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I am here instead of being able to be in pennsylvania, georgia, lots of other places campaigning. Prosecutors want to lay on the big picture for jurors. They said this was a criminal conspiracy, election fraud, pure and simple, and then there was a cover up here. Essentially a case over falsification of Business Records. But falsification of Business Records for a very momentous purpose. Christian here in the u. K. , the Prime Minister says the first asylum flights to rwanda will leave in 10 to 12 weeks come what may. First, he has to secure the legislation. We are in the final stages of that tonight. We will take you to westminster. Donald trump is in court in new york. The first ever criminal trial of a former u. S. President. We will get reaction to the case set out today by the prosecution. Hugh edwards says he is leaving the bbc on medical advice, nine months after he was suspended. And the latest on the you and, the investigation into the palestinian aid agency which was accuseby israel of having links to hamas. Very good evening. It will be july before a plane takes migrants to rwanda. Prime minister rishi sunak set out his timetable this morning, admitting it will take longer than he would like. The rwanda bill which is likely to become law tonight designed to curb any legal challenge to that process but it appears, not giving up without a fight. These are the live pictures of the lord, settling in for another round of this parliamentary pingpong. There were two amendments that the commons stripped out this afternoon, want to protect afghan veterans who served with british forces. The government insists those already exist. Protections in place to ensure that ramonda is a safe country. Here is the Prime Minister. It is clear that a minority of people will do absolutely anything and anything to disrupt this policy. You only have to look at what is going on in parliament the last few weeks and months with the labour party at every turn blocking progress on this bill. You saw that last week, you will see it again today. Christian so how many people might be affected by this . Its important to remember that under the illegal migration act which became legal last year, all people arriving in the u. K. Under regular routes must be removed. Home secretary is under legal duty to remove them to a third country. But there is not a third country to send them to, not yet. Those arriving since july have been sitting in limbo. The backlog is nearly 52,000 people with more small boats arriving. Legally the earliest anyone could be put onto a flight is 12 days after this bill is given royal assent. According to rishi sunak, it will not happen that quickly because they are expecting some legal challenges. The first flight would leave in 10 to 12 weeks. Of course later than what we wanted, we have always claimed that processing will take time. Christian so what sort of legal challenge that is still open . The government has advisedome asylumseekers could lodge an appeal against removal, appealing their personal circumstances mix them a special case. The bill creates a high bar for that kind of appeal. The home office is setting up to deal with that process. It is thought such cases will be done with in a couple of months. Courts have been given extra resources to cope. Asylumseekers refusing a right to appeal would still see an order from the European Court of human rights. The new law shuts off most routes by which legal challenges can be brought including being a victim of trafficking or modern slavery. Once again, the Prime Minister did not leave out leaving the European Court of human rights if things dont go according to plan. Lets go to our Political Correspondent watching events for us tonight. I know you have a guest with you tonight, peter. Bring us up to speed on where we are. Parliamentary pingpong continues, debating two fresh amendments, tweaked amendments to the ones that were rejected of couple of hours ago by the house of commons. Perhaps a sign of movement this evening, the government spokesperson, lord sharp suggesting the afghan resettlement scheme might be reviewed so that some people who have already arrived to the u. K. , and their claim under that scheme rejected, regardless of how they arrived, could potentially stay in the u. K. That amendment put forward by former labor defense secretary dez brown. He is saying he may not push that amendment to a vote. The vote is do to get underway in the lords in the next few minutes or so. There was a small conservative rebellion in the house of commons. One of the tories that voted for the amendments was the former cabinet minister, sir robert buckland. Why did you vote against this evening . I have said in previous iterations of this pingpong needs to be a specific carveout to deal with those very brave people who served not just our country but the interests of freedom in afghanistan, many of whom are waiting for their position to be sorted out. They are in pakistan, not in a position of safety. I dont think anybody wants to see them being caught up in this particular scheme which is designed for a different purpose. Therefore i am encouged to hear those noises from the lord. Lets see what happens. Now is a moment for there to be an adjustment so that we can get on with this business and get this bill through. I want to sail this bill become law today. I want to see it get done as well. Have you been frustrated the government has not given more ground on this . I have done lots bills myself, i know the Natural Inclination is for government to stand their ground, not seek to compromise. But we are at the end of this process, now the small print of a bill, not the broad principles of whether it is right or wrong. I supported the bill at second reading, principal vote. We are now at the end stage we are getting the details right. That is a moment where the government can, without copper mines think its been suppose, make the adjustments that will allow the bill to become law. It is within the governments interest to have that happen as soon as possible. For those who served alongside british forces, if they are already in the country, cases reviewed. But future ones they not necessarily be the case. Is thaenough for you . We need clarity here. I understand the governments point of view, they dont want too vague of a category but we all know that when we see them. People that are clearly in danger, their cases have not yet been resolved. I think its in everyones interest to clarify that position so that we dont end up committing what i would regard as an injustice to brave people who have served our country. Lets not take that risk, lets tidy the bill up, eliminate that as a possibility. The Prime Minister says 10 to 12 weeks to get flights off the ground assuming it is done. How do you feel about flights to rwanda . Its a policy that i have supported. Its a challenge facing the entire western world. Other countries have been looking, trying to do similar approaches with third countries, working with them in order to deal with this challging issue. I want to see it happen. And i want to see it done in a lawful and sensible way, which is why i supported the other amendment tonight, to make sure we get the law in lockstep with reality, that is rwanda being a safe country once it has done everything it said it would do in that treaty signed last year. We will wait to see what happens in those what we are expecting in the house of lords, whether that amendment on the afghan issue is actually put to a vote. There is another one to deal with whether an independent Monitoring Commission should be able to say to the government that rwanda is safe or not before flights can take off. It seems there is a fair amount of support for that particular change put forth by the house of lords. We are hoping it will not be too late of a night. Somebody sent you will not need your sleeping bag. We will have to see. Christian thank you for that. Lets go on a busy night to westminster, our correspondent chris mason is standing by, perhaps dreading that latenight finish. The Prime Minister talked about the need for a regular rhythm of multiple flights which implies he doesnt think one flight will move the dial. Risk you know what i say to pete, these are what these lights are all about, a bit of midnight oil being burned. We may be in that territory in the next couple hours. Its interesting that you talk about that line of arguments from the Prime Minister, something whispered privately by people to me in the last few weeks. What is going on here, they want to create a set of images that continue to appear on tv screens and social media feeds, all the rest of it, all the way through the summer and the countdown to the german election expected probably in autumn, that gives a rolling impression that this policy is up and running. And they then hope that that translates into the key thing that all of this is about and there has been a lot of noise about this policy in the u. K. For the last couple years. Doesnt actually act as a deterrent . Thissnt about a piece of legislation in the house of commons or house of lords, even how many people they can get on a sequence of planes to the rwanda capital. It is, does it put people off getting on a small boat, attempting those perilous crossings across the channel to the u. K. Whether it can make that truth stick before the election is an intriguing one. Frankly they are running out of time. But they want to create the impression of a kind of unstoppable momentum. Although we should put unstoppable in italics. The labor policies is the first thing they will do is stop this if they win the election, if it is up and running. Christian if it is the centerpiece of their campaign, if we need a flurry of flights to prove that it can be a deterrent, does that suggest that the election is not coming until the second half of the year . Chris good question. When we do these election extrapolations, you can make probable hypotheses in a million different directions. On the one hand, you might think if you are the Prime Minister, have the election sufficiently far into the year, autumn or late autumn, you can prove you have a sequence of flights going. Maybe you can make that leap, saying it is acting as a deterrent. Or you have an election earlier and say, we are just getting up and running. Opponents will stop it. When you speak to people privately within government, including those who are hugely keen to see this rwanda policy succeed, they will acknowledge that while they want it to succeed because the u. K. Has to find a solution from putting people off of those small boat crossings, they acknowledge it will not be the difference between winning and losing a general election. They think it is worth taking on for its own sake. Others make the argument that within government, they expect in the next five or 10 years, countries like the u. K. Will sign up to policies like the one the u. K. Is signing up to with rwanda because there will be a necessity, the argument goes, from richer countries, european and elsewhere, to have these Innovative Solutions to unwanted migration. That helps to stem the volume of those seeking to move. Whether policy proves that or not, we will wait to see. Christian italy one of those countries looking at that policy. You did talk about the European Court of human rights. We did set out where that challenge may come. Is he still serious about pulling the u. K. Out of the echr if it comes to that . Chris interesting to hear, slightly evasive answer to that question. On the one hand, he thought the infrastructure the government is assembling will be sufficient to make this policy work. On the other hand, constantly labeling European Court of human rights a foreign court, plenty of critics in the house of lords tonight arguing it is an International Court which the u. K. Has become a signatory. Not ruling out that as a conservative party, you could withdraw as a distinctive marker of difference from the Labour Party Going into the election. There are a good number of individuals who do think logical conclusion of all of this, not just this policy but a number of others, is likely to be withdrawal from the echr, or at least the beginnings of a discussion of rewriting the convention that critics believe belongs in a different era, was not designed for the challenge of the mid2020s. Christian have a coffee. It could be a late one. Thank you for your contributions. Around the world and across the u. K. , this is bbc news. For our u. K. Viewers, lets take a quick look at the stories making headlines today. Hugh edwards has resigned from the bbc, says he is leaving on the medical advice of his doctors. There were reports that he paid a young person for sexually explicit images. The u. K. Parliamentary researcher and another man have been charged with spying for china after allegedly providing information which could be useful to an enemy. The researcher seen here and Christopher Baron were charged on the official secrets act. China says the allegations are malicious slander. The Train Drivers Union has announced a new wave of strikes. 16 companies will take part in one day rolling walkouts between the seventh and the ninth of may. There will also be in overtime ban between the sixth and 11th of may. The union once improved pay and conditions. You are watching bbc news. We are all too familiar with the site of donald trump making his way into a courtroom, but this was an historic day in manhattan, the first time a former predent has faced a criminal trial. Mr. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 34 counts of the prosecution said the former president has orchestrated a criminal scheme to corrupt the election. Mr. Trump said it was a bookkeeping issue, a minor thing, which the Justice Department had cooked up to keep him off of the campaign trail. What is going on here should never be happening. Its a very sad day in america, i can tell you that. Thank you very much. Christian with me is John Edward Jones iii, former president of Dickinson College in pennsylvania. The Opening Statements are Something Like an overture. They set out a roadmap for what is coming in the trial. What did you make of the two sides, the way they laid out their arguments . John exactly as i thought it would be, a roadmap. From the prosecutions standpoint, what we know is the linchpin of their case is probably Michael Cohen. And they admit he is not the best witness in the world but it seems they have other witnesses who will corroborate his testimony. From the defenses perspective, what they did was trivialize the case, basically say this is a case that should not have been brought. What we dont know about some of the other witnesses testimony, some folks who work for the former president , what they might say, and the prosecution is playing it close to the vest in terms of testimony. Christian the prosecution has to prove several layers of his intent. Can you help us with the law as it pertains to the 2016 campaign . Was it illegal in and of itself to pay Stormy Daniels . John it was not, and that is what is important. You can pay hush money. But they booked it as payments to Michael Cohen for legal services. So there is a fraud there but that would normally be a misdemeanor, which is a middle level offense. However, when you do it to aide another crime, and that is election interference, it rises to the level of felony, the most serious offense that they can be charged with. They must prove not just that the documents were fraudulent, that is the checks that were paid, booked as lal fees, but they must prove also a case that was not charged, election interference, in other words, that he did it to influence the results of the 2016 election. Christian the former president says it is a bookkeeping case. John i suspect what the prosecution has, if the jury believes them, are witnesses who will say that they heard or they have documentary evidence that proves that the former president said, for example, you have to pay this money, it is close to the election. If you dont pay this money, she is going to out me, will have a hily damaging effect, i could lose the election over it. They have not tied that up because they are on their first witness but you may hear that. Christian they put david packer up on the stand first, from the Parent Company that owns the national enquirer. He was instrumental to this catch and kill program at the prosecution alleges was in play. Why him first, who how good of a witness is he . John we will find out. He is really an unindicted coconspirator. What they want to show is that there was a pattern here. In other words, this is not the first time the former president paid somebody off. They were in league with the national enquirer, that entity was pay off her folks not to go public for trump.