this you're watc this hing beyond 100 days... turkey begins a long anticipated war against kurdish forces inside syria. president erdogan says turkish forces will establish a safe zone, into which they intend to return some 2 million syrian refugees. the uk, germany, france, and russia all condemn the operation, with growing anger here in washington that it was president trump who gave ankara the green light. he now says the operation was a bad idea. the white house is refusing to cooperate with the democrat's enquiry and reports say he is about to hire former congressman, trey gowdy as his impeachment counsel. also on the programme.....

borisjohnson has reassured conservative mp's that he will commit to a brexit negotation at the next election, but will leave with no deal if no compromise can be found. and the internet goes into meltdown as super sleuth coleen rooney outs fellow wag rebekah vardy, who she accuses of leaking stories to the tabloid press. hello and welcome — i'm michelle fleury in washington and christian fraser is in london. it is the norm these days, that major international announcements come on twitter. today was no different, the turkish president recep tayyip erdogan announced to the world that his country was going to war in northern syria to neutralise the kurdish threat. "our mission", he said, "is to prevent the creation of a terror corridor across our southern border and to bring peace to the area". the kurdish—led syrian democratic forces or sdf

had been braced for it for months, but they had been on heightened alert since the weekend when president trump decided to withdraw us troops. in the united states, there has been a furious reaction and from some of the president's closest allies. lindsey graham tweeted. . . pray for our kurdish allies who have been shamelessly abandoned by the trump administration. this move ensures the re—emergence of isis. with a lookback at today's events, here's our diplomatic correspondent james robbins. the beginnings of turkish bombardment. a series of large explosions in the town of ras al—ain, just inside northern syria. as turkey's forces started a long planned offensive, already widely condemned by their nato allies. many civilians, suddenly in harm's way, started fleeing. a local journalist described the scene. thousands of people, thousands of people emigrating to the south side. the turkish army are shelling

by mortars everywhere. turkey's resident recep tayyip erdogan said the military offensive was to create a safe zone to house some of the 3.6 million syrian refugees inside turkey. , ——turkey‘s president. but he also wants to clear the area of turkish militias. the key is, some of those were key allies of the united states and britain who helped to defeat the jihadists of so—called islamic state. but turkey tends to regard any armed occurred as a terrorist. that area is needed for our safety and security, for the syrian refugees to go back to so they can go back to their normal lives and there is no vacuum to be filled by any terrorist network and also to make sure that syria is not divided territorially. over recent days, turkey has been building up its forces after wanting to do precisely this for years. turkey believes it has a green light from president trump, plucked from a hailstorm of contradictory presidential tweets.

one threatened he would destroy turkey's economy if they now go too far. the united states has been pulling back some of its troops that could be in turkey's path. some of the kurdish forces turkey could try to destroy it have argued their hard—won battle against is is now being put at risk. france and germany have already condemned the turkish action. nato as a whole has been more sympathetic but is cautioning strongly there are grave risks if turkey goes too far. joining me now is derek chollet, formerly us assistant secretary of defense for international—security affairs, now executive vice president at the german marshall fund. thank you forjoining us. if i could start with a statement we have from the president basically saying that this operation is a bad idea, going

further to add that turkey is now responsible for ensuring all isis fighters are being held captive remain in prison and that isis does not reconstitute in any way, shape oi’ not reconstitute in any way, shape orform. he says not reconstitute in any way, shape or form. he says that we're going to hold them to this commitment. an income as america essentially outsourcing this to turkey? this is a bad idea. it is unfortunate that president trump gave the green light to president erdogan any phone call over the weekend and what we're seeing is the consequences of that green light. turkey has long wanted to make a move into northern syria. a very modest deployment of american troops, ably assisted by american diplomats, have tried to keep turkey at bay. but in the course of one presidential phone call, over the weekend, we seem to have wiped that completely clear. president trump, whether he really fully understood the full ramifications of this green light, remains to be seen. the

statement suggests that now that he is seeing what has come to pass, he may come to regret this phone call. so now you have the kurdish led city and democratic forces, their attention is on fighting turkish versus “— attention is on fighting turkish versus —— the kurdish led syrian democratic forces. could we see a resurgence of isis cosmic we could and that is one of the dangers here. we need to take a step back. the syrians that the turks are attacking had been our ground force inside syria for several years. the united states had been working alongside these verses, training them, equipping them. it was because of their efforts that the us and the international community are able to put isis back on its heels and put it in the box. and what is in danger fiow it in the box. and what is in danger now is these forces are going to be fighting turkey and, perhaps, been crushed by turkey because the turkish military is quite significant. we could be seen isis return. we could see a refugee

crisis, isis detainees are prisoners light on the list. the ramifications of this could be huge. we should publics claim interviewer is what this buffer zone looks like. it is 200 miles long. that meant we should probably explain to our reviewers but this buffer zone looks like. how long is it going to take to clear out kurdish militia 7 long is it going to take to clear out kurdish militia? it could take quite some time and we're only in the early—ish stages of this turkish military operation. it is unclear whether they will bomb for a few days and stop and then use the new leverage to negotiate a better deal with united states, but this could bea with united states, but this could be a long, bloody stalemate. the kurds have made it clear that they are to fight. and what we can expect, if that happens, it isjust greater to stabilisation inside syria. and the kinds of problems that the us has worked very hard over the last several years to put backin over the last several years to put back in the threat from isil could

return. thank you for outlining some of the risks. donald trump's counter attack to the democrats impeachment inquiry is taking shape: an all out refusal to cooperate and the addition of a familiar face to his team. former south carolina republican congressman trey gowdy is expected to join the president's legal team to fight impeachment. he is the former chair of the house oversight and reform committee who led the investigation into hilary clinton and the terrorist attacks in benghazi, libya. when it comes to the battle itself, the house is sent an 8—page letter. and dating, essentially yesterday evening vowing not to cooperate with what it essentially with what it said was a "partisan and unconstitutional" impeachment inquiry and essentially daring nancy pelosi to hold a house vote on the investigation. the speaker of the house responded, accusing trump of trying

to "normalise lawlessness". can you actually not take part in your own impeachment cosmic you can. he can refuse to send witnesses. he can refuse to give documents, which is exactly what he has been doing. the president has been doing this all gear on a host of other house investigations, so he can be doing that, but he has can also take him to court. and ask a judge to force the administration to turn over the documents and compel people to testify. but what is really important to know is that he has can use this as an article of impeachment. they can say to the present, you are obstructing justice and that is one reason that you should be removed from office. —— to the president. they have not gone that far, but they had indicated that far, but they had indicated that they could go down that path. what the president's team wants is a due process, to be able to interview witnesses and put their own case forward. something akin to a trial, but of course there is no formal enquiry at the moment. i want if pressure is going to build a nancy

pelosi to hold a vote on the house floor to begin formal proceedings? they do what what you're saying, but the experts i've talked to her and how impeachment works so you do not actually have to have about —— they do want what you're saying. the trial occurs in a face to any senate and we've not got to that point. you are right, they can force her to have a vote and they have been calling for a vote for a couple of weeks now and saying that she is not going to have a vote because it's politically problem for some of her members. they do not actually see any letter if you hold a vote, we will give you an information they want. she could do it and if you could anger some of her own members and still not get what she wants in return. it is a bit risky for her. we've always known that president trump was obvious i going to come out fighting, now it seems, with this letter from the white house, that you are starting to see, perhaps, the outlines of a plan coming together? i would say little

bit. we're still hearing that in in the white house there is no person in charge, obviously present is in charge, but no staff, they do not have a dedicated team on impeachment —— obviously the president is in charge. most of the strategy has been the president talking about and tweeting a lot. and pushing back a lot. then we have seen a lot of political pushback from his campaign. this is a legal strategy, it came from the cancel's office, this 8—page letter —— the council office. and it puts into words what the present has been saying, that he thinks it is not legitimate and is not going to co—operate. —— what the president has been saying. we have been saying that for a number of weeks. and months on a variety of investigations. thank you very much indeed for that. good to get your thoughts on where we are with

impeachment. as we were listening to that, the republicans right now are obviously focusing more on the process than on the substance. as we we re process than on the substance. as we were gestating, they want a more formal process and they are... what the chair of the committee has actually said on the wreck before, the power of impeachment demands a rigorous level of due process and that means the right to be informed of the law of the charges against you and to confront the witnesses against you and call your own witnesses and to have the assistance of counsel. someone has their nose buried ina of counsel. someone has their nose buried in a book, clearly trawling through a pic of what democrats have said in the past. obviously there was a lot from that period when clinton was impeached. also there are republicans whose words can be dug up. look at this, senator

lindsey graham, one of the president was next on just supporters, there is this claim that make this clip of him on the floor of the senate in 1998. it is not yourjob to tell us what we need. it is yourjob to comply with the things we need to provide oversight over you. the day richard nixon failed to answer that subpoena is the day that he was subject to impeachment. and of course, we're waiting for the president to name a trey gowdy as one of his legal counsel on the impeachment fight. he, if you go back to some of his quotes from the past, when he was leading at benghazi investigation, at the time he was noted as being a real stickler for the wheels. yes, some things there. do remember that he came on the programme and we asked why he had stood down as a congressman and he said that he was sick of the bitterness and division and the manufacturing of reasons to fight. and he was looking forward to a new life. i'm really leaving because i'm

going back to a job where facts matter and process matters and fairness matters. and in politics, winning is the only thing that matters. i think he's going to find out that winning is all that matters if he's going to be the counsel for donald trump. all i going to be the counsel for donald trump. alll could going to be the counsel for donald trump. all i could say is that you could find words from both sides that can be used against them and i would suspect that we will be hitting a lot of that in the weeks ahead. let's turn to matters here in brexit. the uk could soon be facing its first winter general election in 45 years. and if the poll were to fall in december, as looks likely, it would be the first christmas election since 1923. there is a reason we avoid holding them in the darkest days of winter — voters are tired, have colds, they don't like opening their doors late at night to campaigners. actually i don't like ever like doing that. but — if it does go ahead — and the uk is still in the eu — what are we going to see under the brexit section of the conservative party's manifesto? this afternoon, a group of one nation tory mps met boris johnson to demand

that their party doesn't campaign on a straightforward no—deal platform, claiming dozens of conservative mps would refuse to support such a manifesto. he assured them that right now this wasn't his plan, and he would always prefer to leave with a deal. we're joined now by gillian keegan, conservative mp for chichester and one of the mps who met with the prime minister today. are you reassured? yes, i am. i was reassured by what the prime minister sent to brussels in terms of the deal under the proposal that he made because it was clear in that that there was a lot of compromise that had gone into it from both the dup and the british government's site. i know lots of colleagues have different views and it was clear that they had to try to find a way through, trying to get parliament to agree something that was acceptable to the eu, and had taken into account some of the eu's red lines as well. i think that was a serious

offer and compromise and it was a serious approach to try and get a deal, but of course, the question is what happens if we do not get a deal. it is one thing to promise any ma nifesto, deal. it is one thing to promise any manifesto, but if what we need are correct, there are no two camps in downing street. there is a dominic cummings cab the special adviser who would like to live without the deal and there is the eddie camp who see beyond brexit and have a longer strategy and want this negotiation —— the eddie lister camp. what happens at the dominic cummings camp wednesday? i do not know better be camps, but the prime minister said that the person to listen to is me. that is going to be a lot of briefing from downing street and we expect this. the rhetoric between fiow expect this. the rhetoric between now and the end of october is going to be really high. your viewers are going to be inundated with all kinds of positioning statements and signalling, actually, that it will happen in europe, it will happen in

ireland and europe as well. —— the uk spell. and i believe he does want to get a deal. as johnson caught between the demands from you and your group between the demands from you and yourgroup and between the demands from you and your group and the brexit party on the other hand who, an election, would potentially threaten to hive off some of your photos? the brexit party, whatever type of brexit we come up with —— some of your voters. the brexit party will say that we can always have done something different. in the brexit party, nigel farage in particular, are completely unaccountable for what they have said. it is examined the sidelines trying to tell you how play again. but i trying to protect the livelihoods of people across this country, and businesses across this country, and businesses across this country, and businesses across this country and nigel farage has no accountability for that. for whatever he says he will always come

up whatever he says he will always come up with something more severe form of brexit, which of course was the only one that he would have ever accepted, despite the fact that he said something different a long time ago. we will not do a pact with somebody... it says any comments that the prime minister is dodge there is a danger that he starts to pull those early voters in those constituencies that you need to win. there is a danger because i think that brexit has many dangers. the country is very divided. let me just be clear, there is no such thing as a clean break brexit. if you did no deal, thatjust a clean break brexit. if you did no deal, that just means a clean break brexit. if you did no deal, thatjust means ijust start the next phase of negotiations any really bad place. you cannot lead a 45 year relationship, which is very heavily integrated and intertwined, just like a clean break brexit. you have to go up and then try to figure out which bits are you have broken and put them all back again. you have many bilateral should have to put in place, if you had a wto

brexit, so what he is promising is simply not available and it does not thickness. he is talking nonsense andl thickness. he is talking nonsense and i hope the british public would see through that nonsense —— it does not exist. are you ready to go and knock on doors? yes, we're already knocking on doors. the last thing that they want to see as politicians, they are fed up of us. all you want for christmas is brexit, i guess. all you want for christmas is brexit, iguess. i all you want for christmas is brexit, i guess. iapologise in advance to the good people of chichester. thank you very much. and m, chichester. thank you very much. and in, i was just wasjust going to was just going to say, here we are talking about general elections, but is this prospect of a deal completely dead. is it something that we might be talking about as everyone heads to brussels next week? it does not sound very positive from brussels to med. one of the interesting things was there was a lot on twitter from people saying that there was a counteroffer coming and it was pooh—poohed by brussels. the interesting thing was

the reaction from the dup and the erg, the eurosceptics, who said that we have already rejected that. and we have already rejected that. and we have already rejected that. and we have to admit that the conservatives are not wedded to know is now coming out of the customs union with the rest of the united kingdom. that is where they're at at the moment. i think the european union is probably looking at what its options are and it is going to gamble on an election and hope that people like gillian have convinced the premise that if they do get a majority that they come back and they negotiate and do not walk away. i think that is probably the eu's gamble at the moment and probably the only one open to them at the moment and they're probably betting that he cannot get around and enact and does not look like he has got the pulse to get around that —— get around the benn act. we might be stocking about a general election stocking about a general election stocking filler. returning to our top story tonight and turkey's offensive in syria.

president trump has released a statement saying the united states did not endorse the attack, and has made it clear to turkey that it was a bad idea. robert ford is the former us ambassador to syria from 2011 to 2014, now a senior fellow at the middle east institute in washington. we spoke to him just before coming on air. ambassador ford, what was the strategic endgame for the americans in northern syria? i'm sure it wasn't this, was it? the americans never had a strategic endgame in syria — that's their big problem. all they had was a stopgap measure of supporting one syrian faction, one syrian kurdish militia, against isis and that worked well in the short term, caused lots of other problems and the bill is now coming due for that short—term decision. his former envoy to the region, brett mcgurk — who also worked for president obama — had some pretty strong things to say about american diplomacy this week. he said, "there is a defect at the core of it, across board.

maximalist objectives for a minimalist president combined with no process to assess facts, develop options or prepare contingencies". is that fair? and notjust fair about this president? i think that could absolutely be applied to both the obama administration, of which i was a part, and the trump administration. maximalist in terms of giving a big set of objectives to a very small american force in eastern syria — defeat isis, keep iran out of eastern syria, bring the government of assad to heel. that was a lot to ask for a smaller military force. that's what the trump administration was asking. and how does this advance us interests? if you look at its approach towards iran, if you look at trying to end wars, if you look at countering terrorism ?

it's hard to say that this turkish incursion is helpful to american interests and, if it facilitates say, for example, the escape of isis prisoners are from some of the camps that the syrian democratic forces, that syrian kurdish militia i referto, if there isis prisoners escape, that would not be helpful for american interest at all. i also have to say, however, that there really was a no game plan for what to do in eastern syria over the long term and people who say, well, the americans should just keep their forces there — is there ever going to be an exit? or is thisjust, we keep them there as far as the eye can see? wasn't this part of a, i guess, what you would describe as a light footprint strategy where, if you look back, there have been very few us casualties? you compare that to,

say afghanistan, where does that leave the us strategy now? well, the us, as i said, does not really have a strategy. it had a strategy of sort of taking back territory from the islamic state, which was accomplished with the fall of the last isis positions earlier this year down south in south—eastern syria. after that, the americans did not have a strategy. they were just sort of holding and, basically, a portion of the american forces, a sizeable portion, was doing nothing more than a peacekeeping, trying to maintain peace between the turks and this syrian kurdish militia. ambassador ford, it's very good of you to be with us. thank you very much for your time. my pleasure. fascinating how many ambassadors

sound that pessimistic tone. —— that same pessimistic tone. getting rejected is never easy to take on the chin. a dent in the ego and all that. but perhaps we should take a leaf out of the book of caitlin, a michigan university student who turned herfailure into a fashion statement. yes, she made rejection letters for jobs she'd applied for during the course of her phd — into a skirt. here it is. certainly eye catching. since posting the photo on twitter on monday, she's had a whole flurry of interest in her professional life including some job offers, not to mention achieving 20,000 likes and more than 2,000 retweets. not bad going. i could have created a 3—piece suit 01’ i could have created a 3—piece suit oran i could have created a 3—piece suit or an entire wardrobe from my rejection letters. this is beyond 100 days from the bbc. coming up for viewers on the bbc news channel and bbc world news...

as the white house declares war on the impeachment inquiry, both sides are crying "constitutional crisis." we will examine if that's really the case orjust great political theatre. it has been another in subtlety and in glasgow we have had some waterlogging of the roads. this is asa waterlogging of the roads. this is as a result of today's rain. also a prolonged spell of wet weather that we've seen. seems like this will become more common over the next few days for some of us. there is more rain in the forecast and this shows how extensive they have been. nonstop across scotland and sneaking into south—east england. north—east of scotla nd into south—east england. north—east of scotland with fewer shoppers. an area of low pressure moves of scotland with fewer shoppers. an area of low pressure moves across the far area of scotland, the northern isles and we will see she was feeding. it will take windy,

cher was becoming confined to western coast and hills. —— showers are becoming confined to westerner coasts and hills. another area of low pressure and the charts tomorrow. i were front will extend a band of rain into northern and western areas of the country. showers to start off with four western scotland otherwise, a bright and sunny start. rain through the morning will spread into northern england and scotland where the event becomes heavy and persistent as well. localised surface water flooding is a possibility. further southwards and eastwards, no great amounts of rain for eastern england, for most of it it will be dry, bright and mad with highs of 17 celsius. 3008, further bands of rain pushing into western scotland could because a few issues. this management training done across england and wales becomes a very slow moving as we go through —— this band of rain coming down across england and wales. we could see 50

to 70 millimetres of rain across the hidebound, enough to cause localised high water —— localised clan flooding. here it is going to be pretty mad with highs up to 18 celsius so. northwards and westwards, to the north of our front, we're into the fresher, cooler air, 20 temperatures 12 to 14 celsius. this weekend we have more u nsettled celsius. this weekend we have more unsettled weather across england and wales. heavy rain around at times and often cloudy. a localised surface water flooding is a possibility. further north, it is u nsettled possibility. further north, it is unsettled but there is a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. that is your mother. —— your weather.

this is beyond 100 days. with me, michelle fleury in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories... turkey launches its threatened military operation against kurdish fighters in north—east syria — as air strikes and artillery fire hit syrian towns and villages on the frontier. the white house is refusing to cooperate with the democrat's impeachment inquiry, and reports say the is about to hire former congressman, trey gowdy as his impeachment counsel. coming up in the next half hour.... the man who became ‘america's mayor‘ after 9/11 — now has his legacy tied to donald trump — we'll take a look at the many sides of rudy guiliani. off the field drama — two wives of british football players are emboiled in a instagram

feud and accusations over leaked stories. the white house first announced it was pulling american troops from northern syria on sunday, paving the way for turkey to attack us—backed kurdish forces. there was no wide consultation, no advance warning to nato allies, congress was seemingly in the dark. within 72 hours of that announcement — we are at the start of an offensive that could surely lead to another major implosion in the long running syrian conflict. just hours ago turkish warplanes bombed parts of north—eastern syria. turkey's president recep erdo—wan said the operation was to create a so—called "safe zone", cleared of kurdish militias, which will also house syrian refugees. reports suggest at least two people have been killed so far. our international correspondent orla guerin gave us this update from near the turkish syria border.

well, we have just left the border area, but we were able to see and hear the beginnings of that turkish military bombardment. just across the border wall we were able to see smoke rising from the kurdish town, that is from a turkish mortar. we heard about two rounds of artillery fire and there was also incoming mortar fire from the kurdish side. now, i should say that by this much is landing we could see very clearly it was a residential area, we could see high—rise blocks that we re clearly apartment blocks and we know from the information that is coming out from inside syria that civilians are already once again having to flee. i mean, who knows how many times these people have had to pick up their bags and go? while turkey is describing this operation is

the spencer piece, the syrians who are trapped the other side this is one more round of battle in what has been an agonisingly long war. this is simply the beginning, but we are seeing now are strikes taking place from the air. turkey has made it clear, though, this will also be a land assault. we expect to see that coming in the next few days and there are grave warnings and concerns from the international community about what this will mean in the humanitarian side of it for other refugees in syrians who are trapped there. but also that key question, could it undo progress that has been made in the global battle against islamic state? just to bring up—to—date the dental, and north—east syria they are saying that three sds fighters have been killed and five civilians have also been killed. dozens of civilians have been injured. three stf fighters and five civilians killed, so fighters and five civilians killed,

so far. joining us now in washington is brian katulis from the center for american progress. adjustment to be due a statement recently put out by senator susan collins in response to what is happening i the our allies the cards could be slaughtered. new met with members of the kurdish leadership last week here in washington. what was the nature of this conversations? did they have any idea this was coming?” conversations? did they have any idea this was coming? i met a few days ago, before it this decision, but some of the stf leaders here in washington and they were caught off guard. in our conversations they had just come for meetings with the trump administration and they had no indication that something of this magnitude was coming. understand these are the partners that we were backing by with an three to fight against isis. they are holding ices detainees. they were caught off guard. julius was caught off—guard? members of chump team who actually manage syrian policy. sdf this

meeting, in addition to me as people outside of government, people who manage the seria file. the president makes a decision like this and keeps his own top national security team unaware, shows he is a man without a plan stop he sits on the hip, has a phone call with a leader and then implement something that could be quite disastrous for certainly the kurds, but also us interest. so, fast forward, into the future, fds finds itself in a position where it has to send troops back in, potentially, because at the ballot that we might say, they will have lost a n that we might say, they will have lost an ally. they cannotjust pick up lost an ally. they cannotjust pick up where they left off with the sdf. libby child, is a hard to imagine them coming back to us easily. at a moment's notice, against the word of people that they are working with on the ground and against people who said nothing and gave no indication

that president trump is going to make this decision, do think you attract the americans? no, probably not. he said in his statement tonight that the tax would have to ta ke tonight that the tax would have to take charge of the isps nurse, simply the kurds are going to have to work of the job, and they? president and a gun does not have a very good record, does he? he has used this the... yes, unfortunately target for several years during the syrian civil war did very little to stop the blow of terrorists and extremists across its border. asking turkey to take care of isis is kind of like in our country asking the national rifle association to take ca re of national rifle association to take care of the gun nuts. geraint their main. nobody should have any faith that about the us being there these

thousands of isis detainees and other semi—floating around will be actually managing anywhere between the turks or the kurds of northern syria. brian, thank you so much for joining us. so, in an eight page letter sent by white house councel to the democrats yesterday, donald trump says he is no longer going to cooperate with the impeachment inquiry. he is not going to respond to subpoenas, he is going to withold government employed witnesses. he is going to stall he says until there is due process. you have an administration that is using ‘executive privilege' as a reason not to hand over documents. and you have congress, which when denied access to the information it needs, can't perform its oversight duties. so are we in what some might call a "constitutional crisis"? i'm joined now byjonathan turley — a constitional law professor at georgetown university an dbbc legal analyst.

what do you think? i will in the midst of a constitutional crisis? well, it is not a crisis in the sense that we have a constitution designed to handle this. the president is really outside of his constitutional bearings and refusing to cooperate in virtually any baby this impeachment enquiry. the president's earlier tweet actually did a great deal of harm to his own case. right before the slash and we nt case. right before the slash and went out, the president tweeted and said that he would have loved to have the eu ambassador, for example, testify in congress, but he did not trust the committee. well, that is really quite damaging to later arguing executive privilege. because thatis arguing executive privilege. because that is not executive privilege. you can claim privilege if information might damage national security or confidential communications. it is not there for a presidential when. because you just do not like the other people in power. because you just do not like the other people in powerlj

because you just do not like the other people in power. i mean, the 8—page lighter from the white house seems to go beyond executive privilege. refusing all corporation by saying this is an illegitimate investigation. well, the problem is it isa investigation. well, the problem is it is a legitimate investigation, it is illegitimate concern from congress. if the president engage in self—dealing with the ukrainians, thatis self—dealing with the ukrainians, that is be a clear impeachable offe nce. that is be a clear impeachable offence. so, congress is both oversight and impeachment authority to demand this information. they will wind in court. this will certainly kick the can the road, it will delay things. but the outcome is pretty much certain. the problem is pretty much certain. the problem is that there is no discernible legal strategy here. they are really clear cutting their own defences. which is baffling. so, they may end up which is baffling. so, they may end up in which is baffling. so, they may end upina which is baffling. so, they may end up in a senate trial, having done untold harm to themselves. jonathan, the lighter they sent yesterday does not deal at all with the substance of the allegation. back switch let

us of the allegation. back switch let us face it did not look very good for the president. what does tres do is legal counsel? how does he manage this? the question is what trey is going to have to work with? they are quickly making bats a bit by tossing it over the side. the question is what will train hard except a muscle player to demand republican state and a block. the latter does buy some legitimate points. the white house as he had not even taken out a vote of the entire house to start impeachment investigation. they are right about that, the constitution does not require that type of boat, but tradition does. it is going to undermine the house representatives a negative quite, because they have an immaculate impeachment. they went into a press conference and said ok, this is now an impeachment enquiry

to stop they have a point there, but not one which would justify this obstruction. what about the point they have been making that democrats need to take a vote, that the house needs a takeover to? that is the issue of whether the house as a body should vote and i agree with them, they should vote. if you're going to proceed against a sitting president, the house as a body should speak to that. the white house is also making some good points in objecting to the due process problems here. the democrats have, in fact, denied procedural and substantive process. they insist they can get that in the senate, but that is not very convincing. in past impeachment she did have adversarial process in the house. he did have cross—examination of witnesses, either tap the other party getting accessed that they do not have here. i think the democrats relation think about that, because it undermines the legitimacy of the

impeachment. jonathan, thank you very much indeed. at least two people have been killed in a shooting outside a synagogue in the german city of halle. the attack took place on yom kippur, the holiest day in thejewish calendar. one suspect was arrested, but two others fled in a hijacked a car — the attack was livestreamed on amazon's video gaming platform twitch. jenny hill has the latest. calm, deliberate, shattering the peace of a quiet city. an eyewitness talent as a man just in combat gear opened fire outside a synagogue in halle. a woman was killed as she walks past the building. watch how relaxed he seems, taking his time to party reload the weapon before firing again. in other images a gunman stalks the streets. not far

from the synagogue, a keypad shop also attacked. a man inside killed by an on assailant, who reportedly fired into building. translation: the man approached the kebabs up and i noticed a majorly something was wrong, because he was wearing a helmet and had an assault rifle. then he threw something that looks like a hand grenade with tape on, which bounced back of the doorframe and did not land inside the shop. fear and uncertainty on the streets of halle. two people murdered by an unknown number of attackers. it is yom kippur, the jewish unknown number of attackers. it is yom kippur, thejewish day of atonement. this evening, explosive robots and action outside the synagogue. it is feared that the attackers might have left bombs behind. a city in mourning. after the most holy day of thejewish year

was so the most holy day of thejewish year was so violently interrupted. electricity to around 800 thousand homes and businesses in northern california is being cut in an attempt to prevent wildfires. large sections of the san francisco bay area, though not the city itself, have lost power, much to the dismay of local residents. it was only last year that california saw its deadliest wildfires on record, and with weather forecasts predicting high winds, the move is intended to prevent the risk of fallen power lines igniting more fires. joining us now from san francisco is the bbc‘s dave lee. we all recalljust how seriously wildfires about last year, date. there will be a lot of people who think this goes too far. yes, i think this goes too far. yes, i think it is interesting because i was at those wildfires year and, you know, when i check some of the people they met at that time, they do not think this goes too far. so, it seems that the people who are closest to that tragedy seem to be

much more understanding of this action. but the scale of it is what is making people most angry, i think. you mentioned 800,000 homes and businesses, but of course i can affect many more people, because they are just affect many more people, because they arejust individual affect many more people, because they are just individual customers. when essence a neighbour to the half—million people may be without power, if indeed all those places are shutdown. —— and estimate i saw today said half a million people. all the way down through silicon valley down to sanjose. huge numbers of people, beg, they carry and people are asking is this really justified? just to handle the threat of high wind. yes, i wanted to ask you, have even hearing from residents? how has their reaction been? i think some residency are away from my those fires where are more frustrated than the ones he had

first—hand knowledge. overall where eve ryo ne first—hand knowledge. overall where everyone seems to be in agreement is in angerat everyone seems to be in agreement is in anger at the utility company, because many people see that firm as having neglected their responsibility to properly maintain the excitement. that is what this is all about. the company is worried that pearly maintained equipment could fall down, start another fire, which is what because that's huge fire last year stop the threat of that happening again is why the company is doing this. people here are saying well, if the investor p°ppin9 are saying well, if the investor popping your equipment even not have to worry. that is where the majority of the anger is being directed at right now. dave, thank you very much indeed. justify quick update from donna matt rab about syria. i have serious concerns about the unilateral military action that turkey has taken. they risk

destabilising the region, exacerbating human tarry and suffering and undermining the progress we have made against irish, we should be our collective focus. of course,. —— against daesh. this is beyond 100 days. still to come — from mayor of new york city to donald trump's personal lawyer. rudy guiliani and his moments in the spotlight. all 500 and 55 thomas cook stores that were closed when the company went bust last month have been saved — bought by hays travel. the move could save up to two and a half thousand jobs. our consumer affairs correspondent, colletta smith, reports. but the nastier they have weeks nicholas college had been living a nightmare. lots of tears and anger.

feeling lonely. routine is gone. we have just been trying to process it, but we loved, just trying to get our heads around about it was not there any more. today there are whispers of good news. hays travel and as they are by thomas cook's stores. but it seems to good to be true. bunch manager gemma gets through to the team at hays. it was on profit, yes. i'm ashley sat with it now and then it'll be happy to come back to then it'll be happy to come back to the branch. brilliant, is that it, then question my cassette death and thatis then question my cassette death and that is that it, then question my cassette death and that the stories opening pressure mark —— is that a definite? they are opening and we have just got to come. hays are based in sunderland and the family

firm has expanded across uk of the last 40 years. they already have 190 stores, but today they made the biggest financial gamble of their lives. now theirjobs and mines are by contract. i cannot believe it, i'm crying. the white house strategy in the impeachment inquiry has donald trump front and centre — and while the there is no doubt he is throwing everything he has into this fight — the other key central figure is the president's personal lawyer, rudy giuliani. the former new york city mayor was once seen as a national

hero for his response to the 9/11 terror attacks. now he's being urged to testify to congress because democrats allege his played a key role in trying to illegally undermine mr trump's most likely challenger. the bbc‘s nada tawfik takes a closer look at rudy guiliani's career. i know that he wants to... did you ask ukraine biden to look into joe? of course i did. you just said you didn't! rudy guiliani has never backed down in the face of criticism and he remains as defiant as ever. i do not get intimidated by bullies. his frequent, feisty, late night months depending president trump have raised more than 80 eyebrows and now that he isa centralfigure in the impeachment enquiry it is prompted the question, what has happened to the man who after 9/11 was dubbed america's mayor? we know we have lost a lot of people. but now we have got to focus on how many can be seen? that was the title he was given

following his response to the september 11 attacks. the fearless new york leader, who in the ashes, led the city with calm reassurance. even receiving an honorary knighthood. but his current image some say aligns closely with his fellow record as a politician and prosecutor. he has always been somebody who was an opportunist. he has always been somebody who has wanted to change his politics to suit the moment. he has always been somebody wanting to scapegoat an attack certain groups feelings that will help him. he very has come of a very cynical time in new york in the 1970s and 80s with donald trump. as an attorney general in new york, he went after the mafia, but also anyone he deems an enemy. as mayor, he turned around the crime ridden city but with tactics that many believe disproportionately targeted minorities. years later, his own bed for the presidency failed. but through his friend donald trump, he found new relevance. i am sick and tired

of the defamation of donald trump by the media! i am sick and tired of it! though he is officially personal lawyer to the president. donald trump values him more as a chief public defender on television. i have watched the passion that he has on television over the last few days. i think it is incredible what he has done. he wants to find out where did this russian witchhunt that you people really help perpetrate, where did it start? he is very helpful to me. a former prosecutor he worked with rudy guiliani says the one skilful lawyer has losses by. he suffers a conflict of his ambition, but he was to achieve, and that trump is the instrument to make that happen. so, they have this relationship that i guess begins each person's errors. he had every right to do it as president of the united states! rudy guiliani's reputation is now forever tied to donald trump. it is somebody‘s version of the truth, not the truth.

perhaps that is why his fierce defence of the president feels like a personal mission. i think we'll see a lot more of him in the weeks and months ahead. here on beyond 100 days we are always anxious to give a platform to the best originaljournalism. anyone willing to go the extra mile in their investigation — who exercises the utmost rigour and persists with dedication over months to get to the truth — we want to support them. it's only fair that this week's investigative journalism award goes to coleen rooney — the television personality and wife of footballer wayne rooney. today she revealed that after years of stories about her appearing in a tabloid newspaper she'd hatched a cunning plan to find out who was responsible for the leaks. she told her one million twitter followers: "over the last five months i have posted a series of false stories to see if they made their way into the sun newspaper.

and you know what, they did!" she said she blocked all her followers from seeing her false stories apart from one — and that that instagram account belonged to rebekah vardy. vardy is the wife of fellow england footballer this is the reason that the emoji, the pitcher has to do screen, this is what the story invented for. vardy is the wife of fellow england footballer jamie vardy, and she denied being responsible, saying that many people have had access to her account over the years. the bbc understands that she‘s instructed lawyers to do a ‘forensic investigation‘ into her account to see who has logged into it and when. there are lots of the unfettered saying this is not news, this is not a story. it is! and i‘m going to tie white is a story, here is a tweet from james recipe is busy in

brussels at the moment, he says... yes, what is been amazing is trending on twitter is the hashtag which is eight sleuth on agatha christie. the one that caught my eye was this. said of murder she wrote. this is my favourite, this is my period. anybody play this game? guess who? so you set on side of the board and to ask clues, has she got pronto? she better ribosome of her password ? pronto? she better ribosome of her password? and pronto? she better ribosome of her password ? and luckily pronto? she better ribosome of her password? and luckily turns up! rebekah vardy. absolutely burning

work. if you destroy! i am actually persuaded by the idea that someone has a password, just maybe. we will keep following this. we‘ll see you tomorrow. hello, it is then another and saturday. plenty of heavy downpours around and in glasgow we have had some waterlogging of the roads. this really is a result of today‘s rain and also the prolonged speu today‘s rain and also the prolonged spell of wet weather we have seen. seems like this will probably become a bit more common over the next few days. for some of us there is more rain in the forecast. this radar picture shows how extensive the showers today have been. nonstop daily across western scotland. ap sneaked into south—west england —— south—east england. overnight tonight this area of low pressure moves tonight this area of low pressure m oves a cross tonight this area of low pressure moves across the park north of scotla nd moves across the park north of scotland and we will continue to see shower speeding across scotland. it will stay quite windy, as well.

otherwise, showers combine to west coast hills, with the weather becoming drier across inland areas. temperature down to five in norwich. for tomorrow‘s weather, another area of low pressure on the charts. there some bringing south—westerly wind is a day when front that will extend a band of rain into northern and western areas of the country. showers to start off with in western scotland, otherwise a bright and sunny start. but rain through the morning was spread from northern ireland into northern england and scotland. local ice surface water flooding is a possibility. by the south was and is words there is no greater mass of rain and in to most of the day it will be dry, bright and mild. highs of 17 degrees. thursday night, for the bands of rain pushing into western scotland could cause a few issues. then this weather front turning down across england and wales becomes very slow—moving as they go through friday. this obeying a lot of rain to the hills of wales and also of the peaks to the hills of wales and also of the pea ks in to the hills of wales and also of the peaks in the southern pennines. a met office warning is already issues, because a 50 to 70 miniature

sovereign of the high ground. although there could be a little bit of rain at times across the south—east, there‘s probably no great amount of rain around on friday. indeed, here it pretty mild the ties of up to 18 degrees or so. by the ties of up to 18 degrees or so. by the northwoods and westwards, we are into the fresher and cooler. temperatures 12 to 14 degrees. this weekend, across england and wales we have got more unsettled weather on the way. some heavy rain at times and often quite cloudy. local ice surface water flooding is a possibility. further north of scotla nd possibility. further north of scotland and northern ireland, though it in cells, we have got a mixture of sunshine and heavy showers. that is your weather. knife crime remain too complacent about what is

this is bbc news, i‘m clive myrie. the headlines at 8pm. turkey launches military action across it‘s border, against kurdish fighters, in north—eastern syria. as the us grants diplomatic immunity to the suspect turkish warplanes are targeting towns which is sparking panic among civilians. we will have the latest, the other main stories on the bbc news at eight o‘clock. as the us gra nts news at eight o‘clock. as the us grants diplomatic immunity in a fatal motor break crash. we are no steps further than where we were this time last week and part of