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narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. announcer: and now, "b news". this is bbc world news. arriving for an arraignment, donald trump is back in new york to face criminal charges. he is due to surrendered to authorities tuesday. unconfirmed video shows the moments before a russian pro-war blogger is killed. a 26-year-old russian woman is in custody. finland will join nato on tuesday, the 31st member of the military alliance. technology from another time.

50 years to the day since the first mobile phone call. welce to world news america. we start in new york, where former president donald trump is spending the night, expected to voluntarily surrender and appear in a manhattan court tuesday afternoon on criminal charges linked to a hush money payment to a point star before the 2016 election. trump is the first u.s. president to be indicted on criminal charges. new york is bracing for the historic moment. sarah smith sent this report. sarah: it's not quite a presidential motorcade, but donald trump is still deliberately grabbing attention. >> there he is. sarah: american tv stations carried live his arrival in new york. as a former president, donald

trump gets the secret service to cort him into town and he is relishing being back in the limelight. mr. trump: no president in the history of our country has been subjected to such vicious attacks. sarah: he is using the case against him to raise funds. his campgn says it has brought in over $7 million in four days. supporters outside trump tower are adamant he is being victimized by opponents who want to stop him being reelected esident but that those efforts will backfire. >> he shouldn't even be charged with a misdemeanor, let alone a felony. they are really afraid of him. >> it stinks. i have had democrat frnds of mine tell me, i still hate trump but what they are doing to him is wrong. >> i would take a bullet for donald trump because i know that men would take a bullet for me. sarah: when he says if they

could come after me, they could come after you, doou believe him? >> yes. sarah: new york's finest are ready for disruption. donald trump did warn of potential death and destruction if charges were brought against him. >> while there might be some rabble-rousers thinking about coming to our city tomorrow, our message is simple -- control yourselves. new york city is our home, not a playground for your misplaced anger. >> stop the steal! sarah: mr. trump may yet face other more serious charges. a special counsel is looking into whether he should be prosecuted for inciting the january 6 right at the capitol , as well as the hundreds of classified documents at his home in florida. in georgia he could be charged with trying to unlawfully alter the result of the 2020 presidential election. the new york district attorney bringing the case insists it has e laing to withs, all

eris n doubt whatever happens inside this courtroom will have a huge political impact. >> we look at the legal perspective with joe marino, a former federal prosecutor. we are sitting on the edge of our seat waiting for the moment we find out what this indictment is about. from the reports you have seen, is it possible there are charges that come as a complete surprise? >> i almost hope so, because as reported the case seems really weak. it seems stale, like it relies on a tenuous legal theory, and it relies on michael cohen, a convicted liar in federal court. i hope the procutor's office would not put us through this unless they had a really good case. that is possible. the case might have nothing to do with stormy daniels. it might be a slamdunk.

in 24 hours we will find out. sumi: one of the criticisms of this case is this is a political witchhunt being pursued by the manhattan district attorney. is there any evidence that proves that? >> we don't know until we see the indictment tomorrow afternoon. it's not a great look that when alvin bragg was running for district attorney a couple years ago, he kept bowing he would investigate donald trump. if we learn anything, it's that hopefully when indiduals run from office -- run for office that involves law enforcement, they won't base their candidacy unproming to get people. they should investigate crimes, not individuals. sumi: he could be pursuing the ca because he has evidence. from your experience, would a district attorney move forward with the case if it wasn't airtight? >> i hope not. alvin bragg is a smart guy,

puidg tte e astipothcsli has. be past, now district attorney in one of our most important cities, powerful office. i hope he would not bring this case unless he felt very strongly and convinced a grand jury that the case should go forward. sumi: we have been asked questions about whether there is president -- is president -- is precedent for this. what is the background? >> books and records cases or accounting fraud, that's common. individuals are convicted of accounting fraud all time. the theory here, that the accounting fraud is coupled with a campaign violence violation, and campaign finance laws are federal, not state. that's what we makes -- what we think makes the prosecution theory tenuous. that's based on what we think we know. it could be airtight. we will find out tomorrow. based on what we heard, it could be difficult to prove. sumi: the other side of the

story, donald trump's legal team. what is their strategy? >> i think they will attack the age of the case. the statute of limitation is five years. it sounds like this case goes back to october 2016, almost seven years ago. they have to had a good argument as to why this case should be allowed to go forward. the defense will attack that. they will also attack the coupling of state and federal law, which we don't think has been argued before. if this goes to trial, i assume they will take a strong advice of counsel defense, which is to say donald trump is not a lawyer, he relied on michael cohen to govern this transaction. and he assumed what his lawyer told him was correct and accurate. i think you will see some combination of those arguments. sumi: we are hopefully going to find out more tuesday when we see the arraignment.

thank you for joining us. our north america editor sarah smith is outside trump tower in new york and joins us for more. good to see you. we have been looking at new york as everything has been descending on the city of new york and manhattan. what is happening where you are? sarah: within the last few minutes, donald tru went inside trump tower with a wave to supporters. it does feel the circus has come back to town because the pavements have been packed with people waiting to see him come back to what used to be his home city. it has been a small demonstrated -- demonstration with protesters carrying pro trump signs. they are convinced this is a political witchhunt against donald trump. they believe what he says and thank the district attorney has no evidence but just political

malice against donald trump. the establishment is frightened of him, is the general sense. but also a conviction that he will beat the charges, that it will backfire on the people they think have orchestrated conspiracy, andon't stop him winning the presidency in 2024. these are diehard trump supporters. what really matters is what people at the middle of politics thank. what is clear is donald trump is relishing being back in the spotlight at the center of attention. he will defiantly go to the courthouse tomorrow and try to use this court appearance to raise more funds, raise the campaign profile and, he thinks, boost his chances of winning the presidency. sumi: we know there have been calls for donald trump supporters come to new york. protesters are expected at the courthouse. how is the cityreparing? sarah: there are barricades up

all around trump tower and also lower manhattan at the criminal court. there has been heavy police presence there for days. they know there is the potential people may come into the city. the mayoras asked potential rabble-rousers to stay away, saying the city is not a playground to host demonstrations. a couple weeks ago, donald trump on his social did warn of the potential fodeath and destruction if charges were wrought against him. that's why there is heavy security presence. and particular security arrangements surrounding donald trump. secret service have many agents on hand to safely escort him in and out of the courthouse. they will go with him after he leaves the court straight back to mar-a-lago where he is going to give a speech to supporters tomorrow night, where i think

you can expect a defiant performance. sumi: briefly if you can remind us what that may look like tomorrow. will we see donald trump paraded in front of his supporters, and front of the city? sarah: because he will agree to surrender voluntarily, ther will be no handcuffs involved and not a so-called perp walk of being accompanied by police and led into the courthouse. he will walk in with his lawyers as thoug he is there to give evidence. he will be told what the charges are against him as well as being fingerprinted. there is some debate whether a mug shot will be taken. in the afternoon he will appear in front of a judge where we expect him to plead not guilty. sumi: thank you very much, sarah. finland will officially become the 31st member of nato on tuesday. the country which borders russia asked to join the alliance after moscow invaded ukraine.

henberhared to say.wh is at >> this is a historic week. tomorrow we will welcome finland as the 31st member of nato, making finland safer and our alliance stronger. we will raise the fihe fst timeo headquarters. sumi: the election comes a day after an election in finland in which the president lost to the leader of finland's main center-right party. his national coalition party won 20.8% of te het- vote. populist party came a close second with a record 20.1% of the vote. it was a bter defeat for the president's party, who trailed with 19.9%.

ms. marion was credited with steering the country to nato membership but mr. or pope will likely take over. earlier i spoke with paul adams about finland succession to nato. what does finland bring to nato? >> it brings a very well organized, well-equipped military, small but with huge numbers of reserves and sophisticated western equipment, including dozens of fifth-generation american fighter jets. it is a well-equipped military that has been pretty well integrated with nato sometime so it is not going to have any difficulty integrating with western allies. the other thing, which is a geographical fact, is it has a huge border with russia. as a result of finland joing nato, russia's border with the western alliance has more than doubled.

when you bear in mind that vladimirutin, before the invasion of ukraine last year, said that he wanted to see nato withdrawing from eastern europe and reducing his presence along the frontier, then,s mr. stoltenberg said today, mr. putin is getting exactly the opposite. sumi: that is significant. can you remind us what russia's response to finland's accession to nato has been? >> this has been a consistent message since last year, that it will bolster its own forces in the northwest of russia. it regards an enhanced nato presence on its border as an additional threat. today we heard russian officials saying that should nato station personnel and equipment in finland, as it has done in the baltic republics, who have been members much longer, then russia

reserves the right to take what has been described as additional measures. i think probably russia knows this is something that is going to happen and it's going to wait and see to what extent nato decides to bolster its presence along that long border. my guess is for the time being finland simply being a member is enough. sumi: our diplomatic correspondent paul adams, thank you for those insights. let' rurn to topstory donald trump's arraignment on we want to get another voice. y.tueswith me from chicago is ry davis, a former republican coressman from illinois. i want to ask you about the criticisms of this case, what we have heard from many republicans is alvin bragg, the district attorney from manhattan who brought this case, is trying to bring down the former president. how do we know that's the case

and it's not the district attorney following the letter of the law? >> you have to look at, what is the charge? we don't know yet. we are only speculating on this being a suppose it election law violation. the federal election commission did not proceed with the prosecution when the president was in the white house. the doj said this isn't something that would rise to a crime at the federal level to move toward prosecution. d.a. bragg, if he is trying to get president trump to account for a federal election crime, that's really out of his jurisdiction. frankly if it doesn't bring the president down, if it doesn't hurt him, it will only make him stronger in the next election. sumi: coming back to that, couldn't it behe district attorney has further evidence that could make this case? >> there is one thing about

american judicial politics and the american judicial system. there are a lot of leaks. i have yet to hear there is a solid caseeyond what has been speculated. what is frustrating is most republicans, like me, we don't want donald trump to be the nominee. but there is nobod that plays a ctim better than donald trump. he will play the victim to alvin bragg, who is not doing much about addressing the increasing crime problem in new york city. sumi: there has been a lot of speculation about what this might mean for the former president b to become president again. if you were to talk to your voters who you used to represent in illinois, how do you think they would look at this case? do you think this hurts president trumps image in their eyes? >> i don't. remember there are many who feel president trump has been attacked since he got elected. this is a presidt who survived

two impeachments. he survived the russian collusion allegations that were demonstrably false. i think when he is the victim, he gets stronger. frankly that is what scares me the most as a republican. i think he is the only major candidate that could lose to joe biden that we have right now in the field or the projected field. sumi: is donald trump really the victim? he is under investigation in at least four serious cases, one of which is linked to the january 6 riot at the capitol. is it fair to call him the victim? >> no, not at all, but he is going to play the victim. he is going t talk to his supporters and talk to many in america who feel there might be a two tier form of justice that

treats democrats differently from republicans and he is going to try to utilize that to his political advantage. sumi: how do uc this -- how do you see this playing out tomorrow for the president? what kind of messaging do you think we are going to see from the president, especially as he is continuing to campaign to become president again? >> it is certainly not going to be a disciplined message. that is one thing i know about president trump, he lacks discipline when it comes to any message. he is going to lay out his grievances, lay out why he feels he is going to be the victim, and he is going to try to take advantage. he put many of my former colleagues under pressure to endorse him or not to. sumi: where do you think republicans will come down on this? the entire party, the lawmakers in congress? >> there is not one large party structure that could tell any

candidate what to do and what not to do. i think what you will see over the next few days, you will start to see whether elected republicans across the country will defend the president. not only defend him against what many of us think are trumped up charges, but will they endorse him in his run forresident. you start to see an increase in elected republican officials endorsing his candidacy. then you start to see the polling has changed in his favor from a feways ago. sumi: former republican congressman rodney davis from illinois, thank you for sharing your thoughts. let's turn to russia, where investigators have detained a 26-year-old woman over the death of a pro-kremlin blogger. tetarski was killed in a bomb attack yesterday and police say the woman they apprehended had

previously been arrested for protesting the war in ukraine. the russian committee has blamed it on secret forces. this report contains some distressing images. reporter: an ordinary scene in st. petersburg. a woman enters a café carrying a it is hard to verify this, but russia says she was delivering a bomb. inside the café there is a meeting of russian prewar activists. the invited speaker is tatarski, a blogger with .5 million followers. the explosion killed him and injured over 30 others. russian officials were quick to blame ukraine, which denied it. the suspect is not ukrainian, she is russian. police are naming her as daria,

an antiwar activist. they released this footage of her being arrested. she is seen being questioned, apparently under duress. russians say she has confessed to carrying the statue that killed tatarski. she was a big -- he was a big figure among russian military bloggers. he was hiding critical russian failures on the battlefield, leading some to suspect inter-russian rivalry. this is a really murky incident. despite the claims and counterclaims, it's not immediately clear who was behind this explosion. to help guide us through it is olga from the bbc russian service. what is your take on this explosion? >> russian war supporters believe it must be ukrainian intelligence. russian investigative committee

thanks russian opposition was also involved. when you remember last year, another vocal supporter was targeted in moscow. on the other hand, many russian war commanders were killed in strange circumstances since 2014. reporter: as rsian investigators pieced together what happened in st. petersburg, the propaganda war continues. russia says this was ukraine linked terrorism. ukraine's presidential adviser says it was russian on russian. spiders, he tweeted, or eating each other in a jar. sumi: global oil prices jumped monday after opec plus nations announced a surprise cut in production. the group plans to trim output by more than one million barrels per day. that announcement raised concerns over tightening supplies. the biden administration says it was given a heads up and that it disagrees with the cuts.

nasa has revealed the four astronauts who will help take humanity back to the moon for the first time since 1973. >> ladies and gentlemen, your artemis ii crew. sumi: among them are the first woman and first black man to take part in a moon mission. temis ii will launch late next year or early 2025. the three americans and one canadian won't land on the lunar surface but will fly in a capsule around the moon. the mission sets the stage for a touchdown violator group. an anniversary from a simpler time. 50 years ago on april 3, 1973, the world's first mobile phone call was made from a street corner in new york. an american engineer made the call to taunt a rival that his invention was a success. the phone was about four times the weight of a modern iphone 14. no screen, no camera, no messaging.

the phone took 10 hours to charge, providing only half an hour of talk time. thank you for watching world news america. please stay with us and do head to our website for more information. thanks for watching. narrator: funding for this presentation of this program is provided by... narrator: financial services firm, raymond james. man: bdo. accountants and advisors. narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation. by judy and peter blum kovler foundation; pursng solutions for america's neglected needs. and by contributions to this pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ♪ ♪

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good evening and welcome. on the newshour tonight, former president trump travels to new york and a hush money case. amna: and assassinated in a st. petersburg test bay. -- cap a. geoff: a sharply divided election with national implications. >> in the last decade or so, wisconsin has felt like it is the ground zero for a lot of the issues that we have in american politics.