are all in the running for top prizes. now on bbc news, path to the presidency. katrina has a well—deserved break, and we're very happy to have you joining us from london. i'm balancing my phone on five blocks of foolscap paper and a book and trying to lean it in the right way, just so that you can see me. so i hope it works. a true broadcaster will find the angle. i'm the loose wheel. i'm the loose wheel in this operation. i know my role. how did you guys spend your new years, ringing in the new year? well, i had christmas off, and then they said come in to work for some easy shifts with some filled back half hours. and then all hell

broke loose yesterday. new orleans, of course, and tragic circumstances there. and so we were rolling all the way through. so my entire afternoon i had one loo break. i was on airforfive hours straight, um, as it all unfolded. so we've been busy—busy this side. it also has been a reminder, i don't know, christian, for you, you know, with the coverage yesterday as well, of how this is going to really be something that impacts the incoming trump administration, looking at national security and how islamic state inspired attacks or linked attacks, perhaps, is something that they're going to have to look at. you know, ken mccallum, the head of mi5 on this side, has talked about this lone wolf threat here. in fact, a couple of months ago. and it's something we face persistently for many years, of course. and i think christopher wray, the director of the fbi, has had similar conversations with congress, particularly worried about this isis inspired threat. and i say inspired

because there's a very different approach here, isn't there, between isis inspired, which is someone sitting at home watching videos, watching propaganda, who is becomes more extreme through what he's watching from maybe, perhaps as well coverage of gaza and things in the middle east to actually something being directed from overseas, somebody travelling into the country. and so i think what will concern authorities in america is that we have a situation here where us citizens, someone who's a military veteran, eight years active service, apparently had an honourable discharge. his life has sort of collapsed. there's been a divorce. there was a dui in north carolina, i think. and then you get to this point, and there's obviously a period of time between his divorce and what happened in new orleans that they will be poring over, trying to fully understand it. but from my perspective over here in europe, it's something that we are seeing many, many times.

and, you know, i've seen also the conversation here in the us. we're seeing some of the republican senators say, look, this is a sign that, you know, senators and congress need to come together and confirm donald trump's incoming national security team. that, of course, includes people who are pretty controversial. courtney, like pete hegseth for defence secretary, tulsi gabbard, former congresswoman for director of national intelligence. i mean, how much traction do you think something like that would have? before we get to the nominations, i think it's important to point out we did hear from both the president and incoming president yesterday, which i think was sort of a glaring example of how this transition period has been going. you know, we heard from trump first. we heard him, you know, sort of falsely suggest that a migrant was behind the attack before we had any of the full details. he really leaned into some of the campaign rhetoric around, you know, he's used

about criminals coming into the country and overtaking the country. biden we heard from much later in the day, we did get a statement from him that was focussed on the victims. and then he came out, of course, in the evening, after spending the day with his national security team, being briefed on all of the details that were available. speaking to the press about the incident. and i think that sort of, um, that sort of split screen, uh, kind of underlines, you know, how he's handled this transition, which is he's really let donald trump sort of step into these moments of, of national crisis, right? and, and be really vocal while he takes a sort of back seat approach. um, which of course is always

awkward for an outgoing president, but i think, um, it's been it's he's all president, but i think, um, it's been...he's all but ceded the presidency to, to donald trump who... while he kind of focuses on more personal legacy achievements in these sort of final weeks of his of his career. why do you think that is, courtney? because, you know, president obama used to say one president at a time, right? and that was something important for the transition. but president biden has been looking a bit at his legacy, but there were important issues that he wanted to actually also get off his agenda before leaving office. yeah. i mean, he, you know, look, he did, you know, broker the ceasefire in lebanon. gaza has remained out of reach. um, and it's, you know, you mentioned that obama said one president at a time. it was not only obama, nixon said it. bill clinton said it when he was incoming as well as outgoing. this is something that's always been a norm of the transition period. but donald trump is not

waiting for that handover. you know, he's making policy pronouncements. he's holding court with world leaders at mar a lago, in a way that previous presidents, incoming presidents haven't haven't done much of that, right? and so there's always this awkwardness with foreign policy where you have the incoming president trying to set the tone, um, you know, backchannela bit, right? but biden has really sort of stepped, you know, out of the spotlight and allowed this vacuum in messaging both for, you know, the incoming administration talking about, you know, ithink democrats i've spoken to would prefer him to be a bit more vocal about some of these nominees that donald trump is putting forth, as you mentioned, for national security, which is pretty important, but also for his own party. there's a vacuum in messaging, as you know, some of this infighting is going on, and it really is.

you know, biden has sort of turned inward at a moment where i think a lot of people, after four years of hearing him proclaim donald trump as a threat to democracy, are expecting him to speak up. and yet, i wonder what you both think about the initial messaging yesterday from donald trump, because obviously he leapt straight in talking about this as someone who'd come across the border. it would appear to me he was repeating things he'd heard on cable news. it almost seemed to me as if he was speaking as a candidate, as someone who was campaigning rather than the president—elect who now has to govern. but that's also, in a way, always been donald trump's style, right? you know, the last four years of president biden�*s administration has also been, the entire time, a campaign for donald trump as well. and when he entered the white house for his first term, he never stopped campaigning. that seems to be often a part of his messaging, and it's interesting to see that he doubled down on that message on thursday morning. as i said, we're taping

on thursday morning again to say, you know, open borders and immigration have led to this terrible crime. of course, you know, there are some conflicting numbers on immigration and crime. you know, we could dive into that. but the point to be made in this case is, of course, that the attacker was a us citizen, an army veteran, and so there isn't a link there. and, of course, some of that misinformation and spread wild on x and on social media, as you pointed out, courtney, in the initial hours. if there's one thing we've learned about donald trump, well, we've learned many things, but he does prefer to be a candidate, right? he prefers being a candidate over the actualjob of the presidency itself. and, you know, you have to wonder what a second term looks like when you don't have some of these sort of republican institutionalists who were with him in his first term, who are no longer there. when you have elon musk, sort of this, sort of external influence on him, you know,

and, and posting about some of some of this misinformation online. ithink, you know, it does speak to how he, you know, plans to take office again. and, um, i think we'll have to see what we hear from him in the coming days as we learn more about this attack as well. chris, how do people there in the uk look at president biden right now? i mean, courtney talking about the fact that he's kind of turned inward, is he really present on the international stage? i think the 620 was quite an eye opener for a lot of people. the fact that the group photograph took place and he wasn't there. they said there was a clash of diaries, but the fact that he wasn't there and also the visit, uh, president trump's and president—elect trump's visit to to paris, to the reopening of notre dame. that was quite an eye—opener as well, because the fact that

macron had extended the invitation to donald trump, uh, and that it wasjoe biden who was going to travel in the president's place. that's, ithink, almost in a way, the uk was slightly behind the curve because we... prince william, you remember, was then dispatched to paris for a meeting with donald trump and it almost seemed, it almost felt within british diplomatic circles like, oh, here we are, we better get going. we'd better get on the front foot. we were sort of planning forjanuary 20th, and then very shortly after that, i think almost the very next day we got news of this call between keir starmer, sir keir starmer and donald trump, whether or not they thought the french had stolen a march and they needed to get in quickly. it certainly had that feel about it. so, yeah, i think it's perhaps caught some people by surprise on this side. just howjoe biden has retreated from the world stage, and especially so, i think, when you consider what happened around syria, that he wasn't really visible, it wasn't really the united states leading at a time when you would expect

a us president, a commander in chief, to be there and to be very much visible. i mean, the notre dame thing was startling just because, i mean, this is a catholic president who very much leans on his faith, right? and to have this moment on the world stage, um, you know, with the french president where you have donald trump talking to zelensky, talking to macron, i mean, itjust, and it was the same weekend. syria was the same weekend. and i think it was a whole day before we heard from biden about syria. um, again, it was another one of these sort of split screen moments. and, you know, you just have donald trump making proclamations about greenland and the panama canal and, you know, causing a crisis of confidence in canada, might i add, with his threat of tariffs and, you know, the whole, you know, dilemma that justin trudeau was in, it'sjust, it's truly we're at a point where he's sort of ceded this...his waning weeks, which is, you know, winding down his

career as well. i mean, we will see him. he is going to rome next week to visit the pope for one last time and meet with the italian president. but again, these trips, as you mentioned, christian, they've just been so muted, where he is on the world stage, he barely interacts with press. he hasn't held a press conference on any of them. and we still haven't had a press conference post—election that previous presidents have done. yeah. that's such an important point. and, christian, to your point as well, of, you know, how people are looking at things in the uk. i mean, i, you know, have been obviously following german news closely as they're set to hold an election in february as well, and the involvement of elon musk in not only donald trump's transition, but now, of course, in german politics, where he's endorsed the far right party, the afd. there he wrote an op ed in one of the major

newspapers there. and there are real questions being asked about who is leading the transition. who is leading president trump and what impact they will have on them. who to look to, you know, should those links be made then to elon musk and president trump? and who are those conversations being had with? but, you know, reminds me of in the first term, you know, there was obviously a sense of having to curry favour a bit with then president trump and now with president—elect trump. there are a few members of the team. i mean, we can't forget his family as well, donjr, who's played an important part in some of the cabinet picks and a sense, i guess, perhaps internationally, of understanding that, you know, they can build these ties with president elect trump. but also, if someone like elon musk is going to have a big influence on the administration and his policies, that that's going to present a new challenge.

you know, eight years ago, we started a programme here called 100 days, and the premise of the programme was that we would look at trumpism in america, but also how it reflected back on the rest of the world. and that feels to me very much where we are right now. obviously, on this side, there is enormous trepidation because of what has been threatened through the campaign, notably the tariffs. obviously, the european economy is not very strong at the moment, notably so the third biggest economy in the world, germany, and 10% tariffs at this moment would be not very good at all. um, i think there will be an interest in what donald trump said about energy for tariffs. so could the europeans buy more energy to see off tariffs? certainly they could, was the capacity there in the us market. but at the moment there isn't. so there's a bit of confusion around that i think on this side. but in terms of the politics, i mean, today we've got elon musk, who sits alongside donald trump, tweeting about tommy robinson,

who was jailed, of course, for running this documentary that was libellous about a syrian refugee, and elon musk saying he needs to be released and that the documentary is worth a watch, so that row between elon musk and the labour government continues. and on the other side, he's engaging with the afd, talking about sitting down with the leader of afd for a debate on x. so in all the european countries, again, it's that sort of divide—and—rule thing that we saw back in the first term where he's not a multilateralist, he prefers to deal with countries on a one—by—one basis. we've seen the relationship he developed with, uh, you know, with the hungarian leader, with the polish leaders, the eastern bloc, and the way that he dealt with brussels. it was a very, very different approach to the multilateral organisations and the way that he dealt with, with governments on a bilateral, bipartisan basis. so i think there's going to be much more of that. and certainly, of course, they're going to cosy up more

towards the conservatives and more towards those on the right. the one thing i would just add is, how does this tommy robinson thing complicate things for nigel farage? because he was very much open—arms embracing this approach from elon musk and the money that comes with it. but if he's constantly having to fend off, well, how close is elon musk to tommy robinson? that's going to be a political problem for reform and for nigel farage. yeah, christian, that's a really interesting point. and, you know, even among maga, the maga world here, we are seeing some some cracks there in elon musk�*s influence. and, you know, laura loomer, a far—right figure here who has obviously in the past been very controversial, she criticised elon musk when he and vivek ramaswamy, remember, the two of them are heading up the new department of government efficiency, talked about the need for h—ib visas here in the us. so bringing in kind of the top—talent engineers and that clashes with some

of the america first anti—immigration rhetoric that we're seeing from the maga world. so, you know, his position is going to be fascinating to watch. but it brings me, i think, to the point that i've been looking at this week, which is the new congress coming in the 119th congress. of course, you know, it's going to be very interesting to watch. and i've been thinking about what a challenge it will be about, will be, not only for, you know, the gop, also for the democrats. you know, courtney, we talked a bit about the infighting in the last pod and that we're seeing there over the post—mortem and what happened in the election. but there are already real questions about whether speaker mikejohnson can be re—elected, and donald trump, the president elect, over the holidays, re—endorsed mikejohnson, and said he is the right man for thejob. but it doesn't appear that that necessarily will have enough sway. and we're going to get to the situation again, where we might not see enough of a gop majority to re—elect mikejohnson. i mean, we remember

what that was like last time where we saw kevin mccarthy need 15 rounds. do we all remember where we were for that? yes. do we ever! yeah. i mean, i don't think... i don't know what you guys think, but i don't imagine that to be the case for speaker johnson. he seems to have enough sway within the conference to perhaps close some of the controversies that he has with individual members, or some of the lack of trust that he might have. but, you know, if you think about the very thin majority that republicans will have, at the same time, you have donald trump, who came into office this time with a clear mandate, won every swing state, won the popular vote. i wonder if there'll be less of a leash for speakerjohnson this time, to not be able to bring his conference or to close ranks behind him because of donald trump wanting to implement his agenda with his entire team and with the loyalists that he is trying to put in place, certainly in his cabinet, that they want to get started right away because they felt limited last time. yeah.

i mean, look, you're right in that he won every swing state. you know, he's really leaned into this idea of having a mandate. but if we've learned anything from, you know, the budget fight, the spending fight, um, there are limits to donald trump's influence, right? and, you know, he doesn't get everything he wants always. and his party is going to have to work hand in glove, even though they have complete control of washington to really push through his agenda, especially on issues that, you know, is going to really require congressional buy—in, right, on taxes, on immigration, on these sort of big, meaty items that donald trump was elected to office on. um, iwill say, you know, the thing about the kevin mccarthy saga is you had the matt gaetz piece, which you don't have this time

around, that sort of rivalry playing out, you know, within the speakership fight. um, but i think thatjohnson certainly has an uphill battle. maybe not the same one that kevin mccarthy faced, but, you know, in trying to keep the conference together, it's going to be...it's going to be a challenge for sure. how many can he afford to lose? it's just one, right? he can...and you've got the kentucky congressman massie who is a hard no. i think the georgia congressman mccormick is a waverer. so that's two. if others were to split then it could get messy tomorrow. and that has implications, doesn't it, for the certifying of the vote on monday? yeah, it does. it certainly does. and that's indeed, you know, it could hamstring congress, i mean, again, like it did with, uh, kevin mccarthy's speakership. and he was then toppled, of course, a few months later. but it could hamper their ability to get anything done,

and that is certainly not the way that donald trump would want to start his term after the inauguration. but at the same time, you know, there will be a lot of pressure on speakerjohnson, but also these individual members, people like chip roy, victoria spartz, to fall in line so that they are able to enact some of the policies that the trump administration and the president—elect himself has said that they really want to see pushed through. but, you know, you mentioned the budget fightjust before the holidays, courtney, and i was speaking to a moderate republican congressman just before that all kicked off. and i asked him, oh, you know, are you confident that the budget bill will get passed? and he said to me, well, let's see who tweets next. and lo and behold, just a few hours later, we saw that message from elon musk criticising the deal. and i really wonder what the internal conversations will be like in the gop. and the pressure, as i said, that they might be under. but we should also say the democrats are not going to have an easy time of it. and, you know, they're also talking about who their next

leadership should be. well, i think you raise a really important point, which is there's going to be a spotlight on the moderates in both parties, right? um, there's a spotlight on the moderates in the republican party for obvious reasons. where do they fall in all of this? um, but as you mentioned, the democrats, too, they're trying to figure out which way to take the party. and so you'll see some of these, um, groups like the blue dog democrats or the problem solvers caucus, right? trying to redefine themselves in an age of trump and in a congress that's under republican control. so that's definitely something i'll be watching out for in this new congress. just coming back full circle to where we started with new orleans. do you think actually what has happened, the security threat, maybe it's a persistent threat? we don't know yet. does that smooth the way for some of his nominees? does it put an added focus on the vote on friday? do they think, look, we need to get this done because of the security

situation the country is in? i mean, i think that the republicans certainly will use that reasoning, right? they will say, this is why it's imperative that we get donald trump's picks through the nomination process as quickly as possible. so we don't have any gaps, right? we don't have any issues with the transition and national security. you know, whether that actually works, we'll see. and i think at a moment when we have a national crisis like this, certainly it has worked. i mean, from our perspective, looking outwards, inwards, um, ijust wonder, going back to the syria issue, whether it actually does change a little bit foreign policy, because when trump says this is not ourfight. well, it is perhaps america's fight. you know, if you've got a resurgent isis group in syria that take advantage of a vacuum, and we've seen this before, of course,

in afghanistan, then what does he do with the 900 troops which are there in syria? how does he engage with syria and afghanistan if it is a threat for the homeland? so i think in all the nominations and actually in terms of foreign policy, something has shifted quite dramatically yesterday, or at least you would perceive that it should. let's see. i mean, we're going to be watching some of these confirmation hearings in the coming weeks and then, you know, barrelling right towards inauguration. but i guess that's what we have time for. we can, you know, monitor all of this and catch up again in the coming weeks. see you soon. thanks so much, guys. bye. hello there, good evening. well, the milder air across the southern half of the uk turned the snow quickly back to rain

where we saw it. but there have been some significant accumulations across northern england, in particular, and especially over the higher ground of the pennines and the cumbrian fells. some of that snow drifting around with brisk easterly winds. there's still an amber weather warning in force issued by the met office. second highest level of alert, valid until midnight tonight for these areas, so you should expect to see more disruption. further accumulations to be expected for the rest of the night and through at least part of the day tomorrow. the snowfall also continues across northern and eastern areas of scotland. watch out for some icy stretches. and there could be some wintriness in some of these showers across northern parts of wales too. but the mild air sticks towards the south for most of us, and this will be falling as rain. it could lead to some localised flooding. some added snow melt as well. but look atjust how mild it is into tomorrow morning. across east anglia and south—east england, temperatures hit double figures. elsewhere, it's cold and, with everything refreezing onto the roads and the pavements, it will be an icy start to next week.

it stays cold through the week, more wintry showers around at times, and widespread sharp frost bite at night too. so, on monday, then, our area of low pressure continues to pull away into the north sea, and that's going to leave behind it a northerly wind. it stays very blustery, particularly for these eastern—facing coasts as we head through monday, and also windy for these western coasts at times too. more wintry showers across the pennines, into north—east england and down through northern and eastern areas of scotland. and there could be a bit of a wintry mix in some of these showers for northern ireland, wales and across the moors of the south—west, particularly over the higher ground. just look at the temperatures drop across south—east england and east anglia as the day wears on. we'll end the afternoon in mid—single figures only, and that cold arctic air continues to stream down from the north. the northerly winds will be keeping that colder air for the rest of the week. so, widespread frost on tuesday, wednesday morning. look at this rain start to move in from the south, just grazing the southern part of the uk as we head through wednesday morning.

it's likely that we will see a little bit of wintriness perhaps on the leading edge. here's the outlook for our capital cities. it stays cold. some wintry showers, but quieter than this weekend. bye— bye.

live from london, this is bbc news. a severe weather alert is in place for parts of northern england after heavy snow caused travel disruption. millions of americans are in the grips of a huge winter storm that could bring the heaviest snowfall and coldest temperatures in over a decade. elon musk takes aim at nigel farage, writing on x that he "doesn't have what it takes" to lead reform uk. james lee williams, better known as drag artist the vivienne, has died, at the age of 32. and the 82nd golden globes will take place in los angeles later — wicked, emilia perez, conclave, and the brutalist are all in the running

for top prizes. hello, this is bbc news. heavy snow and freezing rain are causing widespread disruption across the uk — with amber warnings in place temperatures overnight fell as low as —11 celsius — leading to train delays and cancellations after earlier closures due to snow and ice, the runways at liverpool, manchester and leeds bradford airports have now reopened — but there are warnings of more delays and disruption to come. danny savage reports from scotch corner. at the extremes of today's weather, conditions were atrocious. blizzards created drifts here in north yorkshire and roads became impassable. the snowfall had been accurately forecast, and most people decided to stay put and try and make

the most of it. pennine areas of northern england seem to be one