hello. i'm rich preston. a british national has been named among the 1a people killed in the vehicle attack in new orleans on new year's day. london's metropolitan police say 31—year—old edward pettifer from chelsea in west london was among those killed. the uk foreign office says it's supporting his family. during the attack, a man in a pick—up truck drove through crowds on the city's bourbon street before being killed by police. an american college football player, a young nurse, and a mother of a four—year—old were also among the victims. simonjones reports. described by the fbi as a premeditated and evil act. a pickup truck driven into crowds with people running for safety. 14 were killed and at least 39

others injured. among the dead was edward pettifer who was 31, from chelsea. in a statement his relatives said the entire family were devastated at the tragic news of his death in new orleans. he was a wonderful son, brother, grandson, nephew and friend to so many. we will miss him terribly. our thoughts are with the other family who have lost a member due to this terrible attack. the metropolitan police officer were supporting his family. the new orleans coroner gave his course this may cause of death as blunt force injury. the driver named by the fbi a shamsud—dinjabbar was shot shamsud—din jabbar was shot deadin shamsud—dinjabbar was shot dead in a gunfight with police and islamic state flag was found inside his vehicle. he was a us army veteran. others killed included matthew, an av technician, an aspiring nurse, a 21 and a university student.

a mother of one, reggie hunter, described by his family has been full of life and martin, a former american college football player. hubert�*s family visited bourbon street, the scene of the attack, their grief was clear to see. the former partner of reggie hunter pay tribute to him. it is devastating. _ pay tribute to him. it is devastating. this - pay tribute to him. it is devastating. this is - pay tribute to him. it is devastating. this is the pay tribute to him. it 3 devastating. this is the father of my child, my son is 11 years old and it is devastating to come and see what someone would do to other people and they don't deserve it. figs do to other people and they don't deserve it.— don't deserve it. as the investigation _ don't deserve it. as the | investigation continues, don't deserve it. as the - investigation continues, police say family liaison officers are helping edward pettifer�*s family with the process of returning his body to the uk. donald trump has dismissed as an �*illegitimate political attack�* a manhattan judge's order for him to be sentenced onjanuary the 10th in the hush money case, ten days before his inauguration. mr trump was convicted in may on 3a felony counts.

his lawyers had argued the president—elect was protected by presidential immunity. justicejuan merchan rejected this, but indicated he was not inclined to impose a jail sentence and he would likely give donald trump an unconditional discharge. our north america correspondent peter bowes reports. donald trump and stormy daniels. the adult film star within the president—elect is accused of having a sexual encounter in 2006. a decade later in the final days of the 2016 election campaign the then republican candidate attempted to buy her silence with a so—called hush money payment of more than $100,000. his conviction last year was for falsifying business records to try to cover up the payment. he has always denied any wrongdoing but the guilty verdict meant that donald trump was facing a possible jail

sentence or a hefty fine. he attempted to use his second presidential election victory to have the case thrown out. but the judge refused. to have the case thrown out. but thejudge refused. instead, he said understand unconditional discharge so no jail time and unconditional discharge so no jailtime and no unconditional discharge so no jail time and no fine. but the guilty verdict remains. donald trump is appealing it but it means he will be in as president later this month as a convicted felon. —— sworn in. �*s spokesman said that the lawless case should never have been brought and the constitution demands that it immediately be dismissed. president trump will continue to fight against the hoaxes until they are all dead. that is a reference to the other criminal cases brought against mr trump after his first presidency. one involving claims he mishandled classified documents at his mara largo home in florida. and two relating to his alleged efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election and the

subsequent january 6 riots at the us capitol building. the most part the cases have already been set aside since the usjustice department has a long—standing policy that a sitting president cannot face federal criminal prosecution. it all paves the way for a stunning turnaround in fortunes for donald trump. a second presidency freed from the legal woes that once threatened to put him behind bars. the republican congressman mike johnson has narrowly won re—election to the most powerful seat in the us house of representatives. mrjohnson was donald trump's pick for house speaker but in a tense first round of voting, three fellow republicans cast ballots for someone else. at the very last minute, two of them switched their votes to support him, just before the gavel went down. let's take a listen.

the house will be in order. mr norman. _ the house will be in order. mr norman, johnson. mr self, johnson _ and in his maiden speech he thanked members of congress for re—electing him. today, my friends, our nation is the envy of the world. why? because we have been marked by a spirit and a people who are explicitly that. we are explicitly that. we are explicitly american. we do not try to be unlike other nations and we recognise that a strong america is good for the entire world. and everybody around the globe knows that. our north america correspondent rowan bridge sent this update from washington. this was always going to be a

day of high drama and so it turned out. you could feel the tension in the air as the rollcall of votes began. at first it looked like myjohnson would sail through on the first vote and then three critics voted against him. last—minute arm—twisting was enough to get two of them to change their votes and hand makesjohnson the speaker's gavel. he now holds one of the most powerful positions in american politics. in his address to congress after being elected, he echoed much of the america first language that donald trump used on the campaign trail. this election means that donald trump has a key ally in a key position when it comes to passing legislation and being able to help push forward donald trump �*s agenda in 2025. for more on all the latest from dc, we can speak now to politico white house reporter daniel lippman. just after midnight with you there. thank you for staying up late to talk to us. it has been a busy evening in us politics.

if we could's step back and talk about mrjohn's felony charges first. the sentencing date has been set, ten days before his inauguration. i presume that mr trump is not happy about this. he presume that mr trump is not happy about this.— happy about this. he did not want this — happy about this. he did not want this to _ happy about this. he did not want this to be _ happy about this. he did not want this to be on _ happy about this. he did not want this to be on his - happy about this. he did notl want this to be on his record, on his resume, for americans to hear about his extramarital affair, allegedly, stormy daniels. so it is embarrassing to his wife, as well, unfortunately now. she has had years to get over it but he did not, he thinks that this is a blemish on his record or he would not be fighting this as hard. butjudge merchan said we cannotjust hard. butjudge merchan said we cannot just let hard. butjudge merchan said we cannotjust let people who are convicted higherjury to be scot—free when trump himself and the supreme court said that they did not weigh on state charges. he said there is no get out ofjail card in this instance. get out of “ail card in this instance.—

get out of “ail card in this instance. the crux was an argument _ instance. the crux was an argument about - instance. the crux was an l argument about residential immunity. what does this decision byjudge merchan to pass a sentence but likely not imprisonment. what does that mean in practice going forward? it is cold and unconditional discharge, almost like a slap on the wrist. it says hey, four people are committing crimes like in the future, business fraud charges if you are found guilty, not going to wipe away the slate clean for donald trump. we will not say that this verdict in this conviction did not happen at all. in reality he is not going to get present time and will not get probation time, he will not even get a fine so he does not have to pay a penny to new york state taxpayers or the court system but he will appeal this conviction, likely and it may go all the way to the supreme court and will also have to see what they say. but for a certain amount of time it looks likely that he will be a felon on day one which is not what his voters would have wanted,

especially since those federal charges went away and even after his presidency in four years, it is unlikely he would go to jail again. so i think this is quite the history making moment but not the type of history he wants to be making. of history he wants to be making-— of history he wants to be makinu. ~ , ., making. absolutely. in other news there is _ making. absolutely. in other news there is a _ making. absolutely. in other news there is a new - making. absolutely. in other news there is a new speaker| making. absolutely. in other l news there is a new speaker of the house, mikejohnson. razor thin support and a bit of back room dealing to get that passed for him. , . , room dealing to get that passed for him. , ., ., ., for him. trump was on the gold calls - my _ for him. trump was on the gold calls - my golf _ for him. trump was on the gold calls - my golf course - for him. trump was on the gold calls - my golf course today - calls — my golf course today and had to make some phone calls to some of those holdout members of congress who are trying to get some horse trading. they wanted to get their 15 minutes of fame, not many people it had heard of these representatives before but now they know their names. and i think thatjohnson faces one of the most difficultjobs in washington because he has a very tight majority in the house. he has some insurgents

in his midst and a mercurial president, donald trump who both want to cut spending and also has said that we cannot touch social security or medicare which is where most of the government money goes, especially with all those baby boomers retiring. and then you have elon musk was very powerful figure have elon musk was very powerfulfigure in have elon musk was very powerful figure in washington as well but there is no alternative to mikejohnson and republicans did not want weeks of chaos because that would have made them look like they cannot govern and that is what they had when they ousted kevin mccarthy about a year ago. in one of the democrats said about myjohnson?— my johnson? they feel they can actually deal — my johnson? they feel they can actually deal with _ my johnson? they feel they can actually deal with him _ my johnson? they feel they can actually deal with him even - actually deal with him even though he is very conservative. he is a christian so it does not go against his word and with kevin mccarthy they felt like they could not make a deal. so they will continue to have to deal with myjohnson, especially with a small margin in the senate for republicans so they will need democrats to head the governmental lights on this head the governmental lights on t