woman: this is"bbc wor" is made possible by... the freemadation; 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. thu. michelle: this is "bbc world

rews america." rting from washington, i am michelle fleury. democrats announced the formal impeachment inquiry. presiden at their political peril. speaker pelosi: the actions of the trump presidency revealed it tto dishonorable effectiv president's the trail of his oath of office and betrayal of the integrity of our elections. michelle: boris johnson's suspension of parliament was uneswful, rhe uk's supreme court. the unanimous decision sends shockwaves through british politics. riin new york, the minister responds. prime min. johnson: i have the highest respect for the judiciary and the independence of our courts, but i strongly disagree with this judgment. michelle: we will have the latest on theontroversi brewing in both the u.s. and the u.k. tonight.

michelle: for those watching on pbs d around the globe, welcome to "world news america." tonight we are dealing with two major stories on both sides of the atlantic. in a momentous decision, the u.k. supreme court has ruled that the government acted unlawfully when it suspended parliament. but we start in the united hates, where speaker of the house nancy pelo called for congress to move forward with impeachment proceedings whtleblower's report centereda around his communication with ukrainian president and whether donald trump preured him into investigating joe biden by threatening to withhold literary aid -- military aid. the president responded by tweeting, "such an important day at the united nations, and the democrats had to ruin and demean it with more breaking news. witchhunt garbage. so bad for our country."

speaker nancy pelosi spoke a short time ago, and here is what she had to say. speakerct pelosi: thens of the trump presidency revealed the dishonorable fact of the president's betrayal of hisath of office, betrayal of our national secury, and the trail of the integrity of our elections. ereforeoday, t am announcing the house of representatives is moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry.ry michelle for more on what the impeachment procedure would look like, i'm joined by elizabeth wydra, president of the constitutional accountability center. iif could start with -- give us a sense of how significant is this moment. elizabeth: this is absolutely significant both constitutionally in the process it triggers and prso for the nation. about whether an impeachment inquiry would actually happen. frankly, people have been talking out that since the first day president trump came into office. avnow we the speaker of the

house stating clearly to the american public, this is a concern for the soujl of our nation, for the very essence of moacy, and the constitution intel's us -- the constitution impels u ttake this step. michelle: why is this allegation more serious than others that have been made about the president in the past? elizabeth: i think it is very serious in that the whistleblower comes from the administration, from the national security apparas in the administration. frkly, there have been serious allegations this full-time, going from the very beginning with his acceptance of foreign payments from foreign s govern his businesses, what we call foreign emolument -- michelle: yet they didn've to this point until today. elizabeth: yes, absolutera. it is the that broke the camels back. we have had obstruction of justice. llthisation is so clear -- the president basically acknowledged that he withheld aid to ukraine to pressure them to investigate his political

rival and potential influence the next presidential election in the united states. that is such a clear violation of acting in the american people's interest and instead acting in donald trump's personal political interests that frankly there was no choice but toak his momentous step r speaker pelosi. democrats you are looking at this from a number of directions. the fact that there was this withholding of aid, is that was tied to this request, then you have acu national ty nancern. you have the idea of a foreign government involved in essentially digging up dirt on a political rival. you have got the idea that this was a lower process isn't -- thisss whistleblower prosn't working because congress is in getting the information they are requesting. which of those do u ok at? which do you take first? elizabeth: i think allf them. it is a national security thlat, actingn the politi interest instead of the american people's best interest, and trying to keep thisce, by

whistleblower complaint from congress even though the statute that governs the process says that the reading of it is that you should be able -- he or she should be able to get this complaint to congress when there is an urgent concern that has been met here. you have absolutely ts whirlwind of anti-constitutional behavior, anti-democratic behavior, trying to seek foreign interference in an american election, obstructing the constitutional checks and balances that are there to protect erican democracy, and theraraven corruption that we haveda seein and day out anti-american public has gotten a little inu -- and the american public has gotten a little inur to that corruption, but withholding o military aid ise problematic. michelle: but the maths haven't changed. say it goes to the house, the to acquit impeachment.r

where would that leave the whole process? elizabeth: think frankly we andt prejudge the process, r my perspective it is time to stop looking at this in a political way thd start looking at this in a constitutional way. what it means if the president is allowed to escape consequence-free, even if the senate didn't convict the articles of impeachment, would be an incredibly important vindication of the constition. who knows what will happen when all of the facts come to light? habut fromwe know now, what donald trump himself says he has done, is deeply probmatic from a constitutionaperspective, and that might benefit the know.rats, replicans, i don't but i think this step benefits the american public s d the nation whole. michelle: the process helps address the constitutional crisis. ose with wife, we will have to -- elizabeth wydra, we will have leave it there. ank you. today seven democratic freshmen

all with national security experience and in swings distried an op-ed making their views known. among them was elissa slotkin from michigan. i spoke to her from capitol hill. why did you decide with sixfr othehman congresspeople to come out in favor of impeachment? rep. slotkin: we all have a national security band, and we have spent our entire adult lives swearing an oath to protect and defend the anconstitutila. thst allegations that the president of the united states would have used his position to ask a foreign government to collect dirt on political opponent and then potentially use our security assistance, paid for by u.s. taxpayers, to do it, w beyond the pale. it passed the rubicon for us. it felt like if we were going to live up to our oath to protect and defend the constitution, that meant coming out very

strongly that the onus is on the administration to prove this is not true. if it is true, it is an impeachable offense. michelle: one of the things you talked about in this article that has been puished is that all tools should be used. you talked about inherent -- rep. slotkin: contempt. michelle: contempt. so this is the step before impeachment, but to get stwitnesses to come y and hand over evidence. s retkin: right now we have a credible whistleblower complaint that was urgent enough that the inspector genal of the cia felt that they needed to do something about it and report it. that is being held back. that is in violation of the law. it is not something we get to pick and choose.di the rector of national intelligence has an amazing opportunity on thursday. there will be an open hearing and he can provide a lot of details and information should have already provided by law.mi

elle: one of the criticisms of the democrats is so far is that they have waffled whether or not to impeach the president. rep. slotkin: yeah, listen, impeachment is not just a legal process. it is also a political one thing that has always been really important to me is that ong with us.ng the country this cannot be just an insider baseball conversation among washington elites. we have to explain to the american people why we're doing this and what it means. h e not done a very good job of that. for mehis is not -- the level and concern about this latest incident is just different, but it also means we need to treat the process more strategically, more efficiently, be more clear with the american public on what we are doing. michelle: are you worried at all -- you are from a district that traditionally has been republican. are yoworr you in the 2020 election? rep. slotkin: there just comes a time whereou have to make tough calls. that has been my entire experience, where you are making decisions that you think are for the betterment of the country

and the protection of the unitef states evehey might not be popular. that is what i have done my entire career. that is what am doing here, and i hope that my district and even if folks don't agree withme at least see that i have been judicious and thoughtful and w'm doing this based o i think is right and out of a place of integrity. michelle: congresswoman slotkin, thank you so much for joining us. now to the other major story we are following tonight. in he u.k., the government and primminister have suffered a huge defeat with a supreme court ruling against the decision to suspend parliament for five the justices ruledmously that the move was unlawful and the suspension is now void, ast ifver happened. as for boris johnson, there are arowing calls for him to stand down, but he says he will abide by the rulg. the bbc's political editor laura kuenssberg has the latest. laura: ready to pass judgment on

the prime minister. boris johnson broke the law. >>dv the decision toe her majesty to prorogue parliament was unlawful. because it had the effect of frustrating orrenting the ability of parliament to carry out its constitutional functions without reasonable justification. laura: jubilationlaura: outside in the rain. those outraged the prime minister had advised the queen to suspend oprorogue parliament for five weeks, suspicious he had done it to close down debate on brexit, which he denie >> no justification for taking action with such an extreme effect has been put before the court. laura: the conclusion, it was illegal. so it never happened at all. to her majesty was unlawful, void, and had no effect. paiament has not been prorogued. laura: t government's lawyers

ov few weeks ago did not expect this. the court's traditionally allergic to politics and stayed well away. but the other side's legal dream came true. >> the ruling today speaks volumes. this prime minister must open the doors of parliament tomorrow. mp's must get back and be brave and bold in holding this unscrupulous government to account. thank you. a: so what next? immediate calls to new york 3000 miles away. prime min. johnson: there has been a court casin our country this morning, which o m or two if y have picked up on. [laughter] laura: another chance to suggest the establishment is trying to stop him. prime min. johnson: i have the highest respect, of course, for independence of airports, but i must say i strongly disagree

with this judgmen we in the u.k. will not be deteed from getting on and delivering on the will of the people to come out othe eu on october 3 t1. laura: the labor leader's conference disrupted and delighte mr. corbyn: it shows the ngime minister h acted w in shutting down parliament. i invite boris johnson, in the historic words, to conser his position. >> i have instructed the house s authorit prepare not for the recall- e prorogation was unlawful and is void -- to prepare for the resumption of the business of the house of commons. the house of commons sits tomorrow, and that it does so tt

11:30 a.m. here tomorrow, whatuwill they acly do? the alliance of former tory's, still rebels, might try to take control agagn. >> that advice was clearly very orpo and some of his advisers are going to have to leave. >> if boris johnson would it do the decent and honorable thing, parliament has to come together to force him out of office. laura:here is no sign of labor doing that quite yet. look who is in boris johnson's corner. pres. trump: i know him welcomen he is not goinhere. laura: a place of power he jumped of -- drums of four years. after two months it i proving harder than he thought. michelle: the prime that the u. journalism in new york, and that is where laura trevelyan is -- u.n. and general assembly in new yo, and that

is where laura trevelyan is the laura: i'm joined by james landale, at diplomatic correspondent. we want to the halls of parliament together. what is next for his premiershi james: his premiership is weaker. he has taken a h and he would have lost a huge amount of political capital in london, but it is not ultimately fatal. ill have to regroup. he still says he wantso have a queen's speech and start a new parliamentary set ion. it is possible that will happen in the next few weeks, but a ch shorter period when parliament is away. now what will happen is the question is has he made it harder for him to get that deal, that agreement with the european union that he hopes will actually get the u.k. across the line and allow thee to lee european union with a deal? t if he doesn't e deal, he is toast. if he. does, he could have a general election and win it. laura: is it more or after the

supreme court ruling that brexit happens on tober1? james: i don't think it changes the day at all. what it means is that boris johnson is determined that will happen, we leave with al d without. this ruling does not make any differencen any of the negotiations within the european union. this is an internal dispute with british legal system over what it is done is right, but what it has done is it is upset an awful t of people, not just opposition, but within boris johnson's conservative party, to yes lost some brownie points for the laura:e what about divisions in britain itself? i know my own families divided and most likely yours i too. brexit is like a civi war without the muskets. it divides the entire country. tiit ces to divide the entire country. it comes down to not just wright state but the constitutional question -- not just brexit, but the constitutional question.

tary democracy, or is it ad referendum ane votes for single issues -- i.e. let's go for brexit. the country is divided over what shouldde come first. until that battle is settled, the divisions will continue. laur the fact that the supreme court ruled against the prime minister, are we going to see the americanization of the court in britain, like here where any dispute is referred essentially to the court? james:ha there are fearsit will move towards that -- not as far as that. we don't have a formal written constitution and the judges are not as political as they are your. there are fears that because of political appointments,for scrutiny, appearing before gecompanies, jsayinghat are you are brexiteer or leaver. there is a greater stise of the cotion being written down. it is clear what comes first, parliament or judges, referendums or parliamentary

democracy. laura: how aboti a generer el in britain? is that inevitae in the short-term? james: it is very, very likely, not in e short-term but most likely in on them. many mps don't want to do it because they feared if theye h an election, they might not be able to get a deal and it would mean no deal. laura: jesandale, sage of whitehall and westminster, thank you so much for joining us. michelle, that was the view from the bbc's james landale. ngexciay at the united nations. boris johnson duetoo speak later ght and then respect to britain -- race back to bri:in. mi thank you for the update from the united nations. you are watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, me on the democrats' latest move to launch impeachment proceedings against president trump. thomas cook, one of the world's

largest and oldest travel companies, has collapsed, leaving thousands of travelers than 20,000 jobs at risk.g more the confirmation can earlier on monday when last-minute talks to save the company broke down. the bbc's transport coespondent tom burridge has more on this story. tom: the operation to flight thomas cook custors home now in full swing. this check-in in new york, to a flight organized by the government. hotels like this one erode money from thomas cook bookings last night staff minute guests who already pay for the entire holiday cover the unpaid bills. it was not a pleasant scene. he>> was a bit of aggression from one of the receptionre sta, demanding the money. obviously quite worried about not being paid themselves. tom: the same story at this hotel. thomas cook staff out of job,

tried to help. somep. guests were forced to lave. st one customer paid up. he will have to claim back the 5000 pounds. -- 1500 pounds. when theompany went bust, it's op wation ground to a halt. the crews who flew these claims home one final time g fory night, now look work.>> i have been there 20 ye. there's an awful lot of people with been there longer than me. tom: some did do very well out of thomas cook. mathe chief executiv more than 8 million pounds in five years. there will be a probe into the company's class. >> i have written to the insolvency service yesterday asking them to spepe up their investigation into whether the actions of directors played a part in the failure of thomas cook. tom:0 flying 150,ople home is complicated. tom burridge, bbc news.

mielle: returning to our top sty, speaker of the house nancy pelosi has officially launched an impeachment inquiry into president trump over reports he sought foreign help to smear 2020 candidate and former vice president joe biden. for more on the political followed, i'm joined by anthony zurcher. extraordinary day. elhelp underscore how significat this moment is. nancy pelosi has been against impeachment for a long time now. anthony: basically trying to hold back the tide for months. there have been plenty of scandals and democrats have a sd w is the time we really need to impeach donald trump. if you talk to democrats, democrats in congress, a lot of the 2016 investigation, the mueller investigation,t we did mpaign on that in 2018. happened in the past.gs

with this ukraine sndal, this shing that is ongoing, dealing with 2020, happening on their watch. that is why they are turning around. u ntioned nancy pelosi. it is really interesting, she has been holding back the tide. by waiting for this moment, this ukraine story, she is throwing rocket fuel on that. it shows her pitical savvy and iting and holding her powder. michelle: how seriously should we tak her? does she mean it when she says impeachment, or was she going with a tight at this point? -- with the tide at this point? anthony: probably a little of both. if you want to lead, you get out in front. having an impeachment investigation, that is not necessarily mean anything. there were already investigations going on and the judiciary committee od a plan. right now she is trying to get to wrap it up in some kind of a

bow,no but there iote schedulein thesc house to approve thisthnvestigation. e is no real-time life. di anything reallyd change? all theee semantics had dodging around, that has been taken right now. michelle: youou have donald trup tweeting "witchhunt garbage." have any other republicans iut speaking anthony: you are starting to hear from them now. liz cheney, rublican congresswoman from wyoming, said thise is another example of democrats trying to find some reason to impeach donald trump. this is based on news reports of a phone call the donald trump made that have not seen the transcript for yet, and the whistleblower report that has not been made to look at all. of course from it is the white kehousing it from being made public. but basically that this is an impeachmentriver on something we don't know anything about. john kennedy, senator from louisiana,a, said that joe biden be investigated as well, that there may be some fire to the

smoke about misdeeds by joe biden and his son. all fairness, they shou look into that. you are seeing a little bit of a mix of everything. michelle: more fireworks likely to come this week. yo have the administration saying they are going to released the transcript, and then on thursday, the acting dni involved in the was a lower report appearing before a committee. anthony: before the house. we will see that. there are reports that we might get the actualer whistleblo testify. adam schiff, the ce ir of the hotelligce committee, says they will look into that. but there are fireworks coming up a. michelle: anthony zurcher, we will have to leave it there. you can find more on these storie website. i michelle fleury. you are watching "world news america." announcer: funding for this presentation is made possible by... thman foundation; by judy and peter blum-kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs;

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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> brangham: good evening. i'm william brangham. judy woodruff is away.sh on the nr tonight: >> therefore, today, i'm announcing the house of representatives moving forward with an official impeachment inquiry. >> brangham: impeament on the the speaker of the house says that president trump's actions with ukraine require a seriousat investn. then, alone befo the world. as calls for his impeachment swirl, president trumpds his "americairst" vision at plus, more brexit chaos. britain's supreme court rulesni the prime er broke the law when he suspended parliament. and, "know my name." chanel miller, the survivor of the stanford university rape case, reclaims her voice and, speaks out. >> i would look around and th "