And the president whod so bitterly criticised black sports stars for taking a knee is himself criticised for disrespecting the National Anthem. Hello and welcome. Im katty kay with Christian Fraser in washington on capitol hill. Democrats are red faced today. Theirfirst big test in the election to unseat donald trump ended in spectacular, embarrassing failure. We dont quite know what went wrong in the iowa caucus, but we do know theres still no result. Blame it on a complicated system, a new way of counting, a tech meltdown, whatever, it doesnt look good for the party. And for the president , it was all too easy. The democrat caucus is an unmitigated disaster, he tweeted. Nothing works, just like they ran the country. The only person that can claim a very big victory in iowa last night is trump. We arejoined now by nick bryant in des moines. He is the only reporter left. They have all departed for New Hampshire, havent they, nick . Yeah, they have. You leave town as quickly as you can, head to New Hampshire, the next primary state and start campaigning. Of course, things didnt go to plan at all here in iowa last night. Confusion, a colossal sense of anti climax, chaos on caucus night is the headline. We had the bizarre spectacle of watching all of the candidates basically deliver victory speeches, even though nobody was hurt and who had won. What we have had today and what we had last night we re had today and what we had last night were the most explicit claims of victory from pete buttigieg, who is trying to become the first openly 93v trying to become the first openly gay president weve ever had in the white house. He reckons he has won. The campaigns would have had precinct on caucus captains at these events, their own figures, and his campaign reckons they have won. Bernie Sanders Campaign has put out numbers that put him on top, with 60 of precincts reporting. We will wait for the results to come. There was a Conference Call not long ago with the candidate teams here in iowa and they said they will give the results over the coming hours, for pm ourtime, the results over the coming hours, for pm our time, 5pm on the east coast. By my calculations, and i think they are right, three hours from now. Beyond the fiasco and the embarrassment for the democrats, of course, Something Like this raises a question about the security of the election process itself. Within minutes on social media, we started seeing conspiracy theories had the system been had chris make both sides said it had not been hacked, but it does point to the vulnerability of the election process and of the democratic process. Over the past 20 years in america we have seen a lot of problems with the mechanics of democracy. You remember the florida recount in 2000, just the basic way of voting. You had Voting Machines that didnt record the right votes. You had the butterfly ballot which flapped its wings and caused such confusion. Since then, you had problems with democracy, whether trying to stop people voting, a lot of effort is putting into voter suppression. Four years ago, the problem of russian interference in the process. American democracy right now is very fragile. It has been a big story here over the last 20 years. Tellingly, we dont think joe biden did that well last night. We dont have the figures to prove it, just a hunch. And tellingly, his campaign has written to the Democratic Party and cast aspersions on the process, the numbers and the results, perhaps in anticipation of a bad result for them. The Democratic Party in iowa is saying these results are the real results, they show how people voted last night. It was a problem of reporting, not voting, and we can trust these results. But you may get a rather cynical situation afterwards where candidates who havent done well will question their legitimacy. Nick bryant, still in de morning des moines. We are already moving on to the state of the union and other news, so not bad if you came in below expectations. The apparent malfunctioning of the system. These sheets of paper are the back up that went to all 1600 caucus sites. We arejoined by diane by we are joined by diane by strom. We arejoined by diane by strom. No one is questioning the integrity of the result. This is a problem in getting the vote to the official count. As nick said, those, perhaps likejoe biden, count. As nick said, those, perhaps like joe biden, who count. As nick said, those, perhaps likejoe biden, who find themselves running in fourth, will question the result anyway. Yes, it was interesting to reflect on the reason that the reforms were put in place for these caucuses, which was because of concerns raised by the bernie Sanders Campaign in 2016. A number of reforms were put in place. 0ne number of reforms were put in place. One was the president ial preference ballots, and there is now a paper trail. You are right, the results will be delayed. I think they will be accurate, may be more accurate than previous caucus years, but because of the delay, this expectation game is going on and it benefits candidates who didnt finish as well as expected. Does it also raise questions that were perhaps already there about iowas status as the first state of the nation to hold the caucuses. Some people were saying iowa shouldnt have this position any more. People were saying iowa shouldnt have this position any morelj people were saying iowa shouldnt have this position any more. I think so. Have this position any more. I think so. I have been doing this since 1996, and every time there is a caucus here, the same concerns are raised. They are more acute now because iowa is not even close to the demographics of the Democratic Party nationally. You can have Someone Party nationally. You can have someone that doesnt need to spend a whole lot of money here, can organise grassroots and come out of nowhere. I like some of the suggestions today that we still have these early, smaller first dates, but maybe do it on the same day. I do think there may be some thinking about how we do these caucuses in the primaries in the united states. When it comes to the general election, we should remember that iowa is a swing state. Interesting today that the democrats have all been pouring oil on the fire, and yet the president , who took iowa in 2016, is saying its not the fault of iowa, it is the do nothing democrats, and as long as i am president , iowa will stay where it is. It is an important tradition. To some people who want to retain that special status, that might do well for the president. There is the same kind of reckoning every caucus year. There has always been some questioning. In 2012, the republicans announced that mitt romney had won the caucus, only to say a week later that someone else had. There is little delight in changing the system because the system worked for donald trump. Barack obama won it and then donald trump one like it. It is accessible to both sides, a place that both sides think they can take. If we think there are complications from the iowa counting process , complications from the iowa counting process, look at this. This is how you get the first step in the calculation of how to nominate delegates of the Democratic National convention. I think you need a phd in algebra to understand this. I have no idea what this means. My gcse doesnt go this far. I had a go at it. Is that someone did vote over toss away democratic votes . I did a calculation and got zero. We think they better smarten up their maths. Democratic Party Organisers are obviously reeling from what happened last night, making interviews like this with the Iowa Democratic chair troy price a little hard to watch. This is probably the most prepared weve ever been for these caucuses. Weve run through a few different scenarios but i can tell you were ready. That didnt age well. The Democratic Candidates use iowa to raise money and get attention. That opportunity is lost today. So, what damage does this do to them . Lets bring in the democratic strategist joel payne, who joins us now from new york. Apart from the party itself not looking good today in iowa, this is a problem for those Democratic Candidates like Bernie Sanders, who would have used iowa perhaps as a springboard to get attention and raise money. I wonder how much money Bernie Sanders left on the table last night without having a result. I think he will be plenty well funded but i bet he would like to leave on the plane from des moines with the momentum of a big victory in the victory parade where he could give a traditional victory speech. That said, i think we will get the results here soon. 0ne amendment to nicks great reporting earlier they will resume though it might release some of the results by 5pm, but not all of them. It means it is still preliminary and there are still preliminary and there are still some districts and precincts that wont have the votes counted at that wont have the votes counted at that point. This is altogether a lot of egg on the face of the iowa Democratic Party. That said, this is a night injanuary and there are 11 months till election day, where democrats are hopefully going to have a candidate that can go and unseat President Trump. Do you agree with the thesis that, forjoe biden, who might not have done as well as he would have liked last night, actually not having a result is no bad thing. Absolutely. I think the former Vice President probably is the happiest loser in iowa we have ever seen. New hampshire has an interesting role here, because traditionally it likes. They did it in 2008 when barack obama was about to run away with a nomination. I bet that New Hampshire democrats ta ke i bet that New Hampshire democrats take pride in the fact that they could course correct from a less than perfect night in iowa. Someone likejoe biden, than perfect night in iowa. Someone like joe biden, you than perfect night in iowa. Someone likejoe biden, you are pinning your hopes on New Hampshire. You have strong candidates in Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren who are from the region, and most campaigners expect them to do well there. |j dont think anyone will go to the polls in november remembering what happened in iowa, but the point is, and nick was making the point earlier, for three years, democrats have been talking about the integrity of the elections, and here you have the first big opportunity for the democrats to get off to a good start and it ends in this farce. Yeah, and probably the most jarring number from last farce. Yeah, and probably the most jarring numberfrom last night was the turnout number. More than the app and the failure is related to technology was the fact that turnout was down from what was expected. I think most people expected turnout to be closer to 2008, when it was a record nearly 240,000 people. This was probably going to be closer to 180,000, closer to 2016. Why do you think turnout was lower than people might have expected . You hinted at ita might have expected . You hinted at it a bit earlier. Iowa is not the democratic stronghold it once was. You can probably say it is not much ofa you can probably say it is not much of a Battle Ground at this point. The good news for democrats is that they can win without iowa, but President Trump clearly has a certain strength in this state. They have a fully republican delegation apart from one member. A tough state for democrats right now. Thank you for democrats right now. Thank you for joining for democrats right now. Thank you forjoining us from new york. Welcome back to washington, christian. You had a good morning. Welcome back to washington, christian. You had a good morninglj christian. You had a good morning. |j did christian. You had a good morning. did three states before 11 oclock this morning. Argue very tired 5am flight this morning. Argue very tired 5am flight | this morning. Argue very tired 5am flight i was booked on. You went on the 7am. It seems that every programme this week, there will be a moment where christian has to vent his frustration. We will move on. The president will be here on capitol hill to deliver his annual state of the Union Address. The timing couldnt be more weird. The democrats are in a mess. But the president is still on trial for abuse of power. Hell be addressing the same people who impeached him seven weeks ago and the same people whom he hopes will him acquit tomorrow. So, does he play it humble lets face it, unlikely or come out defiant which is where our money is . Either way, this will be one of americas more unusual ceremonial speeches. Were joined now by jeff flake, who served as a republican senator in arizona from 2013 to 2019. Lets quickly get your sense of the state of the union, senator. Will it bea state of the union, senator. Will it be a chastened donald trump who addresses the nation tonight or one in rally mode and more defiant . think you certainly would have liked to have had the impeachment thing com pletely to have had the impeachment thing completely behind him, but be that as it may, he will take a victory lap, you can count on it. Tomorrow, your fellow colleagues in the senate will vote in all likelihood to acquit the president. What do you make of the senators performance over the past couple of weeks of this impeachment trial . over the past couple of weeks of this impeachment trial . I certainly would have liked to have seen witnesses. All information that is available. You cannot say that you cannot see it. Senate republicans erred by not having witnesses. This is how our constitution outlines that the president has to be tried, andi that the president has to be tried, and i frankly was that the president has to be tried, and ifrankly was buoyed by it. This president subjected himself to it, as every president has too. If you we re as every president has too. If you were convicted, he would be removed from office. But that is not on the cards now. There are one or two senators in there at the moment thinking, look, if they are going to acquit, maybe we should put a vote on the floor to censure this president. 0ne senator from West Virginia is talking about that. Given there are some senators who said, this wasnt the perfect call, that might be a way to go . That would have had to have been negotiated beforehand. If there were a couple of senators who said they would vote to convict unless there was a vote on censure, then that would have happened. Its not going to happen now. What senators can do, andi to happen now. What senators can do, and i hope a number of republican senators will, is say that the president dont like this doesnt rise to the level of removal from office, but the president did wrong here. This was notjust inappropriate but wrong. You could have a bit of a sense youre that way. I hope more of my republican collea g u es way. I hope more of my republican colleagues do that. Frankly, looking at what House Republicans did, that was just awful to watch, frankly. The evidence is so overwhelming that the president did what he was accused of doing. The only question is, should he be removed from office . You can make a good case that he should not. It is a case that he should not. It is a case that i would make, but i would not exonerate him of all of these charges, certainly. Lets talk about tonight, because when you look at the electoral map, there is a path for the president to get back to the white house in november. Lets face it, he has good numbers to do it jobs look good for him, low unemployment, there is growth over 296. Unemployment, there is growth over 2 . What with the europeans do for that kind of growth . 0n the economy and this optimistic speech he is promising, that will go down well with his base, wont it . Promising, that will go down well with his base, wont it . It will, and frankly a lot of americans are buoyed by it. Looking at the democratic side, they had better be willing to nominate somebody who can appeal to a broader Cross Section and not people who scare the electorate, not just republicans and not people who scare the electorate, notjust republicans but independents as well. There are people in the democratic side i think the president would have an easy time with. You are a wellknown outcome that it might outspoken critic of the president. Do you give him a strong chance of being elected in november . Yes, depending on who the democrats nominate. If Bernie Sanders is nominated or Elizabeth Warren, i think he is guaranteed re election with Bernie Sanders, and almost with Elizabeth Warren. Beyond that, he faces an uphill battle. If you look at the midterms as a proxy for what might happen, republicans are in real trouble all over the country because most americans see that the president appeals to his base but he hasnt done much to go beyond that. Ok. Senatorjeff flake, thanks forjoining us on the programme. We will be here with special programming on the bbc in a few hours. All eyes on nancy pelosi, who will be sitting behind him. How did the democrats treat this if he does go after them . The convention is that the democrats will stay seated and the republicans will stand and cheer. That is what has happened for a long time. Given the way the democrats and republicans feel, i think that will be exactly what happens tonight. Hyundai, the worlds fifth biggest carmaker, says it is suspending production lines at its car factories in south korea, because of severe supply chain issues linked to the coronavirus. The Company Relies on autoparts from some of the cities that are now in lockdown. The fallout is affecting world markets. The Chinese Govern