By SYLVIA HUI, Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — The BBC’s chairman acknowledged Monday that it was too slow in responding over a misleading edit of a speech by President Donald Trump but rejected claims that the broadcaster’s impartiality was being undermined from within its own board.

Senior BBC leaders were quizzed by Parliament’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee amid a major crisis at the publicly funded corporation after its director general and head of news both quit earlier this month and Trump threatened to file a billion-dollar lawsuit.

Chairman Samir Shah said the broadcaster should not have waited days before responding to allegations of biased reporting over a documentary on Trump it aired days before the 2024 U.S. presidential election.

The third-party production company that made the film — titled “Trump: A Second Chance?” — spliced together three quotes from a speech Trump gave on Jan. 6, 2021, into what appeared to be one quote in which Trump urged supporters to march with him and “fight like hell.”

The editing made it look like Trump was directly encouraging his supporters to storm the U.S. Capitol as Congress was poised to certify President-elect Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 election. Shah has acknowledged that the documentary gave “the impression of a direct call for violent action.”

“I think there’s an issue about how quickly we respond. … We should have pursued it to the end and got to the bottom of it, and not wait as we did till it became public discourse,” he told lawmakers Monday.

The BBC said last week that Shah sent a letter to the White House saying that he and the corporation were sorry for the edit of the speech. But the broadcaster said it had not defamed Trump and rejected the basis for his lawsuit threat.

On Monday, Shah also defended board member Robbie Gibb, a nonexecutive director of the BBC’s board who has been the subject of wide scrutiny because he was the director of communications for former Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative government.

Critics have accused Gibb of pro-Conservative Party bias and political interference at the BBC.

“I think I’ve become weaponized in terms of how I’m perceived,” Gibb said.

He rejected claims that a coup from within the BBC board forced the resignations of senior news leaders as “complete nonsense.”

Last week Shumeet Banerji, a BBC board member, also said he was stepping down over “governance issues,” sparking further questions about the corporation’s leadership.

Asked whether his own position was in doubt, Shah said his priority was to “steer the ship” and find a new director general.

Earlier, lawmakers at the parliamentary session focused on questions about editorial standards raised by Michael Prescott, a former journalist and external editorial standards adviser to the BBC.

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Prescott was the author of an internal note to BBC bosses that raised concerns about the editing of the Trump speech as well as other instances of alleged bias at the BBC, including its coverage of Gaza and transgender issues.

The Daily Telegraph newspaper published that note in early November, sparking the latest crisis.

Prescott said he believed the BBC had “systemic” issues with tackling problems raised and described the corporation as defensive and dismissive of concerns raised about its reporting.

He said ex-BBC director general Tim Davie and other managers “had this blind spot on editorial failings” but told the lawmakers he didn’t think there was “institutional bias” at the broadcaster.

The 103-year-old BBC faces much greater scrutiny than other broadcasters and commercial rivals because of its status as a national institution funded through an annual license fee of 174.50 pounds ($230) paid by all households who watch live TV or any BBC content. The broadcaster is bound by the terms of its charter to be impartial.

A driver struck two pedestrians in a St. Paul crosswalk and one was critically injured, according to police.

The 22-year-old driver was heading south on Dale Street and turned left onto Summit Avenue when he hit a 75-year-old woman and her 74-year-old husband. The couple was in the crosswalk and had the right of way when crossing Summit Avenue, based on preliminary information, said Alyssa Arcand, a St. Paul police spokeswoman

St. Paul Fire Department medics took the woman to the hospital in critical condition. The man sustained minor injuries.

The driver stayed at the scene and preliminary information suggested he was not under the influence, Arcand said. Police continue to investigate the crash.

The incident came just over a week after another driver struck a woman in a St. Paul crosswalk on St. Anthony Avenue as she walked with her husband and their dogs. Amber Deneen, 30, died and a man has been charged with criminal vehicular homicide.

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By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — The Justice Department renewed its request Monday to unseal Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking grand jury materials, saying Congress made clear in approving the release of investigative materials related to the prosecution of the late financier that documents such as the court records should be released.

U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton signed the submission in Manhattan federal court asking that the judge issue an expedited ruling allowing the materials to be released now that President Donald Trump signed the action requiring the release of documents related to Epstein within 30 days.

The Justice Department said the Congressional action overrode existing law in a way that permits the unsealing of the grand jury records.

Judge Richard Berman previously denied a Trump administration request to make the Epstein grand jury transcripts public.

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Berman, who presided over Epstein’s 2019 case, ruled in August that a “significant and compelling reason” to deny the request and keep the transcripts sealed was that information contained in the transcripts “pales in comparison” to investigative information and materials already in the Justice Department’s possession.

Berman wrote that the government’s 100,000 pages of Epstein files and materials “dwarf the 70 odd pages of Epstein grand jury materials” and that the grand jury testimony “is merely a hearsay snippet of Jeffrey Epstein’s alleged conduct.”

Two other judges have also denied the public release of material from investigations into Epstein’s decades-long sexual abuse of young women and girls.

The Justice Department has said that the only witness to testify before the Epstein grand jury was an FBI agent who, the judge noted, “had no direct knowledge of the facts of the case and whose testimony was mostly hearsay.”

The agent testified on June 18, 2019, and July 2, 2019. The rest of the grand jury presentation consisted of a PowerPoint slideshow and a call log. The July 2 session ended with grand jurors voting to indict Epstein.

Epstein was arrested on July 6, 2019. He was found dead in his cell at a Manhattan federal jail on Aug. 10, 2019 in what authorities have ruled a suicide.

Just like the character that gives the musical its name, it seems “The Phantom of the Opera” will continue to haunt our theaters.

When Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical take on Gaston Leroux’s creepy 1909 gothic novel closed in 2023 after a 35-year run on Broadway (the longest in history), it seemed the end of an era, with the Great White Way’s longest lines now forming under the marquees of “The Lion King,” “Wicked” and “Hamilton.”

But meanwhile, the show’s original producer, Cameron Mackintosh, had already launched a smaller, more streamlined “Phantom” in London’s West End that employed the designs, direction and choreography of the 1986 original. It was a sort of “Coke Classic” move that served to remind audiences why they loved this war horse when it was only a colt.

That staging is spending two-and-a-half weeks at Minneapolis’ Orpheum Theatre, and I can assure you that it doesn’t feel small at all. Employing an impressive arsenal of pyrotechnics, captivating costuming and evocatively detailed sets, it’s as involving as any “Phantom” you may have experienced, yet also an ideal intro for the newbie.

Lloyd Webber’s score is passionately delivered by a cast of 38 and a 14-piece orchestra, and the leads boast particularly strong voices as they tenderly caress the ballads and lend admirable classical technique to the more operatic fare.

Jordan Lee Gilbert as Christine in “The Phantom of the Opera.” (Matthew Murphy / MurphyMade)

This production is currently making its way across North America, but the Orpheum version sports an extra element that no other tour stop may be able to top: The venue’s original 1927 chandelier, which serves as almost another character in the cast. It fills its role impressively, adding dramatic drops and pops to a skill set that’s usually limited to projecting gorgeous grandeur above other productions.

Showstopper though it may be, it doesn’t eclipse the excellent performance of Jordan Lee Gilbert as Christine, the plucked-from-the-chorus soprano who finds stardom under the mysterious mentorship of the menacing Phantom, who’s lent against-all-odds believability by the sweet-voiced baritone, Isaiah Bailey. And the impresarios and opera stars who drive the backstage story are all excellent, ably bringing comic relief to this dark tale.

That story follows Christine’s ascent up the operatic ladder under the tutelage of the Phantom, who brings her to his lair on an underground lake beneath the opera house and presses her to choose between him and the wealthy childhood friend who’s re-entered her life (a solid Daniel Lopez). Meanwhile, the Phantom’s advocacy of Christine’s career turns violent when his plans meet resistance within the opera company.

Gilbert invariably mesmerizes with a combination of power and gentleness on “Think of Me,” “Angel of Music” and “Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again,” while Bailey makes “The Music of the Night” a beautifully seductive ballad in a show with a few of them. Of contrasting spirit is the layered comic octet, “Prima Donna,” its complexity made delightfully engaging.

This “Phantom” emphasizes that, at its core, this is Christine’s story. She might be the object of obsession, stalking and abduction, but Gilbert never lets you forget that she holds a lot of agency in this adaptation. And particularly this production, which brings fresh energy and an air of excitement that’s miles away from the perfunctory feel from which well-worn works can suffer.

‘The Phantom of the Opera’

When: Through Dec. 7

Where: Orpheum Theatre, 910 Hennepin Ave., Mpls.

Tickets: $385-$59, available at hennepinarts.org

Capsule: A production that makes the old feel new again.

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