a packed passenger jet. good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. donald trump is coming under increasing pressure as questions continue about what he knew about the events surrounding the resignation of his national security adviser. there are calls for a formal investigation after claims that the trump team were in contact with russian intelligence officers during the election campaign. the kremlin has since dismissed the allegations. president trump has hit back tweeting this in the last hour, saying that the allegations are a cover up for hillary clinton s campaign. he then has also effectively accused the intelligence agencies of collusion. and finally he has branded the intelligence leaks as un american . all this as he welcomes the israeli prime minister benjamin neta nyahu to washington, with one white house official saying a peace deal between israel and the palestinians may not come in the form of a two state solution. our correspondent is in washington. you can gaug
that almost hour and a half long press c0 nfe re nce . let s turn to the issue of mr trump s connections with russia and alleged contacts with russia of his campaign team during the election. this came up several times during the press conference on the president was very clear on the issue. i can tell you, speaking for myself, i own nothing in russia, i have no loans in russia, i don t have no loans in russia, i don t have any deals in russia, president putin called me up very nicely to congratulate me on the wind of the election. he then called me up next grimly nicely extremely nicely to congratulate me on the inauguration, which was terrific. but so did many other leaders. almost all the leaders. russia is fake news. this is fake news that out by the media. there were so many sound bites in this press conference, rush of being fa ke this press conference, rush of being fake news was another one. he was pushed again by otherjournalists at this press conference. when you
after 7:00am, we will ask the managing director of lincoln city what it was like for him watching that historic win. and darren has the weather. good morning. as well as a giant snowdrop, we ve got some springlike temperatures in the next few days, but it comes with a lot of cloud. the best of the sunshine in the east. more details a little later. good morning. first, our main story: thousands of prison officers in london and south east england are getting an immediate pay increase of between £3,000 and £5,000. ministers have made the decision to try to boost recruitment and retain staff numbers, in the face of increasing violence. but the prison officers association says it is a divisive quick fix, and specialist and more experienced staff won t benefit. our home affairs correspondent tom symonds reports. they are on the frontline of the troubled prison service. their numbers have been falling in recent years. now, the government is putting in place a £12 million pay offe
we ll look at some presidential errors. also, unreal and overoptimistic. for the nhs and welfare state if britain leaves the eu without a trade deal. that s the opinion of the former prime minister sirjohn major. and the greek economic crisis it goes from bad to worse, we ll speak to the former greek finance minister yanis va roufakis. i m katty kay in washington christian fraser s in london. big increases in defence spending offset by cuts to domestic agencies and the state department that s what president trump wants from his first budget. he s promised one of the greatest military build ups in american history , and briefings by the white house suggest the increase could be more than 9%. also today, the defence secretaryjim mattis is due to deliver his plan for defeating the self styled islamic state group. this is what donald trump had to say earlier about the military. we must ensure that our courageous servicemen and women have the tools they need to deter war, a