this is bbc news. we'll have the headlines for you at the top of the hour, which is straight after this programme. welcome to hardtalk. i'm stephen sackur. president—elect donald trump doesn't yet have his feet under the desk in the oval office, but his intent to blow up the washington establishment is already plain to see. his picks for keyjobs prioritise loyalty to him and the maga movement over experience. his recent pronouncements on economic and migration policy signal a seismic break with the status quo. my guest is a trump loyalist in the us congress, mark alford. will the legislative branch put any limits on the scope of the trump 2.0 revolution? congressman mark alford in washington, dc,

welcome to hardtalk. thank you, steve. good to be with you. last time we met, you were here in my office. good to... indeed. and here you are on my big screen, but it's still great to see you. let me start with a very simple opening question. it's based on something you said about donald trump as president—elect. you said, "he is going to clean house in america." i would put it to you that the transition is only a few weeks old, and already it's beginning to look a little messy. well, i think this is the most rapid transition team that we have seen in recent presidential elect history. the president—elect

wasted no time. he actually had his transition team in place before the election, paid for by his own funding. and i think it's important to do so because when president—elect trump was first elected some eight years ago, those plans were not in place. the transition team was not established. in fact, i don't think president trump actually thought he was going to win eight years ago. and so now the plans have been put in place. he has got a great team. susie wiles, the chief of staff, and others are helping make these selections. and, yes, they are formidable selections — men and women who are strong—minded, who are good in the media, who can help get the message across but can also, as we said, help clean house in america, which is what... yeah, but the truth is, congressman, he's losing some of his selections because for an absolutely crucialjob of attorney general, he wanted the congressman matt gaetz. well, under very serious

scrutiny of his personal life, matt gaetz had to drop out. and now we see that his pick for defence secretary, pete hegseth, he, too, is under severe scrutiny for his previous conduct. and at the time we speak to each other, it looks as though he may well have to drop out as well. well, steve, i don't think that's going to happen. look, i think a lot of this is being put forth in the media here in america, which tends to be more liberal and progressive than conservative. we do have conservative channels like fox and oan, but i think this is something that's being floated in the media to try to drive pete hegseth out. we're actually going to be hearing from him today at a luncheon at the republican study committee. he is on capitol hill as we speak, talking with various senators. and look, they do have to have a majority of the senate votes to win affirmation in the senate. i think pete is the right person for thisjob. he was a presenter on fox news for many years. he's written a book on removing the dei — diversity, equity and inclusion — out of the military. that was part of the book. he has served in the military, earned two bronze stars. we don't need establishment people running the pentagon. we need people who have been boots on the ground,

who knows what it takes to rebuild our military, to regain trust in our military, and to have the generals stop being politicians. yeah, well, i get the solidarity you're expressing. you're a former fox news guy and so is mr hegseth, but the fact is that very senior republicans like lindsey graham are now saying, and this is a quote direct from him, that the stuff that they are reading about and learning about pete hegseth is, quote, "very disturbing". coming back to your idea that trump's going to clean house, it doesn't fit very well, does it? well, look, no—one is perfect. i think trump has proven that. and learning about pete hegseth is, quote, "very disturbing". coming back to your idea that trump's going to clean house, it doesn't fit very well, does it? well, look, no—one is perfect. i think trump has proven that. he's not a perfect person

and i've told you before, you're not going to find a perfect person to lead the country or lead the department of defence. everyone is flawed. i'm a follower ofjesus christ, and i believe in grace in my life and others�*. and i think pete's accomplishments and his personal integrity and his passion to right the military and to get us back on track in the department of defence, far outweighs anything that may have been in his past. well, let's just talk about a couple more because they are important. kash patel going to head up the fbi, the crucial federal bureau of investigation. kash patel has said in the recent past, "i would shut down the fbi's headquarters, "the hoover building, on day one. "i'd revive it, reopen it as a museum of the deep state." he went on to say, "we are going to come "after the people in the media who lied about "american citizens and

who helped joe biden "presidential elections." you seriously want a guy who speaks like that to be heading up the fbi? i want kash patel in there to clean things up. talk about janitorial services. the toilets need to be flushed at the fbi. we have lived under the burden of a two—tier system ofjustice in america. you can see that in the prosecutions of republicans versus democrats, you can see that in the way that they targeted president trump in his first term with james comey leading the way. something has got to change and kash patel is part of this janitorial service, who's going to get in there and clean the sewer system out. right. so you're a formerjournalist. i guess we've already pointed that out. yes. you want to see retribution, do you, against these "enemies of the people" that trump has identified inside the media? he's also, of course, talked about retribution against people like his former adviser, generaljohn kelly, the former chairman of thejoint chiefs, mark milley, who he suggested

might be executed for treason. you're right behind all of that, are you? no, i'm not for retribution. i think if you look back at the record, president trump has said most recently he is not going to treat people with retribution. but we do need to right things. well, what's kash patel there for, then? sir? what's kash patel there for, then, given that kash patel has specifically talked about going after the people in the media who lied, as he puts it, about the election and about american citizens? well, look, under the first amendment of our us constitution, the media is protected. we need the media. we need a strong media that's telling the truth. i think those cases can better be handled under the federal communications commission. we need truth injournalism. we've got to get back to that in america. journalism, journalists are not trusted in america. neither are we in congress. and so we have to rebuild our

reputation, both of us. just one more quick question on another pick. this isn't one that needs to go before the nomination process, but it is a very significant relationship. that is elon musk and his relationship with the white house and with donald trump. trump's made him the key tsar of delivering government efficiency. trump's promising... sorry, musk is promising to cut up to $2 trillion from the us federal budget. but the truth is, there's a very strange conflict of interest here. musk�*s businesses are worth many billions, and they are reliant, some of them, on a relationship with the federal government. he also has huge amounts of money — up to $50 billion worth of business — tied up in china. how can musk be allowed to be so close, so influential on donald trump when he clearly has those conflicts of interest? well, he is a success story, notjust for america, but for the world. he is the alexander graham bell, ithink, or the thomas edison of our day.

sure, but what about my question? and so i respect his business acumen. i respect what he is doing. i think he and vivek ramaswamy are going to get into the department of government efficiency, and they are going to make some... help congress, because we control the purse strings in the appropriations committee, make some tough decisions on some things that need to be cut. and the obvious conflicts of interest, congressman? ..in the united states of america, steve. yeah, and the obvious conflicts of interest, which i'vejust pointed out. what about them? you don't care? well, i certainly do care, and i think we in congress will take a close look at that. whatever committees or agencies need to have oversight of that, that will be taken under consideration. but that is not going to slow down, i think, elon musk and vivek ramaswamy in the doge

— department of government efficiency — in trying to seek out these places we can make cuts. look, steve, the biggest existential threat to the united states of america right now is our federal debt. we're $36 trillion in debt. we're gaining $1.6 trillion in interest every year, and so it's unsustainable. cuts have to be made. all right, well, you've moved us on to economic territory, so let's stick there for just a little while. let's talk about the tariff policy that president—elect trump has already outlined. he's indicated that he's going to slap 25% tariffs on all imports coming in from canada and mexico on day one of his presidency. he's also going to slap a 10% tariff on imports coming from china. you know as well as i do, the person who is going to pay for that is the american consumer. well, steve, if you have read art of the deal, which president trump co—authored many years ago, this is how he operates his business.

and some american people don't like that we have someone in leadership who is a business owner, who operates it like a business, a successful business. that's the way president trump operates. i believe that these tariffs are, in the forefront, threats of a terrorist to get people's attention and to get them to consider that maybe they need to change the way they do business with the united states of america. it is a wake—up call. you've already seen that on the immigration front in mexico. the president of mexico has stopped a large migration from mexico that's coming up through central america, up to mexico and across our border. and she has stopped that now because of the threat of tariffs. we will see actually how many tariffs this president actually imposes. but right now, it's an effective tool. i wonder if you're indicating to me as best you can that you don't think these tariffs will ever be implemented,

because there is some disquiet already coming out of senior republican sources, for example, senator rand paul. he says, "i don't like these tariffs. "i think tariffs are a tax on the consumer. "and the fact is, if trump follows through, everybody," he says, "in our country "is going to be worse off "to the tune of $7,000 a year on average." republicans are beginning to worry about this. well, i think one of the things we're really worried about is the tax cuts and jobs act, which ties into all this, because if that is not renewed — it's a temporary measure that was implemented in 2017 under president trump — it's going to raise taxes for the average american family by almost $3,000. that's one of the first things that we're going to be working on in congress. the first 100 days of this presidency is going to be consequential, and we have to hit the ground running. i think the combination of the threats of tariffs, yes, if there are actual tariffs put into place, but we are

going to offset that, especially with our farmers. we will find the money to help them out if they're adversely affected. we did that under the first trump administration. we will find the money to help out our farmers and those others affected by tariffs and the negative effects they may have on our economy, butjob number one is going to be, uh, reinstituting and hopefully on a more permanent basis, the tax cuts and jobs act. yeah. i mean, you talk about farmers, and i know farmers are important in missouri because you've got tens and tens of thousands of farms in missouri. 87,000 farms in missouri. yeah. farmers have got plenty to worry about, haven't they? because they also see what donald trump is saying about undocumented migrants. he's saying he is going to deport, deport up to — well, some say 11, some say 13 million — undocumented migrants and their families from the united states of america. 40% of all labour in us agriculture is done by undocumented migrants. your constituents in missouri on their farms are going to be hit so hard by this policy. well, the farms that i've

been in on the plants, tyson chicken plant, everyone there is a documented legal immigrant. and, steve, just to take a little bit of exception of the verbiage there that you're using, the correct term that i use is the government term illegal alien and resident alien and criminal alien. we have some 12 million illegal aliens that this current administration, biden, has let into our precious nation through a porous border. in fact, welcomed many of them. some have filed for asylum claims. 85% of those turn out to be non—legitimate. we've got to restore the remain in mexico policy, where you go to mexico or even from your home country, apply for asylum and then if you have a worthy, legitimate case, we let you in to be part of the fabric of america.

look, this process is not going to be easy because of the failure ofjoe biden and the secretary of homeland, alejandro mayorkas. we have way too many illegal aliens in our country and we're. .. they're going to start — tom homan is going to be in charge of this programme — and deport, or if you want to say repatriate, these illegal aliens to their home country. they're going to start going in the jails and federal lockup facilities and deport the criminals first. just a point of detail on that. you talk about tom homan heading up the customs enforcement agency. he, of course, was the guy who was central to the policy in the last trump administration of separating children at the border from their parents and putting them into detention centres, which un officials said may well have been a violation of international humanitarian law. do you, as an elected american politician, want to see that policy revived? i want to see

children protected. there are some 300,000 children, illegal alien children, who are now unaccounted for by our federal government because they had gotten... they've lost track of where these children are. and so, as tom homan points out, if you break a law in the united states of america and you go to jail, you are naturally separated from your children. many times these children come over with adults who are not parents or legal guardians, but human sex traffickers and drug traffickers. and, yes, they should be separated from those adults. just... the point of the matter... 0k, well, you've made that plain. the children need to be taken care of. i'm sure the un will be looking at that as it unfolds in the coming months. but one other aspect of this is the role of the american military. stephen miller, who is going to be, it seems, central in the white house to this tough new migration policy, has talked about sweeping workplace raids, building vast holding

facilities in states like texas to detain tens of thousands of what you call these illegal aliens. and he and his boss, donald trump, have talked about using the national guard. you really want to bring the army into this, do you? well, look, if local governments are not going to cooperate and they're still going to insist on being sanctuary cities and illegally hide illegal aliens, harbour illegal aliens, which is a federal crime, we have got to find a way to root out that illegal activity and repatriate these people to their home country. you are not going to see federal troops storming into homes. that is a bogeyman that the media has set up and the left has set up to try to scare people in and create this fear, that we end up doing nothing. and it is not time to do nothing in america. it is time to right the ship, repatriate the some 12 million illegal aliens, starting with the criminal aliens.

let's quickly cast our eyes to the broader horizon of us foreign policy. what does "america first" mean when it comes to key challenges like russia's invasion of ukraine? does it mean that donald trump, in his first weeks and months in office, is essentially going to give vladimir putin exactly what he wants? that is a peace settlement which allows putin's forces to stay and occupy almost 20% of ukraine's sovereign territory. i don't think it's about giving putin what he wants. this was an illegal, illicit war prosecuted on a sovereign country, ukraine. but let's go back many years ago, when 0bama let putin walk all over and take crimea and did nothing — that set up the failure. joe biden set up the failure by his transactions in afghanistan, the way he pulled out there and left 13 of our service members to die on the wall of abbey gate. and then when their bodies come home to america,

he's checking his watch to see what time it is. world leaders lost respect for this president and this country. and because of that, vladimir putin, uh, invaded ukraine. yeah, i... listen, i just want to get...i want to get a clear idea of whose side trump is on when it comes to russia—ukraine policy. president zelensky... president zelensky has made it plain in recent days that he can contemplate some sort of compromise ceasefire settlement, but only on the basis that the ukrainians are given a guarantee of nato membership. now, as i read around what trump allies are saying, you seem to — you, that is the trump team — seem to be ruling out membership of nato for ukraine. so i come back to it. whose side are you on? well, that's way over my, uh, my pay schedule here. i'm nota member of the trump transition team. i don't speak

for president trump. as a congressman who is concerned about our own military and us getting involved in a prolonged war under article 5, that we could have to help defend poland and other nato countries. if ukraine does gain nato membership, that puts us at further risk of a world war. and so for that reason, i think that needs to be looked at very carefully. steve, this is all going to be settled. mark my words here on your show right now. this will be settled before donald trump takes the oath of office behind me on the back steps of the capitol overlooking the washington monument on january 20th. there will be a resolution to this war. it has gone on way too long. too many american dollars — more than $250 billion now spent. and joe biden flubbed this up by not getting zelensky the armaments he needed, the f—16s, the atacm missiles. everything he needed to end this war against putin, he did not give zelensky that

when the previous congress had authorised the money. you've made one clear promise there. and in six weeks�* time, we can judge you on whether it was right or wrong. but it's interesting because trump clearly wants the ukraine war out of the way. he also clearly wants the end of the terrible conflict in the middle east. he wants to see an end to israel's military assault on gaza. but he has also indicated in the last few days that unless the hostages that hamas took back on october 7th, unless they are released, to quote him, "there will be hell to pay in gaza." now, more than 114,000 gazans are already dead, most of them women and children. most of the buildings in that place have been destroyed. what on earth does donald trump mean when he says that the us will ensure there is more hell to pay in gaza? well, under this present administration, under biden�*s policies, we have

done little to support israel. i just returned from a two—week trip to israel. we met with benjamin netanyahu. we met with the president of egypt. we met with the king ofjordan. we met with the higher leaders in saudi arabia. it's very clear that no—one wants this war to continue. iran is the problem. iran is funding this because of the money, the sanctioned money that biden released — over $16 billion in sanctioned money. and iran has used that to fund terrorism from hezbollah, from hamas and from the houthis in yemen. uh, my point being is there will be hell to pay. we have some four, i think, maybe five us hostages. they're being held in the tunnels. it is time for this to be over. innocent people have been killed. but in wars, innocent people unfortunately die. but i put that blame on hamas. there is no other reason than these people have died other than hamas using them as human shields, withholding humanitarian aid to them. they are the perpetrators. they are the villains. they are the evil ones in this. and israel has every right to defend itself.

return the hostages. this could all be over today, steve, if hamas would free every hostage that they have remaining and surrender. and what about...? it could all be... what about american adherence to international law? as you're well aware, the international court ofjustice is considering a case based on the geneva genocide convention against israel. you also know that benjamin netanyahu and his former defence minister face arrest warrants from the international criminal court. is trumpjust going to ignore all of that? i think it's — in british terms — poppycock. we met with the defence minister gallant as well. he had a strong, resolute will to try to root out the remaining hamas terrorists. and unfortunately, this

administration has tied the hands of the israelis. they have withheld armaments that we have approved to go over there, and they have not let israel finish the job. all right. uh... congressman, we are out of time. i thank you very much indeed forjoining me from washington. thank you. steve, god bless you. thank you. hello there. thousands of homes are still without power, particularly across northern ireland, thanks to storm darragh over the weekend, and with all the rain that fell over the weekend and for the past few weeks,

the ground does remain saturated, river levels running very high, so we have dozens of flood warnings still in force up and down the country. hopefully, though, those numbers will go down as we head into the new week, thanks to high pressure which will build, and that will bring lots of dry weather, very much needed dry weather to our shores, but it will turn colder with overnight frost and fog making a return. high pressure already toppling into the north of the uk to start the new week, so monday cold, frosty but bright and sunny with light winds across scotland and northern ireland — a bit of early mist and fog around — but as we move across england and wales, we've still got the influence of the remnants of what was storm darragh, so still quite breezy. a fresh east north easterly breeze could feed in a fresh east north easterly breeze could feed in a few showers, south east england down towards the channel islands. could see a bit of sunshine breaking through here and there, but it will stay breezy, much lighter winds across the north where we've started off, very cold and frosty. temperatures struggling to get much above three or four degrees in a few spots in scotland, otherwise it's 7—9 celsius for england and wales, but factor in the north easterly breeze, it will feel quite raw.

as we head through monday night, we'll see that cloud continuing across england and wales streaming in off the north sea with maybe a few showers running through the channel — that will stop temperatures from falling much below 2—7 celsius for england wales, but it's a very cold night to come for scotland and northern ireland, with quite a hard frost down to —6, —7 celsius and some freezing fog. into tuesday, that area of high pressure begins to exert its force across the country. it's a cold, frosty start in the north, plenty of sunshine, early mist and freezing fog. more cloud again for england and wales, the breeze beginning to ease, but still a feature through the channel. maybe the odd shower but mostly dry at this point, but it could be quite grey and gloomy in the south throughout the day on tuesday. another chilly day to come here but cold in the north, struggling to get much above freezing across parts of scotland. 0ur area of high pressure dominates the scene through the week, just a few weather fronts spinning around could affect the northern isles at times, and by the time we reach friday into next weekend, looks like low pressure will start to push into northern and western areas off the atlantic. but the run up to them, much of the week will stay dry, cloudy in the south, sunny in the north, and it will remain cold for all of us. take care.

live from washington this is bbc news. syrian rebels declare damascus is free, as people take to the streets to celebrate the end of the assad regime. you can hear the sound of celebratory gunfire. people are driving around in their cars, they are giving me peace signs, they are giving me peace signs, they are giving me peace signs, they are saying that life is going to be so much better now that bashar al—assad is gone. syria's former president, bashar al—assad, is reportedly in moscow, claiming asylum from key ally, russia. and western leaders welcome the end of assad's rule, but warn of uncertainty to come. iam i am helena iam helena humphrey. glad you could join me. we begin with continuing coverage of developments in syria. russian state media announced on sunday that the country's former president bashar al—assad and his family are in moscow. it

also said they had granted political