appreciate that. i am gary o'donoghue _ appreciate that. i am gary o'donoghue at _ appreciate that. i am gary o'donoghue at the - appreciate that. i am gary o'donoghue at the white | appreciate that. i am gary - o'donoghue at the white house where donald trump and joe biden have been speaking for 50 minutes now after a minute of polite exchanges between these two sworn enemies. also on the programme, a palestinian militant group has released a video of an israeli hostage held in gaza since october 7. here, the father of sara sharif tells a court he takes full responsibility for the death of the ten—year—old found dead at her home near london last year. and the extraordinary story of the runaway beluga whale caught up in a russian spying row. we hear from the director of a new bbc documentary. hello and welcome to bbc news.

let's start at the white house, where donald trump is meeting joe biden in the oval office, part of his plans for the transition of power injanuary. the meeting started about 50 minutes ago, journalists allowed in to record these pictures. we had smiles, handshakes and a few words before the journalists were escorted out. let's go straight to white house and our senior washington correspondent gary o'donoghue. gary, the focus of both with the smooth transition of power. yes, it was, joe biden has said that, he said that's right after the election, he said it again today. president trump, a lot more gracious than he has normally been tojoe biden. telling him, politics is tough, and after about 60 seconds, the public comments were over and they have been ensconced in the oval office for the last 51, 52 minutes. we will see how long that goes on for. i am frankly surprised it is going on this long. maybe they are having

substantial conversation about the challenges in america. donald, congratulations. thank you. and looking forward to having, like we said, a smooth transition. a transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth as it can get, and i very much appreciate that. politics is tough, and it is in many— politics is tough, and it is in many cases_ politics is tough, and it is in many cases not _ politics is tough, and it is in many cases not a _ politics is tough, and it is in many cases not a very - politics is tough, and it is in many cases not a very nicel many cases not a very nice world~ _ a transition that's so smooth, it'll be as smooth _ as it can get, and i very much appreciate that. i you are welcome. you heard donald trump saying, he thinks the transition will be smooth, as smooth as it can be, and it is a nice world today, as he put it, i guess because he has won the election. we will see if there has been any substance of discussions between them. it seems 50 odd minutes will be quite long time for mere

platitudes to be exchanged, so we may get some substance of readout of what they have discussed, whether any advice has been offered by the current president, any advice taken by the 47th future president of the 47th future president of the united states, but i think this is as long as many would have expected this to go on because these two men do not like one another, i think that's pretty clear. you will rememberjoe biden calling donald trump a convicted felon with the morals of an alley cat backin with the morals of an alley cat back injune. donald trump bead in the making fun ofjoe biden once calling him a feeble old quy- “ once calling him a feeble old guy. —— repeatedly. once calling him a feeble old guy. -- repeatedly.- guy. -- repeatedly. gary, historically, _ guy. -- repeatedly. gary, historically, what - guy. -- repeatedly. gary, historically, what do - guy. -- repeatedly. gary,| historically, what do these sort of meetings a straddle in terms of major content away from the cameras? i terms of major content away from the cameras?— terms of major content away from the cameras? i don't think they mean _ from the cameras? i don't think they mean very _ from the cameras? i don't think they mean very much, - from the cameras? i don't think they mean very much, to - they mean very much, to be honest. the exception i can think about in recent times is perhaps that meeting between donald trump and president obama back in 2016, because the administration at the time was very worried about north korea,

they majored on north korea during that discussion and that did become one of donald trump's priorities during his first term in office, so it is difficult to know how much of an influence that was, but it did, and i was a factor, but these are part of the ritual of the democratic hendo. people i joe biden feel they had to go through them, donald trump, not so much, he did not do it in 2020, and he did not turn up today with melania trump, it seems with the first lady, dr jill biden, seems to hand over a note she would like indicated to melani nanai. just a note she would like indicated to melani nanai.— to melani nanai. just in terms of what we — to melani nanai. just in terms of what we might _ to melani nanai. just in terms of what we might expect, - of what we might expect, january, he is getting the various pieces in place in terms of cabinet, he has already said he intends to make peoples heads spin in terms of action from day one.— action from day one. that's ri . ht. action from day one. that's right. there's _ action from day one. that's

right. there's a _ action from day one. that's right. there's a lot - action from day one. that's right. there's a lot of - action from day one. that's i right. there's a lot of cabinet posts still to go, but some of the big ones are already at least named. there's a process of confirmation that has to take place in the senate, of course, there are other big name still to come, attorney general being one of them, but he has promised day one action, they want to end the war in ukraine, for example, day one, the beginning of this mass deportation of migrants. all these things are huge promises, huge promises he has made and promises to keep as well, and it's going to be a huge challenge. i think there is always, isn't there, a honeymoon period for new presidents? we will see what thatis presidents? we will see what that is like, and i think also let's have a close look at that speech on inauguration day. you remember his speech back in 2017, when he talked about american carnage but didn't he, a very dark, very bleak speech about the state of america? let's see if that's repeated or if there is a little bit more hope, more governing for the whole country than people are suggesting he might.-

whole country than people are suggesting he might. gary, i'm auoin to suggesting he might. gary, i'm going to put — suggesting he might. gary, i'm going to put onto _ suggesting he might. gary, i'm going to put onto the _ suggesting he might. gary, i'm going to put onto the screen i going to put onto the screen pictures from capitol hill, because as you were talking, that result has come because we have been waiting for the new senate majority leader to be elected by the republicans. there were three candidates. let me just tell viewers the south dakota senatorjohnston south dakota senator johnston has just south dakota senatorjohnston has just been elected as the new majority leader in the senate. ——john new majority leader in the senate. —— john thune. new majority leader in the senate. ——john thune. give new majority leader in the senate. —— john thune. give us your assessment of what that means because i think i'm right in saying he perhaps was not the chosen trumped candidate? that is really interesting result, because in the last few weeks, senator rick scott in fort has emerged as perhaps the favoured candidate of the trump camp. a lot of his backers have been picking up rick scott, not least elon musk, and he is promising things donald trump is keen on, such as these recess appointments, this is

the idea of getting people confirmed without a vote during a senate recess, a congressional recess. rick scott had promised that the donald trump had asked for that. this, ithink, he did not wade into this formally, let's be clear about that, but people around him, if people on the flanks did very much so, so this is perhaps the senate reasserting or leased the republican party in the senate reasserting a degree of independence, saying, we are going to choose the person we want as our leader rather than the white house once, i don't know, we will see, butjohn thune is a seasoned senator, knows the ropes, and we will have a very clear handle on what is possible and what is not possible and wanted out come to the white house when donald trump is here and tell them what they can and cannot do and what kind of timescale. gary, more from you in a moment or two, gary, more from you in a moment ortwo, but gary, more from you in a moment or two, but for now, thanks very much.

as we were talking their... donald trump has announced nominations for the most senior roles in his administration. the tesla billionaire elon musk has been tasked with slashing regulations and restructuring federal agencies. mr trump has also nominated pete hegseth, a fox news host, as defence secretary. earlier, i spoke to gordon sondland, a republican donor and former ambassador to the european union during the first trump administration. i asked him about the appointments so far. i think the names are excellent choices for a couple of reasons. first of all, these people are seasoned washington hands, number one, with the exception of the two who are not seasoned washington hands, vivek ramaswamy and elon musk. and for that position, you absolutely don't want seasoned washington hands, you want people looking at things with a blank sheet of paper, which is exactly what they are going to do. but otherwise, these people understand why donald trump was elected,

they understand his mandate from the american people, both in terms of the popular vote and the electoral college, and they are hell bent to execute as quickly as possible given that four years can go by like lightning. i will ask you what you expect in a moment, but in terms of some of the names, mike huckabee, the us ambassador to israel, has said he does not beleive there is a west bank, there is no such thing as a palestinian. donald trump has talked about shutting down the department for education. rfkjr has talked about covid being engineered to sparejewish people and chinese people. should we expect an administration with no guardrails coming up? remember, you're not talking about a hypothetical president. donald trump served as our president for four years, and while there is the hyperbole on the one hand, there

is the reality on the other. i'm simply quoting you what some of these appointees have said factually on issues in the past in their territory. yeah, i'm not going to respond to every quote of hyperbole. what i'm going to focus on is the substance and the reality of how donald trump and his team will govern our country, and i have every confidence that they will govern it with clear—eyed and clear—headed, forward—looking vision to follow the mandate that was handed to them by the people of the united states. gordon sondland talking to me earlier. i also spoke to edward luce, the financial times's us national editor. he has written a piece today warning of the trepidation many feel in washington fearing retribution. he did campaign very explicitly, the basis of his campaign was to take rhetoric, to say,

"i will be your retribution," to personify those in america who feel persecuted for one reason or another, with trump's sense of persecution over the prosecutions from 2020. so the appointment that matters the most in the coming days, we haven't had it yet, and the one thatjd vance said would be the second most important person in the trump administration is who he appoints as attorney general to head the department ofjustice. then we will see and get an indication with that appointmentjust how serious trump is about retribution, or whether this was just rhetoric. you remember he did say he would lock hillary clinton up, and he made no real attempts in that direction. appointment is so important, because ordinarily you'd look at all manner of other appointments — secretary of state, defence secretary — as being above that appointment of attorney general.

why does it carry such weight this time around in terms of what you're describing? well, so trump in his first term, his biggest complaint about the deep state, about the federal bureaucracy was that the department ofjustice, his attorneys generals, did not bend to his will. they upheld what is constitutional tradition, at least since richard nixon was president, that it acts independently of the white house's political desires. and trump wanted the attorney general to essentially be his personal lawyer, to question the 2020 election, for example, to pursue hillary clinton, to fire mueller, for the mueller report and none of that happened. he wants to ensure that this time around, the department ofjustice does, and the fbi, does exactly what he wants. and so for those whose chief

concern is the rule of law in america, the department ofjustice is absolutely grand central in trump 2.0 administration. edward loose, speaking to me from washington. let me show you the pictures live from the white house. that meeting still going on betweenjoe biden and donald trump coming up to about an hour, so we wait to see when he emerges, speaks to reporters, we have cameras and microphones already. we also have pictures live from congress, because we are waiting for more reaction to that election of the new senatorjohn thune, who has been elected today as the new senate majority leader for the republicans. there he is, the south dakota senator. he wins this election between three candidates put forward, donald trump's favoured candidate for the florida senator rick scott, going out in the first round,

butjohn thune elected as the new senate majority leader in the us senate with the republicans holding sway. let me point you to the bbc live page because all the latest from that meeting going on in the oval office. you can keep right up to date there on the bbc�*s right up to date there on the bbc�*s website. around the world and across the uk, this is bbc news.

you are watching bbc news. we are keeping and i on the white house, but let's go to the middle east. a palestinian militant group has released a video of an israeli hostage held in gaza since the october 7 attack. the images published by islamichhad show alexander trufanov, who was abducted with his girlfriend from a kibbutz near the gaza strip. the bbc does not broadcast videos of hostages. our defence correspondent

jonathan beale is injerusalem. jonathan, tell us more about this video and what was said and shown in its.— and shown in its. this is not the first _ and shown in its. this is not the first time _ and shown in its. this is not the first time we _ and shown in its. this is not the first time we have - and shown in its. this is not the first time we have seen | the first time we have seen alexander troufanov give a video under duress, clearly, he is being held prisoner, as you say, by islamichhad, who are involved in those attacks in october 7 in which more than 1000 is really were killed, 250 taken hostage and 100 still hostage, including him. —— 1000 israelis were killed. we know it is recent because of him making reference in that video to israel's military operations against hezbollah in lebanon which started in october. he says he is 28, the hazards 29, and in that video, he says that conditions are difficult, food is scarce, we know that is a fact of it he says sanitary conditions are very difficult too. for example, they are

running 1537 00:17:02,076 --> 0