the Inauguration of Donald Trump. Exploring links between Trump associates and Russian officials and Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, the documentary was well received by The Guardian, Radio Times, The National, and the Times Union. The documentary was screened in Perugia, Italy on 6 April 2017 at the International Journalism Festival. Investigative journalists Sweeney and Andrei Soldatov of Russia were in attendance at the screening. Tommy Robinson On 23 February 2019, about 4,000 people protested outside BBC offices in Manchester against one of Sweeney's planned Panorama episodes on activist Tommy Robinson, who also led the protest. During the rally, undercover filming of Sweeney, obtained from a supporter of Robinson, was shown on a large screen. In the film, Sweeney is heard making a number of remarks which were described by the activist as being racist, homophobic and anti-working class. Sweeney also called former IRA leader Martin McGuinness "one of [his] political heroes". Sweeney later apologised for the remarks. The BBC stated that "any programme we broadcast will adhere to the BBC's strict editorial guidelines", and that work on the Panorama programme would continue. The NUJ condemned what they described as the intimidation of BBC staff and journalists.Panorama issued a statement apologising on Sweeney's behalf for his "offensive and inappropriate" comments. The Panorama episode on Robinson was never shown on the BBC. On 1 October 2019, Sweeney announced via Twitter that he would be leaving the BBC after 17 years, calling founder of the EDL Tommy Robinson a "complete c**t" after supposedly being fired because of Tommy Robinson's documentary Panodrama and the protests outside BBC Manchester. Putin and Russian corruption Sweeney covered Vladimir Putin's wars, including after the invasion and annexation of Crimea in 2014. He questioned Putin in 2014 for BBC News, investigated oligarch links to Putin in 2018, as well as Arron Banks' Brexit connections with the Kremlin in December 2018, and investigated Boris Johnson's mysterious trip to Perugia to party with Evgeny Lebedev in 2018. Sweeney reported directly from Kyiv during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. Career at LBC In November 2020, Sweeney's new LBC podcast Hunting Ghislaine was launched. It made the top spot on the Apple UK podcast chart. The six part series traced the story of Ghislaine Maxwell, the daughter of Robert Maxwell. Writing career Sweeney has written several books, non-fiction as well as fiction including the best-selling novel set in