tv BBC News America PBS May 1, 2025 2:30pm-3:01pm PDT
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a raymond james financial advisor gets to know you, your passions and the way you enrich your community. life well planned. nicole: at bdo i feel like a true individual, people value me for me, they care about what i want, my needs, my career path, i matter here. ♪ ♪ narrator: funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation, upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. announcer: and now, bbc news. >> this is bbc world news america. president trump reassigned mike wallace from top security advisor to united nations ambassador following controversy
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over leaks of classified information. a long-awaited deal is assigned, given the u.s. a share of ukraine's natural reserves in return for continued military and financial support. and the head of the world health organization calls the situation and gaza catastrophically bad after two months with no food allowed to enter the territory. ♪ hello, you are very welcome. a major shakeup of president trump's top team. he is ousting michael walt's -- waltz and nominating him to represent the u.s. at the united nations as an ambassador. the president says marco rubio will temporarily fill the top security role while continuing in his position as secretary of state. mr. waltz has been under
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pressure since he added a journalist to a group chat, discussing sensitive military plans, last month. he's the first senior member of this trump administration to be removed from his post since donald trump returned to the white house in january. with me is our senior reporter. quite the day indeed. fill us briefly on the background. how did we get to this place where mike waltz is no longer at his job? >> when the news of signalgate came out, there had been speculation about how tenable his position was. now we all know there were other issues, such as he did not necessarily get along with the rest of the team. that was an embarrassing moment for the administration, which they were neville -- which they were never able to explain properly, why mike waltz added this journalist to the signal chat. it was a matter of when, not if
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he would be removed. host: in removing him, president trump did so in a gentle way, not his usual bombast, you're fired, but trying to bill it has overboard, that he will go to the u.s. ambassador to the u.n., subject to senate confirmation. will he get through that hearing? correspondent: it is by no means certain, but it is a different environment than in the first trump administration when he had a public spat with his social security advisors. there was a lot of speculation at the white house that this allowed him to remove mike waltz from the position while at the same time not publicly firing and being able to maintain that aura that they have salt to portray of -- have sought to portray of themselves as a more cohesive white house. host: he will be hoping that mike waltz does get confirmed, because he does not have anyone
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to fill that post as investor to the u.n. right now. correspondent: he does not, at least since elise stefanik was not up for the role. that is a position that is very important, even if donald trump himself is less focused on the united nations than other administrations in the past. the signal gate will come up a lot in the confirmation hearings, which is a pr issue for the rest of the administration, many of whom were in that signal chat. host: the focus will switch to who will be the new national security advisor. thank you very much for joining us with that update. let's go to salem, massachusetts, where we can speak to democratic congressman seth walton, a member of the senate armed services committee. you served with mike waltz through his time in the house for three terms. are you surprised he's been removed in this way?
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>> no, not at all. he was not removed because of signalgate, he was a fall guy. it was secretary of defense pete hegseth who put the most highly classified information, the details of where our pilots were going to be and when, so that they could have been shot down. hegseth put that information in this illegal signal chat. mike waltz was fired because he was just too normal. he was too much of an internationalist, too printable to. he was not enough of a sycophant of donald trump. that is why people have had the knives out for mike waltz for sometime in the administration. host: so given the gap in time that there has been between signal gate and now, if you think he is the fall guy, what do you think the future holds for pete hegseth the defense secretary? rep. moulton: the point is they are getting rid of mike waltz so they don't have to get rid of pete hegseth. almost nobody in washington on other side of the aisle,
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republican or democrat, can believe that pete hegseth is still in this job. he's the most on qualified defense secretary -- most unq ualified defense secretary in history, appointed with the most narrow confirmation vote in history. it has been chaos under the pentagon under his leadership. trump seems to like him because the one thing that pete hegseth does is supports trump. trump does not need someone that is good at national security or competent in his job, trump does not care about any of that, he just cares about pure loyalty to himself. that is what pete hegseth provides more than mike waltz. my suspicion is that trump is making waltz the fall guy for signalgate so that he can unjustifiably keep pete hegseth in his position. host: mike waltz will have to get through senate confirmation. is that going to be difficult for him? rep. moulton: it's an
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interesting question, because the general consensus professionals in washington is that mike waltz was one of the only good guys in the administration. let's be clear, mike sold himself out to trump, made a lot of compromises on his previously principled positions in order to get this job. still, he was someone we felt we could at least work with in the white house, someone who still had the interests of our troops first and foremost in mind, whereas you don't see those concerns at all from the commander-in-chief or pete hegseth, not looking out for our troops. it will be a mixed bag in the senate, because there will be some republicans who want to support the president in making waltz the fall guy. they may say no, he does not deserve to be confirmed, ironically. there will be others who want to see him continuing in some job,
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even though the job he's been nominated for is not something the trump administration values at all. host: given he will be under oath before that confirmation hearing and senators can ask questions on a wide range of topics, do you think there is a potential to explore what is going on behind the closed doors of the white house? rep. moulton: there is a potential. the question is whether we will see the old mike waltz who was principled, who put his values as a combat veteran first, or whether we will see the new mike waltz, someone just trying to survive in this administration. survival under trump usually means lying to protect the president. we saw mike waltz essentially lie about what happened with signalgate. he was all over the map in trying to justify what happened, something that was clearly illegal, something that violated every basic rule of classification in the military. something that mike waltz would
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have been fired for without hesitation when he was serving in the national guard. let's be clear, the national security advisor, the secretary of defense, they both committed a crime by sharing classified information over an unclassified channel. host: they all reject that it was classified information, don't they? there are many investigations underway into that. to take a step back before there is a new national security advisor, marco rubio is doing the job of secretary of state, head of usaid, head of national archives. is that too many jobs for one person? rep. moulton: it is certainly too many jobs for marco rubio. he was completing last week about having to fly all over the world to talk with different world leaders as he was frustrated with the lack of progress in ukraine. the job description of the secretary of state is to fly all over the world, talking with
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world leaders. if rubio is getting stressed out just by doing the job of secretary of state, then taking on the second or third most important job with national security in this administration, the national security advisor, doing that job as well will be too much for marco to handle. host: we are out of time. we will wait to see how marco rubio handles all those jobs. for now, democratic congressman seth moulton, thank you for joining us on bbc news. a u.s. judge has permanently blocked the trump administration from using an 18th-century wartime law to deport some venezuelan migrants. the trump appointed texas judge says the president's use of the enemy aliens act to speed up the deportation of venezuelan migrants exceeds the scope of the law. the ruling says president trump's use of the act, which allows him to deport citizens
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with little to no due process, is unlawful. trump claims without evidence that the venezuelan gain tren de aragua was invading the -- gang tren de aragua was invading the country. ukraine and the united states signed a highly anticipated natural resource and investment deal after months of tense negotiations. the agreement will give america access to ukraine's energy infrastructure in return for the united states's continued financial and military support. white house officials say the deal shows a commitment to long-term peace and acts as a prepayment for its military and financial aid to ukraine's war effort. ukrainian president zelenskyy hailed it on wednesday evening as a truly equal agreement, but one russian official characterized the deal as ukraine paying for american military supplies with the wealth of, as he put it, a
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disappearing country. our correspondent reports on that deal that has been months in the making. correspondent: two signatures binding two countries in one agreement. america's treasury secretary and ukraine's deputy prime minister signing a deal they hope may bring profit and peace where now there is more. >> this partnership represents the united states taking an economic stake in securing a peace and sovereign future for ukraine. this establishes a fund that will receive 50% of royalties, license fees and similar payments from natural resource projects in ukraine. correspondent: so note that america committed to ukraine's future, but getting half the revenue from its natural resources. the deal will establish a reconstruction investment fund with the u.s. and ukraine as equal partners. it will invest in the extraction of ukraine's critical minerals, oil and gas. with any profits reinvested in
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ukraine's economy, but only for the first 10 years of the deal. and in the small print, a big concession, past american military aid worth billions of dollars will not count on the balance sheet, as the white house wanted. instead ukraine will compensate the u.s. only for future military support. this deal was originally president zelenskyy's idea, aiming to use the precious minerals buried across ukraine to bind america into his country's future. after many false starts, it took a meeting in the vatican at the pope's funeral to get the deal over the line, along with donald trump's growing frustration at russia's refusal to agree to a cease-fire. >> this is a truly equal partnership, he said, one that creates opportunities for substantial investment in ukraine and modernization of its industries, and it will not
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involve any debt. diplomats hope the deal may make it harder for the u.s. to pull out of peace talks, as it has threatened to do if there is no progress. they also hope the presence of american firms and workers on the ground in ukraine could deter future russian aggression, even though there is no explicit security guarantee built into the agreement. but this deal will only count if there is peace, and in the port city of odessa overnight there was precious little of that as russia once again struck it and other cities across the country. an economic deal is not the same thing as a peace deal. host: amid hopes of more u.s. commitment to ukraine's security is the agreement that kyiv was looking for. we put that question to the former ukrainian defense minister earlier. >> no, they are not.
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this can be part of them. this can be a nonmilitary part of them, and certainly a demonstration of vested interests is a strong single -- is a strong signal. it must make putin or people like him think twice about attacking the country, but whether this is sufficient to procure the country's safety and security, no, it's not. first of all, it takes time to develop them. secondly, they are not necessarily built up along the line where russians may attack. thirdly, russia may attack anyway and they may try to pretend that they are not trained to harass u.s. interest -- trying to harass u.s. interests, but without military force the country cannot feel safe. it is not a complete security guarantee at all. host: let's talk more about
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this. i am joined by a retired u.s. army colonel who served as u.s. defense advisor to ukraine from 2016 to 2018. thanks so much for joining us on bbc news. do you see this deal acting in any way as a security guarantee for ukraine? guest: indirectly it does. during his campaign, trump repeatedly said he wanted to end the war between russia and ukraine in the first 24 hours. what he has learned in the last 100 days is that russia has no interest in entering any peace negotiation and favors the status quo. this changes status quo because of the economic and national security interests to get access to these rare earth metals, it's much more likely that the u.s. will continue to support ukraine and may even increase that aid. host: from president putin's perspective, do you see this as a deterrent? guest: without a doubt he will
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look at this in the status quo. if the usaid to ukraine is questionable -- u.s. aid to ukraine is questionable, if they got the full support of the u.s. and west behind him, ukraine has been extremely successful, on the battlefield decimating the russian war machine. this factors into potent's calculus -- into putin's calculus if they believe the u.s. is committed to ukraine. host: does this bolster ukraine's war efforts? constantly president zelenskyy is going around the world, asking for more help. does that end for him now? guest: without a doubt that helps zelenskyy. ukraine has demonstrated they have the will, the leadership, but they are missing the war fighting. that is where they need to get assisted. i don't think a single foreigner has lost their life in ukraine.
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it is the ukrainians fighting. they just need to help in terms of artillery, missiles, you name it. it will definitely help his efforts. host: what does this mean for the next stage of peace negotiations given that the u.s. and ukraine have signed this deal? will that see a harder line from the u.s. towards russia? guest: we should see a harder line between the u.s. and russia, but i don't think it will expedite in the next months. the u.s. has to demonstrate its long-term commitment for russia to really believe that the u.s. is committed to serving ukraine, and that takes time for them to demonstrate that. i think it is more than a year away from any serious negotiated agreement. host: we hear president trump talking about the pressure he's applying on russia behind the scenes, but what will it take to
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move president putin further? guest: what he needs to do is take a page out of -- fo the westr to take a page out of what reagan did in the 1980's, investing in our military and that bankrupted the soviet union and contributed to its collapse. the only way to expedite the end to it is increase the aid to ukraine so that russia realizes the cost of waging this war and perspective benefits of it are just not -- and prospective benefits of it are just not worth it. host: drawing on your experience in the u.s. military, we have seen that the national security advisor mike waltz is no longer at his post. does that changeover in personnel impact missions and negotiations abroad? guest: no, the u.s. democratic system, it's used to functioning
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when people are absent or being replaced. it is normal -- maybe not leaving this fast in terms of office, but there is normal turnover in washington and our system is not so fragile in the u.s. that just because one person is not in their position that it will affect things overseas. host: we have seen criticism of president trump in his first week since softening the u.s. foreign-policy position towards russia, although that language has changed in the last week or so. do you changed language with this deal marking a change in approach from this administration to russia? guest: without a doubt. if you go back to trump's first administration, he had that similar where they had the bromance between putin and trump . their relationship soured. i think we are seeing that play
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out again, where he is thinking he can get putin to negotiate, then he's realized putin has no interest in doing this. putin is preventing that agreement, so he will take much more of a hard-line stance to get putin to the peace negotiations. host: retired u.s. army colonel, former u.s. defense advisor to ukraine, thanks for joining us on bbc news. the head of the world health organization is describing the situation in gaza as catastrophic after two full months without aid entering the terror morning -- entering the territory. israel said it was pressuring hamas to release their manning hostages. no aid has entered gaza since. the world food program has run out of food, it says, and malnutrition is worsening amongst children. at the hague, the icj is hearing arguments that israel is breaking international law by
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using food as a weapon of war. israel's foreign minister dismissed the hearings as a circus meant to undermine its right to self-defense. and all the while, israeli strikes on gaza continue, with dozens killed in the past 48 hours. is a real does not allow international journalists into gaza, such as our -- israel does not allow international journalists into gaza, such as our colleagues at the bbc. our colleague sent this report from jerusalem. guest: for needy families in the south, a delivery of a hotmail is on its way. today's dish is made with lentils, rice, and a tomato sauce, cooked in a community kitchen by american near east refugee aid. this will feed about 6000 people. this man says his team is doing the best it can in desperate
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circumstances. >> in the past, we used to cook rice with meat, with protein. now there is no type of meat or vegetables entering gaza. the people rely on our mets. >> israel blocked all goods to gaza two months ago, and then resumed its military offensive, saying this was to pressure hamas into releasing hostages. food stockpiled during the cease-fire at the start of this year has all but run out. >> we used to receive more than 100 truck every week, and now we don't have anything in our warehouse. there is no food, no flour bags. correspondent: within two weeks, gaza's community kitchens, a lifeline for so many, will have to shut down. >> if the situation continues with the closure of crossings,
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gaza will face again the risk of starvation. correspondent: a sprawling tent camp for displaced people. conditions here are tough and getting tougher. this man has been searching unsuccessfully for bread. now he can't feed his family of seven. others are also thankful for the handouts. at this time, it is excellent, because there's no cooking gas, no food. i collect leaves to start a fire just so we can have a cup of tea. israel accused hamas of stealing aid, but humanitarian workers say they closely monitor their supplies. with rising cases of acute malnutrition among children, there are warnings that starving civilians as a method of warfare is a war crime. for now in gaza, as the cooking pots are washed up, there is no choice but to live, day by day,
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hoping that tomorrow will finally bring relief. bbc news, jerusalem. host: a national emergency has been declared in israel as strong winds and high temperatures fuel wildfires. more than -- more than 150 firefighting crews were deployed to battle what has been described as the worst wildfires in israel's history. several people are reported to be suffering from burns and the effects of inhaling smoke. the israeli prime minister says 18 people have been detained on suspicion of arson. she was a brazilian nun, a super centurion and super football fan, the world's oldest person has died at the age of 116. those close to her born in 1908
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said she never complained and attribute her longevity to discipline. football was center to her personality, a longtime supporter of super club international, which offered its condolences. she became the world's oldest person in january following the death of a japanese woman. that title is no held -- is now held by a woman who is 115 years and 252 days old, celebrating her birthday in august. she said she did not know why there was all the fuss. that is it for today. thanks for watching world news america. do take care and stay with us on announcer: funding for presentation of this program is provided by... financial services firm, raymond james. funding was also provided by, the freeman foundation, the judy and peter blum kovler foundation,
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upholding freedom by strengthening democracies at home and abroad. ♪ ♪ -bbc journalists here in ukraine. -across southern israel. -here in michigan. -beirut. -china. -italy. -russia. -paris. narrator: wherever news breaks, we're there. news anchor: live from washington, this is "bbc news." announcer: get the free pbs app now and stream the best of pbs.
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