>> this is "bbc world news america." funding of this presentation is made possie by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea. nonstop flights are available from most major airports.ma

more infon for your vacation planning is available at aruba.com. >> and now, "bbc world news." rajini: this is "bbc world news america." reporting from washington, i'm rajini vaidyanathan. more tensions between the president and the fbi. donald trump is set to appve the release of her republican memo that accuses the agency of bias against him. beijing continues its crackdown on ethnic minorities in northwest china. we have a special report. and going for gold. meet the nigerian women whose bobsled team will make histo at the winter olympics later this month.

rajini: welcome to our viewers on public television in america and around the globe. a controversial memo written by republican members of the house intelligence committee based on classified materials ce made public as early as tomorrow. thnddocument accuses the fbi justice department of anti-trump bias and will be released despite strong objections from the democrats and what the fbi said were its grave concerns. as he left the state of the union, the president was asked to release a memo. president trump: don't worry. 100%. [laughter] trajini: a met has been the talk of washington's political circles for weeks. what is in it, and why does it matter? well, it is related to the ongoing investigation of the trhp campaign's ties w russia. the four-page classified document written by republicans is said to alleged anti-trump bias in e fbi, specifically in the way that one of donald trump's former campaign

advisers, carter page, was placed under surveillance. they argue that the permisimon to wiretapas based on unsubstantiated intelligence, which wapartially funded by the democrats. they are crying foul play and party politics. so, too, are democrats, who say donald trump and his supporters are trying to discredit the work of the intelligence agencies. and there is concern from that community, too. >> there is a sag on morale. they are troubled by what they are hearing reported. they know that some of what isg be reported, what is being stated an alleged, is flat-out untrue. sijini: by agreeing to release inis memo, the pdent has drawn the battle l between his administration and the country's intelligence agencies. for more on e republican memo and what impact it might have, i spoke to our political analyst ron christie. the director of the fbi is saying he has grave concerns about the memo's accuracy.

what could the implications be of the release? ron: the implications could be very significa in the fact that the fbi and justice department are acced of improperly using the united states intelligence services to eavesdrop on innocent amicans. the question from me on thesefo pages, which i believe we will see tomorrow, is what does w it indicate hoe fbi went to accord to get a warrant -- in the united states you need to get a search warrant to rveil people -- so did the fbi rely on the improper dossier paid for by the democrats to surveil the ump campaign? rajini: democrats say that the information in the memo has been erry picked and the full picture will not be released. ron: i don't believe that. from my time in the white house , having accesfoto classified rmation, this is a very significant mter. every member of the intelligence committee read that document. there were 200 members of

congress who read the document. yet only a handful of democrat ok the time to actually go and read it. for those who are saying they believe this could be a vion or -- a significant or serious or reckless rek ase, i would em in the first place whether or not they read the document to begin with. rajini: both sides are saying party politics is coming intoth , though. ron: they are, and this is an area i would say from my experience working on capitol asll for nine years as wel being in the white house, using classified material for political matters is no laughing matter. i do believe the house republicans, the folks on theom intelligencettee, they are not all "let's go get the democrats, let's trash the fbi." these are serious men and women who are on this committee, and i believe them when they say they look at the classified documents provided by the fbi and are reasing a summary. i believe they are not using for a politicized weapon. rajini: thisomes in the wider context of the ongoing russia investigation, which is being led by the fbi. we have seen ever since president trump took office a

different relationship between his administration and the intelligence community. from your experience working inside the white house, how typical is it for anni adration to have tensions with the intelligence community? ron: i think it is ratheric signt. in my four years in the bush administration, we got along very wl with the fbi and justice department. there needs to be a certain p,ount of independence with the fbi, and donald trhile i agree in this case that the fbi and justice department may have surveilled him imprope think it is damaging to america to not have a strong relationship with the fbi, partment of justice, and intelligence gathering entities. rajini: ron christie, thanks for coming in. ron: good to see you. rajini: well, another dantroversy in washington was over the crowd size of tuesday night's state of the union address. prident trump took to twitter for the first time since the speech to say that tv viewership was the highest in history.

nielsen, which tracks the ditrendsutes the claims. had to defehas similar claims by the president was former press secretary sean spicer, and a short time ago he spoke to my colleagues katty kay and christian fraser for their program "beyond 100 days." katty: you served this president who has this needed to say everything is the bi why does he do that? does he believe he has bigger ratings for the state of the union address than any president has had before? sean: two things. one, i am out of the audience d crowd size business. number two, i think with respect to your question, the president is a marketer. this is what he has been doing his whe life -- selling buildings, talking about shows and how well the ratings are doing. he has his own way of presenting himself. i would refer you back to white house press office with respect to this particular one.a y: the problem with this from the president's point of view is that he has good news to sell. actually, the ratings for the

state of the union address were high. he hitimate things to say about the u.s. economy. why step on his own message when he tweets something out like this that is demonstrably not true? p around the worple say we there go united states again, we cannot trust donald trump, these are not the facts. that is a problem. sean: well, if we want to talk about hyperbole, what you just said is not tr, either, to say this around the world. look, the bottomine is he has his ownty commit has been effective for him in business and real estate, he got elected. i will agree with the fact that i ought he did a phenomenal job laying out a vision for the country and talking about where we have been the past year in rms of economic news and statistics, the fight against isis, immigration, foreign, polie threat that north korea faces -- or the challenge that north korea is to us and to the rest of the world. i would rather him continue to talk about what he said in the

state of the union and ride this elve for a while. i think it was areceived speech when you look at the polling. independts in the country found a lot of what he said appealing and agreed with him. i think they should be focused on continuing to ride the wave of a well-given speech that was followed on the heels of a really good speech in davos. the more he is not distracting from his own mesging is really helpful, and i would agree that the less he can do to not get off of that script, the better. christian: take me behind the podium, because i am intrigued. you yourself on the record the past few weeks said some "there were times i screwed up." sean: yeah. christian: what happened on those days? when you go behind the screen, does the president love you? does he chew you up? does he ignore you? how does he react on those particular days when you get it wrong? sean: that is part of the reason

i'm writing a book, to walk through a lot of this. i would say it is a mixed bag. there were times it was really painful when i did something i knew i stepped in, and those difficult ments, the president was probably the most gracious and said"i know what you are trying to say, sean, and those guys in the mea were looking to get you, and i know you did not mean it to come out that way." that helped a ton. there were other times when he would say, "why did you say that word? that wasn't what"e talked abou so there were moments of disappointment, and i would feel bad that i had not checked in with him or articulated something in a way that was not how he wanted it expressed. but in most cases, the president was extremely gracious and,or frankly,ving. katty: sean, when you watch theo white hous and we are in a period where there has been an ndtick in the president's approval numbershe state of the economy, as you were saying earlier, do you watch the

briefings and think, god, i wish i was back at the podium, or do you thsk, whew, thank god it' not me? sean: definitely the latter. [laughter] sean: look, i enjoyed it, and i know people find it hard to believe. that being said, i enjoy being a vier as opposed to a briefer much more these days. ' still want to be a supporter of the president'policies and agenda and do what i can. but the stress level has gone down. the presidt looked at me not too long ago and said, "my god you look 10 years younger." tty: i have covered for -- 4 american presidents and countless press secretaries have come and gone in years i've been in d.c., and i've never known one that comedians loved toas taunt as mucou, and god bless you for taking in such good spirit. sean: the irish, that is it. katty: what is it abousean

spicer that everybody loved to make fun of? sean: look, part of it was donald trump. we have ner seen a president like donald trump. i think playing the role that i did in this admistration at the beginning of it, you kind of dt a little bit of the bl over. no one has seen a president like this before, and therefore they had not in a press secretary -- not seen a press secretary like this before. i wasn't fully expecting it. part of why i waited a while and thought about this and longtime is i figured at some point i had to write aook and because toour point, katty, i grew up in this country, and there were things like "saturday night live" that are iconic. there are skits i remember from eddie murphy and dan aykroyd that i can recite by heart. and now to think that my kids

are like, now you are them. [laughter] sean: exactly. it is a very weird evolution for somebody to go through that in such a short period of te. christian: well, you are a very good sport. katty: you were a very goo sport, thanks for joining us on the program. sean: you bet, and i look forward to getting over there. christian: come and see us. sean: i will. rajini: let's take a look at the day's other news. the u.s. state department says t it is deepubled by reports of mass graves containing the bodies of hundreds of rohingya muslims in myanmar. the associated press says it uncovered evidence of a massacre in rakhine state last august by the military. myanmar's governme denied mass killings and says it will investigate. threof kenya'biggest television stations remain off rulingpite a court saying the shutdown should be lifted. they tried to broadcast opposition politician raila od inga swearing himself in as

president. the kenyan government has de aribed the ceremony as an of treason. british prime minister theresa may has indicated she will a proposal to grant of residency rights to eu citizens during the transition period. the prime minister is facing tense pressure at home from within her own conservative party.ts her commave been criticized by senior eu officials. nuwell, as theresa may con her visit to china, the biggest -- british government has told the bbc it is concerned about treatment of muslims in the western chinese region. in the last few months, there rts been an increase of re of ethnic minorities being held in detention camps without trial in the area. our china correspondent john sudwth has traveled to the region, where all filming and coverage by foreign media is tightly controlled. john: in looks and in distance,

it is closer to baghdad than beijing. but this is china. the far western province of xinjiang, now the target of one most intenses curity crackdowns. mainly muslim minority, have a long history here. today fear is everywhere. under the watchful eye of government, there is one correct answer. "i know nothing," he tells me. "life is good here." moments lar, armed police show up. this is the china visiting prime ministers never get to see. police power here is all pervasive, and growing. millions of residents are being forced to give dna samples. mobile phones are searched for sensitive religious content, using handheld plug-in devices.

and for those suspected of even the mildest disloyalhe beijing, t is a network of secretive detention camps in which thousands of uyghurs have been locked up without trial. close to what we bofieve is one them, we are stopped from filming. china is building a total eillance state, where saying, doing, or even thinking the wrong thing can get you locked up in an internment camp. as you can see, it is a place where foreign journalists are certainly not welcome. wherever we in xinjiang, we are constantly hassled detained, monitored, and followed. like thousands of uyghurs, has fled to turkey. he thought his wife and mother would be safe at home. he has since heard that they been taken to the camps. >> from early morning until lat, evenhe is only allowed to

sit on a hard chair. my poor mother has to endurehm this punt every day. b wife's only crime was to be born a uyghur, aause of that, she lives in a reeducation camp where s has to sleep on e ground. i don't know whether they are alive or dead. can't bear it anymor i would rather they were executed than abused to death by the chinese government. john: he says he has no idea what happened to his children. today the british government raised its concerns about the treatment of muslims here, including restrictions on religious practice. suchnt a frank staten the matter of a prime ministerial visit will not go down well.a ch seeking the u.k.'s backing for a plan to use xinjiang's desert highways as a new economic corridor to central asia and beyond.

it insists the threat of islamic terrorism come with a number of attacks in recent years, is a real one. is it difficult to answer questions? but a lice state breeds fear. and can stoke the s ry resentmentchina says it is trying to stamp out. john sudworth, bbc news, xinjiang. rajini:oure watching "bbc world news america." still to come on tonight's program, gearing up for super bowl sunday. tha look at why year's matchup is unique. israel has reacted angrily after the polish senate approved a controversial law on the holocaus one israeli official called for

dor to warsaw to recalled. the bill makes it a criminal offense to accuse poland of complicity with nazi germany. it still has to be signed into law. reporter: "work makes you free." the sign in german above the entrance to e auschwitz death camp in poland. 6 million jewish people and others were murdered he and elsewhere in the holocaust. poland has long insisted it was blameless and these camps were run by occupying german forces. now whater contral bill has been passed by polish lawmakers tost ban any sugn of polish complicity in the nazi holocaust and make it illegal to describe the death camps in poland as polishov the polishnment says the legislation aims to stop the polish people or state being blamed for nazi crimes. >> talking about the past and

enanalyzing this past and he darkest and shameful part of the polish past, is not threatened in any waymo poland is a atic state respecting the freedom of public deba, respecting scientific research, respecting the right to criticism. reporter: at a memorial ceremony at the united nations 73 years s ter the end of the war, holocaust survivmember the victims. israel, which has honored more poles than any nation for saving the lives of jews, has objecte to the draft law, saying that poland is trying to rewritehi ory.is somerians say others were complicit in a nazi crimes, crimes that a diminishing number of veterans from the war never want the world to forget. rajini: the winter olympics are

just around the corner, and the first time ever, nigeria will compete. three female athletes who make up the country's bobsled team have qualified for the games. our sports news correspondent has gone to et them at their aining camp at lake placid. >> we are nigeria women's bobsled team. >> we are the first team from the country of nigeria. t >> the firm from the continent of africa. >> and the first team to be represented in the winter olympics in the sport of bobsled -- >> in young chang. [laughter] reporter: they are known as the ice blazers, going where no before, heading to a bobsled track at the olympics. >> opening ceremony, that would be really cool. >> gosh, we are carrying the nigerian flag in the winter olympics. gosh. reporter: born in america like her teammates, she qualifies for

nigeria through her parents. i it begher garage in houston with a homemade wooden sled. >> bobsled! hooray! reporter: the exploits of the jamaican men's team in 1988 inspired a hollywood movie. .comparisons are inevitab >> very honorable, to say the least, that years later people are still singing their praises anhesaying that we are a lot same path of what people consider to be legendary is humbling, and it is an honor. reporter: just or a year ago, she recruited to teammates who took turns to sit behind the driver. they knew nothg about the sport and its risk. >> after going to the best track in the world, ok, this sanrt is prettyrous. you know, people can get hurt. porter: behind the excitement, the fun, global exposure, are women who have no desire to be considered a novelty act.

rank outsiders, yes, buto they want taken seriously and set a new benchmark for africa at the winter olympics. >> people didn't think we had a chance to make it to the olympics, so when you talk about things like that, anything can happen, and we are here to nompete. reporter: the teamthat they are unlikely to become the first africans to stand on the podium at the winter games, but they know that it isut more an just medals. bbc news, lake placid. rajini: they are called t ice blazers, but they are also trail blazers. good luck to them. from preparing for the winter x olympics to the super bowl in the u.s. super bowl sunday is days away, and whether you care about american football or not, the game will be worthn aying attent. the big match of this year will see boston andde phihia going head-to-head, 2 cities known for their history as much as their obsessive sports fans. reporter: this year's super bowl

pits the city of brotherly love against beantown, franklin versus adams, rocky against paul revere. this guy against, well, that guy. philadelphia and boston are known for their rabid fans, sometimes a bit too much so. >> e-a-g-l-e-s, eagles! >> i'm ready for the super bowl! reporter: in philadelphia, a team of self-describ crisco poles.eased up they don't want drunk fans clamming up and causing trouble. then they punched police forces. on different weekends, 2 fans, 2 police forces. for patriots success that rubs the wrong way, the sense of entitlement. last super bowls 17 will do tilt to you. elphia wears the face of the underdog, literally. the mask has sold out at amazon. k n't get either side started on food. e philly fan, it is all about cheesesteaks.m

in boston, cchowder is a cup of heaven. all this rivalry on and off the field is a shame, really, because the cies have a lot in mmon. both are east coast port cities founded in the 1600s when the area was just a collection of british colonies, and both were hoeds of revolution before america split from britain. boston i the scene of the famous tea party. philadelphia hosted the signing of the dlaration of independence. boston has old ironsides. iladelphia has the liber bell. in the end, there can be only one winner, and there is more than just a football game at stake. there is also a wager between the yors of philadelphia and town near boston, home of real life boxer rocky marciano. the winning city gets to dress the other rocky statue in thepo ng team's colors, so imagine rocky balboa in a patriots jersey. philly fans would rather not. now it is patriots versus eagles, city versus city, rocky versus rocky. all that is left to do is play a game of football.

rajini: so many super bowl facts, but i still ne game explained to me. i am rajini vaidyanathan. thanks for watching us here on "bbc world news america." >> with the bbc news app, our vertical videos are designed to work around your lifestyle, so you can swipe your way through the news of the day and stay up to date with t latest headlines you can trust. download now from selected app stores. >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation, and kovler foundation, pursuingo tions for america's caglected needs. >> planning a vation escape eaat is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot sier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm, sunny days, cooling trade winds, and the crystal blue caribbean sea.

nonstop flights are available from most major airports. more information for your vacation planning available at aruba.com. >> "bbc world news" was presented by kcet, los angeles.

captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the f.b.i. under fire-- the poteial release of a controversial memo pits politics against national security. then, as the war in syria puts turkish forces at odds with the eyu.s., i sit down with tu ambassador to washington to discuss a strained allnce. and, financing the fight ainst cancer-- how attracting investors to the world of disease treatment could jumpstart efforts in finding a cure. >> we now have the opportunity to treat disease in many, many different ways. we just don't have enough money to explore all opathe different ways. shouldn't we? >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.