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uh well of course President Biden has to win the election in November the White House has today uh denied the GOP allegations that he froze during that star studed fundraiser in La the New York Post reported that Barack Obama had to lead him off stage one of President Obama’s former advisers Eric Schulz put out a tweet saying this did not happen so this is a video that the post linked to let’s show it okay so you’ll see him uh waving to the crowd but then there’s a moment uh through this process where he starts to face the crowd and then Barack Obama um puts his hand on his shoulder and sort of leads him away uh from the stage uh this is the moment here that’s coming up now there are questions about what was going on here I have seen other videos where he appears to be reacting to people in the crowd but plenty have made the link to this incident at the G7 in Barry last week which again was selectively edited so in one sense he looks a bit lost he appears to be looking entirely the wrong way EX except on a longer shot that you can see he is giving I don’t know if we have that video do we have that video no we don’t I’m sorry but you some of you will have seen it this uh this this image of him uh alongside parachutist and uh looking the opposite way to the other leaders uh Maran um the White House Press team have been pushing back hard on this and again today Andrew Bates quoting NBC said independent fact Checkers have pointed out the videos while they’re undocked by artificial intelligence they tend to crumble under even basic scrutiny such as when the moments are viewed in context or wider camera angles cheap fakes he said the issue is though Biden’s age is a factor in this election and I wonder what damage the circulation of these videos orbe it they might have been edited what damage it’s doing to his campaign I think there are a few things going on here Christian first of all this is propaganda pure and simple those videos were all doctored so it made it look like something else was going on one two Republicans are all behind this right-wing Outlets that most people don’t know and un unfortunately Outlets owned by rert Murdoch are pedaling this as well the concern here is twofold one they’re trying to under to undermine Joe Biden further regarding people’s worries about his age yet it is also being used to cover up Donald Trump’s not so Stellar performance on The Campaign Trail these days where he’s having trouble at rallies stumbling over words but are those where he’s well founded Mariam because there’s a lot of people this side who look at his spe who look at his demeanor he is an 81 year old man and and the next term’s going to take him to 85 and people asked the question rightly asked the question whether he’s going to have the stamina to fulfill the role he’ll have to play and Trump just had his 78th birthday the other day so you’ve got an 81y old and a 78y old portray them both fairly can’t see a scenario where we get to the convention I mean next week will be the big test right there’s the first televised debate but you cannot see any scenario whereby the Democrats look at the polling look at him and say maybe we need to replace him no I mean first of all logistically technically it is too late the you know you have to go through the B you have to get on the ballots in 50 states you have to get the signatures in you have to go through all the the primaries I mean I can go on and on why do you think Bobby Kennedy isn’t you know and the debates and everything else he couldn’t get it done but the if both of them are covered accurately and fairly then that’s that’s your choice that is your choice and then you look they they are who they are okay first televised debate next week uh will be a big moment in this campaign we’ll of course cover it here on the context we’ll be right back after this break stay with us

hello and welcome to your election headlines I’m Rita chakrabati Labour’s W streeting has admitted that he wanted his party’s Manifesto for the general election to be more ambitious on social care reform the shadow Health secretary said that once labor gets the economy growing if it wins the election there would be more money to invest in public services including in Social care I make no bones about the fact of course on social care I would have wanted the manifesto to be more ambitious but to get policies in the manifesto you have to run the gaunet of answering two fundamental questions can we keep this promise can the country afford this promise and if the answer to either of those questions was no it’s not in the manifesto speaking to the BBC for the conservatives the transport secretary said a lot of people haven’t made their minds up yet about who to vote for Mark Harper said he believes this election offers a choice between tax cuts tax Rises he added the Tories have set out a clear program for government that is fully costed unlike West reings labor party he’s let the cat out of the bag a bit about Labor’s plans he confirmed both on your show and on one he did earlier that their Manifesto actually wasn’t the whole story it wasn’t actually a program for government it was a document to get them through the election campaign and he’s confirmed that there are spending more spending uh promises to come uh and that can mean only one thing it means more taxes the SNP leader has accused both the conservatives and labor of a conspiracy of Silence about the scale of public spending cuts to come John swinny was responding to research which says that the main UK parties need to set out more credible plans for the NHS health is a devolved matter for ministers in Edinburgh but budgets are set in Westminster the leader of the liberal Democrats has said he doesn’t believe you can sort out the Health Service unless you sort out social care SED Davy said his party had placed it at the center of their Manifesto promising free personal care for older and disabled people at home partly because of his own experience of being a carer well we’re just over halfway through this election campaign now and if you want to see how the parties are fairing in the polls there’s a dedicated tracker on our website just head over to bbc.co.uk tracker for all you need to know and those are your election headlines for Sunday the 16th of June [Music]

French president Emanuel maon has kicked off his parliamentary election campaign with a press conference outlining his campaign plans ma announced a snap election the morning after a major swing to the right in the European elections Marine Le Pen’s far-right anti-immigration party the national rally scored a dramatic Victory on Sunday winning more than double the votes for macron’s Alliance the results prompted him to dissolve parliament and call for a first round of voting at the end of the month this is why in my view the answer could not lie in changes of government or coalitions which were not possible in Parliament as the last few days have very clearly shown but in a dissolution which is the only way to clarify matters because we are at a time when our country must rise to a number of challenges and cannot be blocked by the extremes and because it is an act of confidence in our people in democracy in the Republican spirit in a national common sense in my view in this context returning to the Sovereign people is the only Republican decision well Katherine fesi is a political analyst at the European University Institute in Florence and she gave me her thoughts on macon’s justifications for his decision the way ma Justified it uh today um is essentially through two things one won by saying uh nearly 50% of people voted for extremes because he really doesn’t make much of a difference between the extreme left and and the extreme right and he said at that level of anger um if I hadn’t done anything if I had pretended that it was business as usual you would have accused me of being completely disconnected so that was his his first justification and I think his other justification um was very much um the idea that that particularly the the extreme right the led by Marine Leen think needed to be confronted uh with uh with some of his uh some of their responsibilities um he presented this very much as a an act of trust in the French people um and basically said you know we’re going to turn back to them uh and and and give give French people a say French voters a say yeah very much an appeal to the people as you say just looking at some the quotes from What was a fairly lengthy press conference talking always is talking about the dissolution of the National Assembly a test of Truth between those who choose to strengthen their own hand and those who choose to strengthen the hand of France so really appealing to the French sense of self I suppose and what France is all about very very much appealing to The Republic uh to Republican uh the Republican sentiment that uh that brings uh French people together despite all sorts of other differences this was very much about transcending differences and really you know Finding uh what what unites them in in their aspiration in their hope in their in their vision for the country and what he offered what he outlined was very much uh the idea that neither on the extreme right nor on the extreme left um would most French people find their their vision of themselves and their vision of their country realized um and therefore you know he he proposed his own Centrist Coalition of parties as the only reasonable way forward but ALS also the only aspirational way forward Katherine fesi the political analyst speaking to me a little earlier