white house, as the handover to the new administration begins. qatar says it will not mediate in peace talks between israel and hamas until the attitudes of both sides improve. the eu's chief diplomat promises unwavering support to ukraine, with donald trump a's collection causing uncertainty about us assistant. welcome to bbc news. we begin with breaking news in the us presidential election. the bbc�*s us news partner cbs news projects president—elect donald trump will win in arizona, the final state up for grabs in the election. by winning arizona, he's flipped a state he lost to presidentjoe biden in 2020 and completes a sweep of all seven battleground states over

vice president kamala harris. arizona's 11 electoral college votes bring mr trump's total to 312, over ms harris�* 226. meanwhile, president—elect trump is due to meet with presidentjoe biden wednesday at the oval office, as his transition to his second term gets under way. president biden�*s invitation to mr trump is a tradition between the outgoing and incoming presidents. the two were last seen together in new york at an event to mark 23 years since the september 11th attacks. before that, their most notable recent meeting was injune, the first debate of the presidential election. a poor performance by president biden on stage that night fuelled calls for him to end his re—election campaign. and now that kamala harris has lost, some democrats are blaming mr biden for not dropping out soon enough, including former speaker of the us house of representatives, nancy pelosi. she played a key role in convincing mr biden to eventually step aside.

the bbc�*s anna foster is following reaction from here in washington. the noise and fury this election generated isn't quite over yet. here in washington, police sealed off roads around a conservative think tank as several hundred protesters gathered, anxious about what donald trump's new government means for them. i think it puts me in a position where i feel like i'm not being accurately represented. it's frustrating, i feel a little powerless. i think that society was moving towards a direction that was much more open and progressive and inclusive of people like us, and it's scary to think we might be going back in the next couple of years. the different branches of the us government are often held by different parties, which builds in checks and balances to stop one from becoming too dominant. but as the final votes from tuesday's election are counted, it isn't looking that way. the republican party now controls the senate, which is half of the us congress, and as the final votes are being counted,

they are getting closer all the time to having control of the house of representatives as well, and they've also got a majority on the supreme court — and that is making people nervous about the amount of power that they could eventually hold. not the majority of americans, though, who got the comprehensive republican victory they voted for. now, one of the most senior democrats, nancy pelosi, has conceded thatjoe biden�*s late withdrawal from the presidential race harmed kamala harris�*s chances of winning it. he stepped aside too late for a contest to be held to pick a successor. the anticipation was that if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary. and, as i say, kamala may have... i think she would have done well in that and been stronger going forward, but we don't know that, that didn't happen, we live with what happened. donald trump remains at the mar—a—lago estate in florida, assembling his top team. and on wednesday he will fly

to washington to meetjoe biden and return to the west wing for the first time, ready for his big comeback. anna foster, bbc news, washington. as anna mentioned there — president elect trump is working on forming the team around him for a second term. on saturday he announced the committee in charge of his inauguration, which is scheduled for mid january. that presidential inaugural team will be led by steve witkoff, a real estate investor and close friend of the president elect — and kelly loeffler, a former senator from georgia. mr trump is also expected to announce cabinet members soon but in the last couple of hours he said he would not be appointing former secretary of state mike pompeo and former us ambassador to the un nikki haley to his cabinet. ms haley was mr trump's main challenger to his nomination as the republican presidential candidate. meanwhile, the bbc�*s us news partner cbs reports that robert f kennedyjunior, a noted vaccine skeptic and conspiracy theorist, is on the shortlist to run the health and human

services department. joining me live is ben tulchin, an american pollster and founder and director of tulchin research — he served as bernie sanders�*s pollster in the us senator's presidential campaigns. we presidential campaigns. heard the news coming in that we heard the news coming in that donald trump has won the state of arizona, a clean sweep of all seven battleground states. just look at this victory for donald trump and the loss by kamala harris, can you point to any specific mistake made by the kamala harris campaign was donald trump to stronger candidate? the votes are still being counted so we don't quite know the margin of victory and there are lot of ballots left in the state of california. the overall national margin will probably narrow but this is for sure a setback for kamala harris and democrats and they are going to have to reassess their situation, as you heard from nancy pelosi, as the

reassessment begins, and this was a pretty resounding victory for trump and there are a, which we are all starting to try to understand. a lot of it has to do with the impact that inflation had come the trump campaign didn't effective job at blaming how sm biden for the inflation, ultimately it had a huge impact on the working class voters, particularly latinos, and they shifted dramatically and tried's direction and that is one reason why trump won arizona this time when he lost it four years ago. he this time when he lost it four years age-— this time when he lost it four earsauo. ,., , ., _ years ago. he brought up nancy pelosi and _ years ago. he brought up nancy pelosi and those _ years ago. he brought up nancy pelosi and those comments, . years ago. he brought up nancy pelosi and those comments, do j pelosi and those comments, do you agree with her, do you think that ifjoe biden had dropped out earlier and given more of a head start to kamala harris or whatever democrat might have emerged, would that have made a difference? i might have emerged, would that have made a difference?- have made a difference? i agree with nancy _ have made a difference? i agree with nancy pelosi _ have made a difference? i agree with nancy pelosi on _ have made a difference? i agree with nancy pelosi on that, - have made a difference? i agree with nancy pelosi on that, i- with nancy pelosi on that, i think if biden had chosen not

to run for a real action at the beginning, when he promised not to, and create a much more open primary process, then whoever the nomine, whether it be kamala harris or someone else, would have come out of that process a stronger candidate, having been vetted and going in with more momentum into the election. democrats were essentially forced to rally behind a candidate they may not have chosen and ultimately you saw what happened in the polling, she gained some momentum when she first took over but that stalled out in the fall and ultimately she came up quite a bit shorter in the election. he came up quite a bit shorter in the election.— the election. he served as bernie sanders _ the election. he served as bernie sanders pollster, l the election. he served as i bernie sanders pollster, we the election. he served as - bernie sanders pollster, we saw him tweeted after the results, he said it should come as no great surprise that a democratic party which has abandoned working class people should find that the working class has abandoned them. what do you think you meant by that and do you see any in the

polling data that backs up that working—class people might have gone more strongly this time around for donald trump? based on the exit _ around for donald trump? based on the exit polling, _ around for donald trump? based on the exit polling, it _ around for donald trump? based on the exit polling, it showed - on the exit polling, it showed that kamala harris significantly outperformed joe biden with younger voters, working class voters and latino voters, those three groups were really most impacted by inflation and they really took their frustrations out on democrats, these were the three groups, the younger voters and latino voters are traditionally more democratic. i think we look at how the us alex a president, it is not the popular vote, president, it is not the popularvote, it president, it is not the popular vote, it is a state—by—state battle, which in that context, there are a lot more working class voters without a college degree then there are college educated voters and the campaign, their strategic focus was running up the score with college educated

voters, particularly server the —— suburban women who were upset about the attack on abortion rights, and we didn't focus much at all on working—class voters but at the end of the day, do the maths, there are more working class voters than college educated voters, such as in wisconsin and pennsylvania, key swing states that they last. briefly, 30 seconds _ states that they last. briefly, 30 seconds left, _ states that they last. briefly, 30 seconds left, we - states that they last. briefly, 30 seconds left, we saw - states that they last. briefly, 30 seconds left, we saw the | 30 seconds left, we saw the polls going into election night, very close, but in the end donald trump now with arizona taken every single swing state here, how much does that surprise you, that in the end, it really went under the column of the republicans? mt; column of the republicans? my ollin: column of the republicans? iji polling saw column of the republicans? m: polling saw this column of the republicans? m; polling saw this coming, unfortunately. it is unfortunately. it is unfortunate for the democrat party. my polls consistently show that kamala harris was underperforming, how biden did in 2020, brady with latino

voters. certainly with younger voters. certainly with younger voters and working class voters and this is a lesson that democrats are going to have to learn how to figure out how to do better with working—class voters to be able to win back the senate and win back the white house.— white house. thank you for “oininu white house. thank you for joining us- _ the government of qatar is suspending its mediation of ceasefire negotiations between israel and hamas, accusing both of acting in bad faith. a statement from qatar's foreign ministry says the parties were "exploiting the continuation of negotiations to justify the continuation of the war, to serve narrow political purposes." it says that qatar won't resume its role until both sides show "willingness and seriousness" to end the war. meanwhile, the palestinian red crescent says at least ia people — among them several children — were killed in gaza by israeli air strikes overnight into saturday, including on a tent encampment.

on a visit to troops in gaza, israel's army chief, herzi halevi, told soldiers that israel is "not stopping or slowing down" its operations against hamas. he said israel is fighting to rescue hostages and secure nearby israeli communities. joe inwood has more from jerusalem. these were very strong statements indeed, critical of both hamas and israel, who qatar has said were operating in bad faith, negotiating in bad faith, and using the talks of more of a political football for their own ends, rather than to try and secure a ceasefire and secure the release of hostages. qatar also said that they were fed up with essentially being blamed for the failure of the talks, something they say is not their fault, and it seems they have lost patience and said until the talks take place in good faith they aren't no longer going to mediate. this was the first official statement we have had all day in a day of unofficial briefings and anonymous statements.

the first came from washington and that was quite interesting in that it said america was no longer happy with the hamas group having a base in doha, something it has had since 2012. that was seen as an attempt to put pressure on the group but it has been slightly undermined by the fact that the qataris say they have no plans to kick hamas out of doha. what we can say for certain tonight is that the loss of one of the main negotiating parties is not good for the attempts to find a negotiated settlement and bring the hostages home and end the fighting. for more on this, i wasjoined from israel by michael oren, former israeli ambassador the united states. thank you for taking the time, i want to start with this news that qatar is pulling out of its role as a mediator in these hostage negotiations, saying that neither is real about a hostage deal, what do you make of that and where do you now

put your hopes, in terms of israel reaching its goal of freeing the hostages? i think first of all. — freeing the hostages? i think first of all, qatar _ freeing the hostages? i think first of all, qatar was - first of all, qatar was responding to an ultimatum given by the ad biden administration that it either was going to pressure hamas to release the hostages or it would have to innovate senior hamas officials from the very luxurious hotels and homes in qatar. it was a pre—emptive move by qatar. in any case, that leaves us in the same place, qatar is not playing a mediator role and it doesn't seem much way forward to release the hostages. as well hoping now that it can knock trade prisoners in israeli jails, terrorists for hostages, but perhaps territory for hostages. israel has been evacuating palestinian civilians from the northern gaza strip, there is a generals programme out here, it was

devised by a team of former generals here that says hamas is not really interested in prisoners from israeli jails, it really wants territory. so israel is in northern gaza and the plan would be that israel would give territory back in exchange for the hostages. what exchange for the hostages. what sort of territory _ exchange for the hostages. what sort of territory are _ exchange for the hostages. what sort of territory are you - sort of territory are you referring to? northern gaza. territory within the gaza strip itself that is currently controlled by the idf? yes, or allow palestinians _ controlled by the idf? yes, or allow palestinians who - controlled by the idf? yes, or allow palestinians who have . allow palestinians who have been displaced from the north to return to their homes, in exchange for releasing the hostages. it is changing the terms of the negotiations. before it was prisoners and ceasefires for hostages and that was basically hamas rules and now israel is trying to change the rules of the game. no one is in israel sameness as official policy but this appears to be the direction as as taking. i appears to be the direction as as taking-—

appears to be the direction as as taking. i want to talk about donald trump _ as taking. i want to talk about donald trump now, _ as taking. i want to talk about donald trump now, obviously| as taking. i want to talk about l donald trump now, obviously in line to become the next us president. he has vowed throughout this campaign to bring peace to the region, to end the war there in gaza, do you think that is realistic, and how will they do that? first of all, just by giving an ultimatum. president biden could say to israel, certainly to netanyahu, don't go into rafah and the southern gaza strip, and they went in there. biden could say don't go into lebanon, and we invaded lebanon. don't bomb beirut, bomb beirut. i don't think president trump is someone to say no to and i think the prime minister understands this. the question is how do you end these wars quickly? maybe the prime minister needs the president to say this. donald trump is seen as more pro—israel thanjoe biden, do you think you would issue that kind of ultimatum? ——do you think he would issue

that kind of ultimatum? oh, yes, i do. i think there is a lot of misreading of donald trump. there was a lot of exaltation from the extreme right in this country that trump would allow annexation, permit unbridled settlement building, people forget donald trump prevented israel from annexing part of the west bank, he was signed on a peace plan and i was an adviser to that peace plan, that was a two state plan, president trump was not particularly enthusiastic about unlimited settlement building. people misread him. i see the advent of the trump presidency as opening a number of opportunities for moving forward a ceasefire, perhaps resolving or beginning a path to resolving the palestinian issue, and even reducing the tremendously malign influence of iran throughout the region. you bring up iran, and other interesting point, because former president trump when he was in office, was very much

against the deal with iran, he pulled us out of that nuclear deal, what you think of the second champ administration and what it might mean for a round? i think the iranians are afraid, a couple of days ago they were talking about striking back to israel, they are frightened of donald trump, he is very unpredictable, he eliminated the highest ranking military figure in iran. so very unpredictable and the iranians don't like and predict ability. the only danger for israel now is that between now and the inauguration injanuary the 20th the iranians make conclude this is their last opportunity to create a nuclear weapon. that is a danger right now, we have to keep our eye closely on that but right now all the signals coming out of iran are, hi, we aren't going to strike back and we didn't try to assassinate president trump like the americanjustice

department has recently revealed. i department has recently revealed.— department has recently revealed. i, i, i, _ revealed. i wanted to go by the humanitarian _ revealed. i wanted to go by the humanitarian situation - revealed. i wanted to go by the humanitarian situation in - revealed. i wanted to go by the humanitarian situation in gaza, j humanitarian situation in gaza, famine is said to already be setting in, why do you think israel has not been able to ensure that it civilians in 1527 00:1