with all the investigations into his administration, president trump may be relieved to be getting out of town tomorrow. he leaves for a mammoth nine—day, five—city foreign excursion, it's first foreign trip since becoming president. it's also the first chance for people abroad to see how how he delivers on his "america first" pledge. the trip starts in the middle east with visits to saudi arabia and israel before moving onto nato in belgium then italy where he'll be meeting the pope at the vatican. also travelling to sicily, as well. interesting, he has chosen saudi arabia first, symbolic decision to make the first overseas trip, the birthplace of islam, you have been

toa birthplace of islam, you have been to a white house briefing, what are the ambitions of the trip? yesterday i had to duck out early, to rush to the white house for a briefing of a senior white house official, they have an ambitious agenda for the trip, laying out a series of steps concrete proposals that include the formation of a nato like. the arable world, they are going to ask tcc countries, gulf countries, to sign a pledge making it illegalfor anyone to make contributions to terrorist organisations or terrorist linked organisations. they think they can get —— they think if they can get all the gulf countries on board, that would give cover to some of the gulf countries accused of allowing funds to get to so—called islamic state, that would give them cover to sign the pledge. they are setting up a centre in riyadh, which will combat the cyber war, combating

islamic state, and giving a counter to the growth and power of iran in the region. i thought, from the briefing i have, that they sound very confident about the trip but a lot of the confidence is based on leash on ships. this is a president who thinks relationships are very important in foreign policy and when you push them for details and why would these countries do things they have never done before, it really comes down to the power of donald trump, to persuade countries to make concessions in a way that they have not. interesting briefing, certainly an ambitious trip for the president. giving a talk on islamic extremism as well. we can go live to riyadh, lyse doucet is the bbc‘s chief international correspondent and she joins us from riyadh ahead of donald trump's first stop. you are quite dark, we can just see you. getting a warmer welcome than barack obama. this is the anti—obama visit, it is

no secret that relations between the saudi kingdom and the united states southward during president obama's term, one of the leading ministers from one of the gulf arabic states said, if president obama was about change, sympathising with the arab spring, then donald trump represents stability. he will arrive here on saturday morning for the mother of all welcoming committees, not just the senior royal rulers of this kingdom, but senior members, the leaders of the persian gulf arab spring 's, and, 37 presidents, kings, prime ministers, from the arabic islamic world. riyadh is making this a one—stop trip that president trump can engage with the entire muslim world, right here in riyadh. the king, the custodian of the holiest sites in islam, mecca and medina. donald trump is less

reliant on saudi oil, resume really will be looking to clinch big arms deals, what do we hear about that? already done, and billion dollars, included, president trump is the man who called on all his friends and allies to pay their own way, as you heard from cathy, coming here with a big agenda, and what we heard from the saudi foreign minister, it is an agenda that saudi arabia endorses 100%. went through the list, fighting against extremists, fighting against extremists, fighting extremist groups including so—called islamic state, so do we, he wants to push back against iran, to stop its behaviour across this region, so do we, he said. he wants to strengthen the military cooperation, don't forget that saudi arabia as well as other countries we re arabia as well as other countries were behind the formation of the new arabic islamic alliance, headed by a

former pakistani army chief. afterwards, i spoke to the saudi foreign minister and afterwards, i spoke to the saudi foreign ministerandl afterwards, i spoke to the saudi foreign minister and i said, afterwards, i spoke to the saudi foreign ministerand i said, if president trump ask you to play your part, will you contribute troops, he said, yes. it was very complimentary about the strike on syria by donald trump, calling it decisive and important. you know that area of the world welcome these things are confidence i heard in the white house yesterday is justified? confidence i heard in the white house yesterday is justified ?m confidence i heard in the white house yesterday isjustified? it is justified when he comes to saudi arabia, what a coup for saudi arabia, what a coup for saudi arabia, first start, president trump's first foreign visit. we were here when he introduced the travel ban, described as a muslim ban, every single senior saudi official we spoke with said president trump isa man we spoke with said president trump is a man you can do business with, military business, economic business, political business, they think he is a man... this is what they think, superpower. beyond,

other countries around the world will be worried about president trump, don't forget, the next stop is israel, they are scrambling to discover what could be the cost of what appears to be or is alleged to be mishandling of intelligence information. in saudi arabia, thank you very much, it will be fascinating talking to you during the course of the trip, lyse doucet, and they have mentioned that they will have a very different attitude to human rights. you're watching 100 days plus from bbc news. still to come for viewers on bbc world news, the senate has gathered in washington for a closed door briefing from the assistant attorney general, rod rosenstein. we will examine what's next and mr rosenstein's role. and we will look back at the life of roger ailes, the founder of the american news channel fox news has died. good evening, we have had some

outbreaks of rain around today, but pretty hit and miss, with some areas seeing long spells of sunshine. now we see low—pressure moving in from the south, burst of rain across south—east england, east anglia, pushing north, and this is how it looked early on, pushing in across the likes of sussex, london, and elsewhere are quite a good deal of sunshine. here was the scene in west sussex, quite a lot of cloud, some outbreaks of rain. contrast that to the skies above county antrim. some blue sky, sunshine, cumulus cloud producing heavy showers. becoming largely dry and clear their overnight, quite chilly, further north, the rain pushes north, through lincolnshire, to northumberland. quite chilly in the north and the west, first thing, could be a touch of slight grass frost, and also misting is as well. some showers moving into the western

isles of scotland, much of scotland and northern ireland having a decent start of the day. fresh, sunshine, outbreaks of rain lingering around eastern parts. for the western half of england and across wales, dry and bright. friday, likely to get off to a damp start, across parts of london, looks like the heaviest of the rain will be offshore, but we could get heavier burst around the east coast. elsewhere across the uk, another day of sunny spells and scattered showers, the odd rumble of thunder, with heavier showers, across wales, northern ireland. temperatures around 15 or 16 degrees, a little bit cooler. during saturday, the area of rain pushing north, likely to be sitting across the northern isles for a good part of the day. elsewhere, return to sunshine and scattered showers, temperatures around 14 to 18 degrees, not a bad day on saturday, if you dodge showers, best to have

the brolly. area of high—pressure moving in from the south. squeezing away the showers, fewer showers, could catch one or two on sunday, lots of dry weather, fairly light wind, pleasant day, and sunshine on sunday, temperatures up to 20 degrees. hello and welcome to the election wrap, your essential guide to today's campaigning, right across the uk... theresa may puts her best foot forward at a factory in bolton, after unveiling her pa rty‘s manifesto across the pennines. so how did the big launch go? how do you feel it

went prime minister? i — well, it's a good manifesto. the stage is set for the first televised leaders' debate of the campaign tonight in salford — but the two biggest beasts in the political jungle are staying away. will wi ll vote rs will voters ca re will voters care about the noticeable absentees? if the campaign hasn't been enough of a roller—coaster for you so far — there's the offer of cut—price entry to the rides at thorpe park for young voters who register by monday's deadline. would you adam or eve it? does it matter to you whether your local mp is one of the 30% who is a woman? where you are interested in politics when you were 16? no, just boys! and should 16 year olds get the vote? we ask shoppers in carlisle to pop a ball into our general election mood box to make their choice. so lots to talk about with our panel... the politicaljournalist, martha gill, and george eaton of the new statesman. let's catch up on the latest developments

from the campaign trail... theresa may has laid out her vision to tackle the "great challenges" facing the uk — including brexit, the economy and an ageing society. the conservative party's manifesto includes proposals to change the way social care in england is funded, and to withdraw winter fuel payments from pensioners who are better off. mrs may outlined her policies on social care and public services earlier. the government that i lead would build a briton in which the economy is strong. to support world—class public services. with the most ambitious programme of investment in technology and buildings that the nhs has ever seen. record