captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: key provisions of the patriot act expire after a rocky weekend in the senate. will it protect americans' privacy? or put them at greater risk? good evening, i'm gwen ifill. judy woodruff is away. also ahead this monday: decision day at the supreme court, as the justices weigh in on workplace discrimination and free speech on facebook. plus, new candidates for president, and how the campaign is infecting capitol hill. it's "politics monday," with amy walter and tamara keith. those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> ifill: skies cleared across much of texas today, in the first respite from deadly storms since memorial day weekend. but flooding from days of heavy rain kept spreading. south of houston, waters from the engorged brazos river forced road closures and overwhelmed farm land. the floods have killed at least 31 people in texas and oklahoma. secretary of state john kerry was flown to boston today, after breaking his leg during a bike ride in france yesterday. he flew on a u.s. military transport plane, headed back to the states. he had been hospitalized in geneva, switzerland, near where the accident occurred. kerry will have surgery in coming days, but state department officials said it will have no effect on the ongoing iran nuclear talks.

>> he will be actively engaged in these negotiations on the timetable this month that we have talked about. now what that looks like, i just don't have more details. we need to-- he needs to have the operation, then his doctors will discuss with him what the recovery will look like. >> ifill: the deadline for reaching an agreement with iran is now june 30. in nigeria, a runaway oil tanker truck killed at least 69 people when it crashed into a crowded bus station and exploded. police said the truck was speeding when it went out of control. the blast set off a fire that consumed a dozen buses in the southeastern city of onitsha. islamic state suicide bombers attacked a police base in western iraq today, killing at least 41 police and shiite militiamen. it happened at a police station just north of ramadi, the provincial capital of anbar province. islamic state captured the city last month, using a coordinated assault similar to the one today. an american held by shiite

rebels in yemen has been released. freelance journalist casey kohms had been held for two weeks. he was let go after mediation by oman's government. kohms was flown there and greeted by the u.s. ambassador who spoke to omani tv in arabic. >> ( translated ): i am happy to thank oman's leader, sultan qaboos, for his help and cooperation. this american is under the supervision of omani doctors at a military hospital in muscat tonight and my sincere thanks to all omani citizens. >> ifill: meanwhile, a french hostage in yemen, isabelle prime, appeared in an online video, appealing for help. the world bank consultant was kidnapped in february. back in this country, google announced it's making privacy controls easier for its one billion users to find and understand. they'll now be gathered in one account area rather than spread across many portions of google's website. account holders will also be able to run a check-up to see which services are gathering information about them.

the supreme court issued several rulings today, including a judgment on a tunisian man banned from the u.s. for minor drug possession. the court ruled he cannot be deported for having four pills of the stimulant adderall. we'll explore the day's major decisions later in the program. on wall street, the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 30 points to close at 18040. the nasdaq rose about 13 points and the s&p 500 added four. and, the funeral date for beau biden, eldest son of vice president biden, is now set for this saturday. he died of brain cancer over the weekend, at the age of 46. the white house has also started a memorial page on its website where viewers may express their sympathies to the vice president and his family. still to come on the newshour: privacy versus security: what happens if the government can't collect phone records? facebook threats, and wearing religious garb at work. two major rulings at the supreme court.

china's apparent military expansion rattles the u.s. and its allies. a dramatic voyage for a group of refugees. the week ahead in politics with amy walter and tamara keith. and a look inside how the islamic state group recruits. >> ifill: after a weekend of intra-party wrangling, the senate allowed three key provisions of the post-9/11 patriot act to expire at midnight. the three national security agency programs targeted by kentucky republican rand paul permitted: the nsa to collect sweeping bulk collection of phone data... the agency to use roving wiretaps to track terror suspects... a so-called lone wolf program to track suspects outside terror networks. to examine what happens now, we turn to charlie savage, who covers national security for the "new york times."

so, charlie, tell us as succinctly as you can what this laps we saw dramatically happen last night, what does it actually mean? >> well, it means that right now for the first time in nearly 14 years, when americans pick up the phone and call somebody call their friend or lover or businessman a bank, a pizza place, the n.s.a. is not taking a log of that contact and adding it to its government database to be stored and analyzed for the next five years, and it alsoy3 investigators find a newly-suspicious number they can't just check their own database to see if anyone on u.s. soil has been in contact with that number. they have to use a subpoena to go to the phone company and see if they've seen a trace of that number before and wait for that response. >> ifill: so the subpoena is the backup plan but it takes a lot longer for this to happen

presumably? >> somewhat longer. under the patriot act they had to still go to the spy courtxdñ and get permission to check the database so in that sense it wasn't an instantaneous thing again. >> ifill: the white house said every day last week this was a bad idea to let it laps and the attorney general said a serious laps, so was there a distinct impression left from the administration that this would leave america a more dangerous place. what evidence do we have to support that? >> what we were hearing out of the administration was primarily focused on the log not the phone book program which is based on a creative interpretation of one of those laws in which a federal appeals court said is not legitimately based on that law. it's the administration is focused on what they call the non-controversial uses of the three laws. they have been raising a lot of

scary rhetoric about how we won't be able to track terrorists and this is really irresponsible and so forth on the part of congress. that's been political language for a political purpose which is to pressure opponents of the bill in congress to back down. operationally, if you talked to people inside the government who are actually charged with carrying out these investigations, it's probably somewhat overstated because there's a variety of tools they can use to fill this gap. for one thing, all three laws have a so-called grandfather provision that says they don't expire, they last forever. it's for an investigation that had already begun before june 1. among the other things, the f.b.i. has an open-ended investigation into all things al quaida and, so really, they could use it as long as they want for that kind of counterterrorism investigation, and they can also yules ordinary criminal tools as well like grand jury subpoenas that do the same thing and come with slightly different rules and

restrictions. >> ifill: what evidence do we have in the 14 years of this law and these provisions' existence that they have successfully thwarted any particular attacks or successfully brought about investigations that led to that? >> now you're focused on the book phone records program >> ifill: right. that program began in october 2001 secretly as part of the bush administration's post 9/11 spying and book collection data programs which we later learned was called the stellar program and starting in 2006 the one component which sucks in all records of american phone calls was brought under the patriot act but for the first five year of existence sat there as an assertion of raw, presidential power. so it's been around 14 years. once it was fully revealed in leaks by ed snowden two years ago, it was studied by several independent government panels that had access to classified information. they looked at the reports at what the government considered

success stories and concluded it had never thwarted a terrorist attack. it had been a useful tool. investigator said it helped flush out investigations. if they saw no one had been in contact with a suspicious number, that brought peace of mind burks the only piece of permanent information is it led information to a san diego man who donated several thousand dollars to a terrorist group in somalia, but no evidence the man had been platting a terrorist attack. so the apocalyptic rhetoric that we would be attacked doesn't seem to be bole bolstered about how it functioned. >> ifill: how is the u.s.a. freedom act different? >> it would extend the laws which expired sunday and monday night and would continue on for ordinary uses and six months after it became law would ban

bulk collection of phone records and create a new court order to allow the government to quickly query phone records held at the phone companies and analyze links across phone records that are held one by at&t one by verizon, and allow them to quickly coordinate those and do the same link analysis or chaining among contacts with people that take do with the current program if they held the records themselves. so transition to a program where the government can more or less do the same thing but the bulk records will not be held in government hands. >> we'll be watching to see if that shoe drops. charlie savage, "new york times," thank you. >> thank you. >> ifill: the divided supreme court was mostly united today on two high-profile decisions, one involving workplace discrimination and the other about threats made online. our jeffrey brown has that story.

>> brown: both cases ended in lopsided decisions from the high court. in one, justices ruled in favor of a young muslim woman who was rejected from working at the clothing store, abercrombie & fitch, because she wears a hijab, or headscarf. and in the other, the court overturned the conviction of a man who had posted threatening language against his ex-wife on facebook. joining me now to discuss these two important cases is marcia coyle with the "national law journal." welcome back marcia. let's start with the headscarf case. remind us of the facts. >> the equal employment opportunity commission sued abercrombie & fitch on baffle of samantha elof saying they had violated the law which prohibits discrimination on the basis of beliefs and practices. she applied for a job in the tulsa, oklahoma store, wearing a

headscarf. she did not say that was the religious regions but the hiring manager sought information as to whether it violated the dress code, the look policy. >> brown: which is how one is supposed to look. >> exactly. she was told it did ant should not hire ms. elof. ms. elof won in the trial court got a jury award, but a federal appeal court reversed it saying she had the burden to tell abercrombie & fitch that she needed an accommodation for her religious beliefs and employers cannot be held liable unless they have actual knowledge of the need. the supreme court disagreed. >> brown: the supreme court overruled that overruling to say the company's failure to accommodate her was in fact a civil rights violation. >> an unlawful employment practice. the court says basically to prevail on an intentional discrimination claim as this was

a job applicant or employee has to show only the need for an accommodation was a motivating factor in the employers' decision, not that the cloir had knowledge of the need. >> brown: we had one of the key passages from justice skiia he wrote the rule based on the failure to accommodate religious practice is straightforward. an employer may not make an applicant's religious practice confirmed or otherwise a factor in employment decisions. >> right. he even gave an example of an employer who suspects thinks, is not certain that a job applicant is an orthodox jew who might not be able to work on saturdays. if that applicant needed an accommodation and the employer declined to hire that applicant in order to avoid giving an accommodation, then that's a lie vilation of title 7 even if it's an unsubstantiated suspicion. >> brown: fast forward, aber

abercrombie said it's changing its policies anyway. what about broader application. >> i think you could classify this has broader protection for religious practices. goes beyond muslims. the others who have physical attributes they may have affected hiring and firing, you may not use the look policies that have been use ford a long time as pretext for discrimination. >> brown: facebook, internet speech online -- >> very different cases. >> brown: the facts of this case. >> anthony after his wife left him taking their two children and he lost his job he started putting on his facebook site some very violent vicious posts about how he would kill her, how he would shoot up the kindergarten class, how he would kill an f.b.i. agents who came to investigate the wife's

concerns about the facebook post. he was prosecuted and convicted under a federal law that makes it a crime to transmitt a communication in interstate or foreign commerce that threatens bodily injury or harm to another. he served three years in prison. he appealed his conviction arguing one, that what he said on facebook was really cathartic in the nature of rap lyrics protected by the first amendment and importantly, the lower court gave -- used the wrong standard to convict him. the lower court said all the prosecution had to show is a reasonable person viewing the facebook post would perceive them as actual threats. >> brown: and today the court looking at that statute said that was the wrong standard. >> yes. >> brown: it said they actually have to show this person had intent to do harm. >> chief justice roberts wrote the opinion and disagreed with the lower court and mr. alnis who said the prosecution had to

prove that he subjectively intend to harm each person he talked about. chief justice roberts said the standard used by the lower court is really one used in civil cases. the criminal cases require something more. they require a guilty mind, an awareness of wrongdoing. so he said the intent here that the prosecution has to show is that the transmission of the communication had the purpose of issuing a threat or that the defendantent had knowledge that it would be viewed as a threat. >> reporter: and the court did not go further right, to decide this on first amendment grounds. that would have been -- that's still the territory that's unknown right is, how much speech is allowed online? >> absolutely. this is viewed as potentially a huge first amendment case. the the court specifically left it open, as it will do if it can find a non-constitutional way to resolve the case, it will. >> brown: it doesn't have to decide the big constitutional issues. >> that's exactly what the chief justice said.

we can resolve this on the interpretation of the criminal law itself. >> brown: so very briefly in terms of this particular case, this fellow could, in fact, still be -- i mean his conviction could be upheld? >> well, it's really unknown what's going to happen whether the government would try to retry him. his conviction has been overturned. he served his time. it's my understanding he's back in jail on unrelated charges, so it leaves it open. and they said the court's new test is only going to create additional confusion and chaos. >> brown: marcia coyle with the "national law journal," thank you. >> pli pleasure. >> ifill: we turn now to asia, and disputes over tiny islands in the south china sea that are dominating defense secretary ashton carter's visit to the

region. newshour correspondent william brangham reports. >> brangham: the secretary's asia-pacific tour took him to vietnam today, but china, and its recent moves at sea, were never far from mind. >> the united states opposes militarization and the creation of tensions in the south china sea, even though we are not a claimant to the south china sea, they shouldn't just try to establish that based on pull evidence and pushing people out of the way. if their claims are legitimate, people will realize them. >> the clash of claims focused on the spratly islands where chinese are rapidly building reefs into man maid islands. recent u.s. navy video shows dredging work and the

construction of air strips and harbors on the spratlys. at a security conference in singapore yesterday, a chinese admiral defended the land building. >> ( translated ): these constructions are well within the scope of china's sovereignty and are justified, legitimate and reasonable. they do not aim to pose a threat to another country or affect the freedom of navigation. >> brangham: but even as beijing denies hostile intent, pentagon officials say surveillance flights have spotted mobile artillery systems on the islands. they've since been removed or hidden. and last week, china's navy warned a u.s. surveillance plane to leave the area, in a sign of growing sensitivity to american surveillance. a tabloid owned by the ruling communist party even declared that war with the u.s. is "inevitable," unless washington backs down. back in hanoi today, secretary carter maintained the united states won't be intimidated... >> no actions by any party will change the united states' behavior. we will fly and sail and operate

wherever international law permits, and that will remain unchanged. >> brangham: at the same time, the u.s. is urging vietnam and other allies to curb some of their own activities in the disputed waters, as carter said saturday, in singapore. >> there should be an immediate and lasting halt to land reclamation by all claimants. we also oppose any further militarization of disputed features. >> brangham: republican senator john mccain, chair of the armed services committee has also been visiting the region, and voicing his own concerns. >> we are not going to have a conflict with china but we can take certain measures which will be disincentives to china for them to continue these kind of activities. >> brangham: those measures include efforts to shore up regional militaries, such as giving $18 million to help vietnam buy u.s. patrol boats. joining us now to discuss the

escalating tensions on the south china sea and what role the u.s. should play is kenneth lieberthal. he was senior director for asia on the national security council in the clinton administration and now a senior fellow at the brookings institution. and michael auslin, a resident scholar of asian studies at the american enterprise institute he also writes a column for the "wall street journal." gentlemen, thank you for being here. kenneth lieberthal, i'd like to start with you first. how significant are china's action now? this is obviously more than a few acres of sand in the middle of the sea. >> it is but it's something less than moving populations off land. it's not the occupation of the sedatin land, nothing like that. building platforms in the c i think so in part to reassert china's claims to disputed territory but also potential military use in the future. i think the real danger will be if they put a lot on these islands that give them

especially an air force capability that may lead them to declare what's called an air defense identification zone over the c. over the south china sea. they have the potential to become more worrisome. >> brangham: what does china want, mikele? >> i think china's trying to give the basis to extend territorial claim and say this is territory that comes with 12-mile territories in the oceans and the intentions in the sky as well and making it clear china is the most invested land power so to speak in the south china sea. what ken said about the militarization of the islands and unfortunately seems to be happening, we saw air strips reports of anti-artillery or anti-aircraft weaponry, the problem is not simply they're building them and for research purposes as they said burks from

the get-go they're design for power projection purposes to allow china to extend throughout the region. >> brangham: kenneth lieberthal, secretary carter argued china is breaking the rules. china said we're just doing what other regions in -- nations in the region have done and the land is ours to do as we please. what are the rules governing this? >> the rules are not clear. china is correct in saying it is building on features that others have built on similar features -- taiwan vietnam, philippines in the past, so china is playing campup in a major way and exceeding what others have done. secretary carter is calling for a halt to all of this everyone take a deep breath to see if we can come to a negotiation to avoid conflict and lead to joint

resources in the region and keep this from being something that divides the region in a serious fashion. >> brangham: senator mccain says the u.s. has to do more to contain china's actions. should we be doing more and, practically speak, what should we be doing? >> we should have done more earlier on. we're playing catch-up. this has been slow rolling for years. china has been slowing taking pieces of territory in the south china sea, started in the 1990s, did it a few years ago. our allies and partners have been warning us about it and now we're suddenly waking up to the fact. i think that's the biggest problem is both sides are backing themselves into corners and somebody will have to blink. i think the u.s. can do more by supporting allies and being present. it is a good thing to give aid to our southeast asian nations who would like to be partners but we should have done ate long time ago. the trend line is important.

we've ignored it hope we wouldn't develop in that way and now we're make up lost ground as the chinese build. >> brangham: kenneth? the features that the chinese are building features on are extremely vulnerable, become indefensible if the chinese wanted to do things off finland. we need to focus on freedom of navigation in the area, you know, it's keeping within the boundaries of what we think are really critical for our interests, and we should extend assistance to our friends and allies here to improve their maritime awareness so they know what's going on out there. and we should encourage negotiations. but that's about as far as we should go. i disagree that we're playing catch-up and we've let this fester without paying any attention to it.

>> michael the world leaders, chinese leaders, american leaders say we don't want this to evolve in a conflict. but in a fragile area where terntions are high and bun pilot is talking to one captain, spiems sometimes diplomacy gets thrown out. do you worry this could flair up into something bigger? >> that's the biggest worry we face. we've already had a collision between a cheed and american plane, the chinese pilot died and americans crash landed. with the stakes being higher, the fact of hot-headed pilots in the air or captains on the sea could make it very difficult, i think, potentially, to control something that starts to spiral out of control. look, this is not the soviet union and the united states in the cold war where there were lots of mechanisms for crisis resolution. we don't have the same sets of working relations with the chinese, and while i'm sure that

no one in beijing wants to see a war, the fact is when things are happening very quickly on the ground, it may be hard to control. very quickly to ken's point about what we should be doing. i think the issue is it's a question of balance of power in the sea changing. it's not just that others have claims as well but when china brings its power to b when it changes the facts on the ground or in the sea so to speak, it has long-lasting effects. ken is trying right. we don't take sides on territorial issues but care about the balance of power and that's where our friends and allies say we have been dilatory and not paid as much attention and haven't acted in ways early on to send strong signals about how we wanted it to proceed peacefully now we have the president of the united states calling these chinese actions aggressive. >> brangham: michael auslin kenneth lieberthal, thank you

for joining us. >> thank you. >> ifill: tonight a passenger ship carrying 444 people sank in the yanksy river in southern china. seven people have been rescued so far. rescue operations are still continuing. >> ifill: the plight of myanmar's rohingya muslims finally grabbed headlines recently, after thousands were trapped at sea. malaysia and vietnam have since allowed some of them in. but, about 300 rohingyas have already died at sea this year. and there are reports of others still stranded. earlier today president obama warned myanmar, the country formerly known as burma, that if it wants to become a successful democracy, it needs to take its treatment of the rohingya minority serously. we take a closer look tonight at that treatment. lucy watson of independent television news traveled in myanmar's rakhine state, and filed this report.

>> reporter: life for the rohingya community is rejection. segregated in myanmar are regarded as illegal immigrants looking for escape. still this woman and family tribe fled to malaysia on a trip with 400 others, a trip that lasted 50 days and were rescued two weeks ago. we got a handful of rice a day and have to sit in the same place for the whole trip, if you moved you got beaten, she said. "the entire crew was so brutal some days i wanted to jump into the sea. i wished i was dead. it was so hard ."

she left more than a month ago. "i'm so worried about him, i think he must be dead. i'm terrified for my sister and the future of her children. it's so difficult for them here here." 140,000 are living in camps like these and see their existence like living in a prison. that is the root of the problem that is pushing them into the clumps of the traffickers. traffickers who are known to them, one agreed to talk to us. >> there are lots of us breakers here. we're 150 pounds a person when we take them to the big ship. >> brown: this minority with little access to education, medication or sanitation is being capitalized on as the government still refuses to

class some as burmese. >> i'm afraid and worried some people who don't follow our program and who are refusing to apply for citizenship. this is a big problem. >> but while rohingyas' homes are gated and movement monitored, the desire for real freedom beside the sea won't fade. >> ifill: just today, the number of candidates running for president reached an even dozen. nine republicans and three democrats have formally launched campaigns, with two announcements just since friday. but that's not the only story unfolding this politics monday. and we're joined, as always, by amy walter of the "cook political report" and tamara keith of npr.

welcome back. martin o'malley let's start with him, pamela. who is he appealing to? he gave a very big -- let's listen to it -- a big economic speech message. >> a stronger middle class is not the consequence of economic growth! a stronger middle class is the cause of economic growth! (cheers and applause) and together as one people we must build an american economy that works again for all of us. >> ifill: remind people who martin o'malley. >> he was the governor of maryland until recently is pitching himself as a progressive with executive experience with his time as governor. he's also pitching himself as a new generation of leader. it's drawing a contrast of hillary clinton without putting too fine a point on it. he's 52 years old, plays guitar,

did campaign announcement on snap chat. he's right be the young guy. interestingly, another candidate, bernie sanders, who's also in that case, has captured a lot of that young hip vibe, even though he's 20 years older. >> ifill: a how is martin o'malley doing with berne bernl. >> he thinks he will break through by a generational difference that he's the next generation to come up. these two have been there for a long time. we need a few a new face. the question is does he more clinically decide to go after hillary clinton. from this speech, doesn't seem like it. i took sort of a side swipe against her and said we already have a candidate goldman sachs likes -- they like a bush and a clinton. we don't live in a society where we pass the crown from one to

the other. the clintons are very close witho molly and everybody on the democratic side. so nothing new about that. to me it's a question of does he decide he's going after her, aggressively make his case very pointedly. could happen that he has a breakthrough. >> ifill: in south carolina today we law lindsey graham who's a long-time u.s. senator who decided whey's going to run for president and do it by saying i have more national security experience than the rest of you. let's listen. >> i've got one simple message -- i have more experience with our national security than any other candidate in this race. (cheers and applause) that includes you hillary. i know the players i know our friends and enemies alike, but most importantly, ladies and gentlemen, they know me.

>> ifill: i'm always curious about people who get in a race with ten other republicans who go after hillary first and foremost. is there room in the field as we see it now, tamara, for a national security message? >> he sure thinks so. in part he's there to be the anti-rand paul, to be the anti-ted cruz. he wants to get in and deliver this strong national security message. he's pitching himself as ready to be a commander-in-chief. he has just retired as a reserve officer, served in the air force for a very long time. he said he's been to the middle east more times than he can remember. i think that that's his pitch. he really wants to move the conversation in this republican primary away from isolationism and talk about defeating i.s.i.s. >> it's a great time to do it when republican primary voters are saying national national security is our number one issue etch ahead of the economy. the problem is the other side of

lindsey graham is he's known as sort of, i don't know, a moderate, an accommodationist, certainly to the left of a lot on immigration, supported president obama's supreme court nominations, is to the left on issues like climate change, so he's already starting in some ways at a deficit with some republican primary voters. if you look at the iowa poll from the des moines register his approval ratings are already very, very high. in part that's what a lot of activists remember him for is being too liberal for them. >> he has the nickname lindsey graham, because of his position on rannesty because of his positions on immigration. >> ifill: let's talk about the person who says he's the anti-rand paul. let's talk about the person who stirred the spot this weekend on capitol hill and is continuing to do it tonight. rand paul, senator from kentucky

who, as we last checked, is also running for president and had the opportunity on the n.s.a. surveillance issue to make his point. >> this is what we fought the revolution over! are we going to give up our freedom and go along and say take it? well i'm not going to take i didn't more. i don't think the american people are going to take it anymore! >> senate speeches are different, are they not? >> a little. this has been his issue from the beginning. he's hoping the senate speech will go viral. >> put it on social media to make sure. >> absolutely, that everybody is going to see it happening. his big gamble is this issue is going to help him expand base of donors and voters in the republican primary. the problem is among republican primary voters this issue, n.s.a. security very popular,

it's not unpopular, where his position is popular is voters under age 35. unfortunately for him, not many show up and vote in republican primaries. >> ifill: does he run at any risk at all, saying it nicely, of picking off the other republicans including his seatmate, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell. >> i think you could say they are ticked off right now. he tid not make any friends in the senate. >> ifill: maybe it doesn't matter. >> yeah, i don't know what consequence it has with republican primary voters. there's a well-worn path running against washington. he is definitely running against the body from which he works. >> ifill: an n.s.a. issue, is that political at its root but is there something here really rooted in you mentioned the republican opinion not only among republicans but this cold

discomfort with government? >> there's a discomfort with government and big politics in general. bernie sanders is anything but corporate. look at him and his campaign. at the same time, we're at a different place when it comes to security issues, the concern about i.s.i.s., video beheadings its, that i think voters were in a different place today than they were back when rand paul first talked about running and his positions were considered a little more popular. >> ifill: i want to say a word and bo biden, vice president's elder son and a rising star in the democratic field and stepped away from the ambition at a time we see a dozen people running for president he chose not to run for senate when he was attorney general because he was prosecuting a big case. he was kind of unique in that respect. >> yes. it's just -- for vice president joe biden, this is the second

child that he's having to say goodbye to and, also, i think a piece of his political legacy because bo biden was absolutely the politician his father was and maybe more so. >> ifill: and as we see, it's obviously one of these things when there's been an incredible outpouring across washington and the country. >> it's an interest where there's a bipartisan greeting and you saw it yesterday on twitter where every elected official, everybody involved in politics coming out and grieving for this man who has lost so much. >> okay. amy walter "cook political report," tamara keith of n.p.r. thank you both. >> thank you. >> ifill: we'll be back with an inside look at the islamic state recruiting network. but first, it's pledge week on pbs. this break allows you

>> ifill: finally tonight, we bring you the latest edition to our newshour bookshelf.

we've lately heard a lot about islamic state's ability to lure young people to their cause leading young men to take up arms against infidels and young women to become brides to the fighters. a french reporter created a fake identity to better understand how the recruiting happened, but she got more than she bargained for. she writes about it in a new book called "in the skin of a jihadist." the name of the author on the book jacket is anna erelle, but that is a pseudonym to protect her identity, and her safety. we conducted the interview without revealing her face. hari sreenivasan explains from our new york studio. >> sreenivasan: it started with a share on facebook of this video, a fake profile named melody had friended abu and he sent around the latest video about his guns, his suv the money and glamorous life he had as a jihadist. he was born in france, went to fight in jihad's because nia

afgd and chechnya and now was a trusted lieutenant of the leader of the islamic state. he had two jobs, fight and recruit. within minutes, abu saw melody had shared his video and began private messaging her on facebook. >> and he asked me if i was in islam and if i wanted the to go to syria. >> sreenivasan: within three days, he was asking melody to marry him, before even seeing her face, knowing she was only a convert to islam. >> the only requirement is we are both muslim and you cannot stay in your country, you have to come to syria. it's the only country to be a muslim. if not, you should stay in your own country and you will burn in

hell because you are not a good muslim. you have to come help your brother. >> sreenivasan: a false relationship continued on facebook and skype. >> it was about the religion. >> sreenivasan: he would talk badly about the western world and u.s. and then in the other breath worry about his looks and his desires. he cared about his books. >> he liked passion and expensive wine. >> sreenivasan: on the one hand he rails against capitalism in the west and on the other hand wants you to buy him expensive cologne. >> that's exactly the point. it's hypocritical because that is capitalist. >> sreenivasan: the daily interactions becomes what the author called a controlled

schizophrenia. >> in the beginning i said there is two persons, me and my character melody. i don't know where melody exists and maybe go to syria. >> sreenivasan: there may be cases where girls who have fled to join i.s.i.s. and be jihadis have been documented in europe and the united states. >> i think when it will be finished they will understand that it's not a game it's not a cool stuff to do, it's hell and once you enter you cannot go out. >> sreenivasan: unlike some of those girls, the reporter and her team got out before going to syria. but the publication of the story in a major french magazine last year has meant death threats to colleagues at the magazine and a fatwa, a religious edict against the author requesting her death be slow and painful. do you fear for your safety? >> not today but i'm very concerned for the future because

i have a lot of good people out watching for me. but maybe in one month, six months or later, i will be an easy target. so i'm really afraid about that, yeah. >> sreenivasan: is this all worth it? >> for me, yes. why? >> sreenivasan: because it's my job to know what people don't know and to understand. >> sreenivasan: this all started with a guy showing off guns and his car. >> exactly. and now he's dead and another fighter is dead too. >> sreenivasan: thank you very much for sitting down with us. >> thank you very much. >> ifill: on the newshour online, a tradition steeped in romance is coming to an end today in paris. for years, lovers flocked to one

of the city's famous bridges to attach colorful padlocks, or love locks, as a symbol of their devotion. but alas 100,000 pounds of amour weighed the bridge down and became a safety risk, and the mayor ordered them removed. you can still see pictures of the display, on our home page, that's at pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm gwen ifill, we'll see you online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us here at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century.

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and... >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

this is nightly business report with tyler mathisen and sue herera. >> june gloom? this month promises to be a bumpy ride for investors. and the barrage of economic reportk alone could really stir things up. the supreme court rules on three cases that could have big implications for the workplace, social media and homeowners. fighting cancer. ceo's hail a new era in cancer treatment s good evening, everyone. my partner tyler mathisen has the evening off. the calendar has been