captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> ifill: the president defends a nuclear deal with iran bracing for a tough fight in congress over the landmark pact. good evening. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. also ahead this wednesday: the new horizons space probe phones home-- photos reveal pluto's icy face. >> ifill: plus: >> the reason i'm running, this country is in crisis. >> ifill: he's running: republican senator ted cruz on politics inside washington, tackling immigration and his bid for the presidency. >> a republican, democrat, independent libertarian, i'll compromise with martians if

they're willing to slink the size and power of the federal government. >> woodruff: and, an epidemic of violence in the congo. justice unmet, stigma persists the challenges-- body and spirit-- for survivors of rape and sexual slavery. >> ifill: those are some of the stories we're covering on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur

foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org >> 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. >> woodruff: the iranian nuclear weapons agreement dominated president obama's news conference today at the white house. he took on critics-- at home and abroad-- and appealed to congress for its support. we'll hear some of what he said- - and talk with members of congress-- after the news summary. >> ifill: the president also weighed in on bill cosby during the news conference. court documents now show the actor/comedian admitted he obtained quaaludes to drug women for sex. since that revelation, some have

called for cosby's presidential medal of freedom to be revoked. mr. obama said there's no mechanism for revoking a medal of freedom, but he told reporters in the east room, the larger allegations are clear. >> if you give a woman or a man for that matter, without his or her knowledge a drug and then have sex with that person without consent that's rape. and i think this country, any civilized country, should have no tolerance for rape. >> ifill: former president george w. bush awarded the medal of freedom to cosby in 2002. >> woodruff: for the first time the leader of the afghan taliban-- mullah omar-- has endorsed peace talks with kabul. the written statement was posted online today. in it, the reclusive leader does

not directly mention talks held last week in pakistan. instead, he says: >> ifill: in yemen, militia fighters allied with the government recaptured more ground today in the strategic port city of aden. it's their first major advance since shiite rebels seized the city back in march. battles raged in several neighborhoods as militia fighters-- including many in armored vehicles-- pressed their offensive. they're backed by saudi arabia and other gulf arab states. >> woodruff: a german man in his 90's was convicted today of being an accessory to the murder of 300,000 jews-- at the nazis' auschwitz death camp. juliet bremner of "independent television news" reports on the verdict handed down in a german court. >> reporter: a frail 94-year-old

oscar groening admits his "moral guilt." today a german court decided neither his age nor his willingness to speak of his nazi past could absolve him of his crimes. he was only 21 when he worked as a guard at auschwitz, but now admits he knew what was happening there. his job at the concentration camp was to count the money confiscated from prisoners, he became known as the bookmaker. amongst holocaust survivors who meet regularly in north london one man-- ivor perl-- agreed to go back to germany and testify against groening. >> i looked around to see an old man walking and suddenly i thought to myself, wait a minute, i feel pity for that

man. and i expected to hate him. >> reporter: he was 12 years old when he and his family of 11 were taken to auschwitz, just two survived. but he told me that he was not seeking revenge for the crimes. although he was given a four year sentence, it is uncertain groening will ever actually be sent to jail. >> woodruff: news of today's conviction came as another former auschwitz guard-- also in his 90's-- was indicted as accessory to murder. >> ifill: u.s. authorities and investigators from 20 countries say they've shut down one of the largest online forums for cyber- criminals. the justice department announced today that "darkode" served as a marketplace for buying stolen data and malicious software. u.s. attorney david hickton made the announcement in pittsburgh where the f.b.i has a large cyber-crime unit. >> of the roughly 800 criminal internet forums worldwide, this represented one of the gravist threats of integrity to data in

the united states and around the world and the most sophisticated english speaking forum for criminal computer hackers in the world. >> ifill: the roundup is targeting more 70 suspects worldwide. >> woodruff: and on wall street, stocks mostly marked time today. the dow jones industrial average lost three points to close at 18,050. the nasdaq fell about six points, and the s&p 500 slipped a single point. still to come on the newshour: lawmakers debate the iran nuclear arms agreement-- will they give the president the support he seeks? reaction from tehran where the government has clamped down on public celebrations of the deal, a detailed portrait of the dwarf planet pluto comes into focus republican senator ted cruz on compromise, immigration and his bid for the presidency, greece in turmoil over conditions for a european bailout and confronting a culture of violence in the aftermath of war.

>> ifill: the administration went all out today to sell the freshly-signed iran nuclear agreement to congress and to the american public. president obama led the offensive, appearing at a white house news conference that lasted more than an hour. and when he didn't get the questions he wanted, he asked them himself. >> i'm really enjoying this iran debate. >> ifill: with the ink on the deal barely dry, the president used an extended session with the white house press corps to make his case. >> i can say with confidence but more importantly nuclear experts can say with confidence that iran will not be in a position to develop a nuclear bomb. we will have met our number one priority. and my hope is that building on this deal, we can continue to

have conversations with iran that incentivize them to behave differently in the region, to be less aggressive, less hostile, but we're not counting on it. >> ifill: hours earlier, the iranian negotiating team returned to tehran, triumphant. >> ( translated ): thanks to god, the enrichment of uranium the main part of our nuclear activities, has been recognized. this is a big thing. the nuclear activism of iran will not be decreased but will be increased. >> ifill: but that sort of rhetorical victory lap has enraged critics of the deal, especially in israel, where the intelligence minister mocked the u.s.-led coalition that negotiated the deal. >> ifill: at the white house today, the president took all such charges head on.

>> you'll hear some critics say "well, we could have negotiated a better deal." okay. what does that mean? i think the suggestion among a lot of the critics has been that a better deal, an acceptable deal would be one in which iran has no nuclear capacity at all peaceful or otherwise. >> ifill: he argued that completely denying iran nuclear capacity was never possible, and he again framed the debate as a choice between this deal or the prospect of war. >> i challenge those who are objecting to this agreement number one to read the agreement before they comment on it number two to explain specifically where it is that they think this agreement does not prevent iran from getting a nuclear weapon, and why they're right. and then present an alternative. and if the alternative is that we should bring iran to heel

through military force, then those critics should say so. >> ifill: but, he was asked, what if iran cheats? what would the u.s. and its allies do then? >> one of the advantages of having inspections across the entire production chain is that it makes it very difficult to set up a covert program. you know, there are only so many uranium mines in iran. and if in fact we're counting the amount of uranium that's being mined, and suddenly some is missing on the back end, they got some 'splainin' to do. >> ifill: but mr. obama was visibly annoyed when reporter major garrret of c.b.s suggested he was "content" to leave four americans held hostage in iran out of the deal. >> the notion that i am content as i celebrate with american citizens languishing in iranian

jails, major, that's nonsense, and you should know better. now, if the question is why we did not tie the negotiations to their release, think about the logic that that creates. suddenly, iran realizes you know what? maybe we can get additional concessions out of the americans by holding these individuals. >> ifill: the president also faces skepticism in congress and today, vice president biden went to the capitol to begin selling the iran deal in congress, especially to house democrats. >> woodruff: attention does now shift to congress, which will have 60 days, starting next week, to conduct its own review. joining me now are two lawmakers who serve on the senate foreign relations committee. republican senator johnny isakson of georgia and democratic senator tim kaine of virginia.

and we welcome you both to the program. senator isakson, to you first, you had a chance to look at this agreement. what do you make of it so far? what are you comfortable with? what are your concerns? >> well, first of all, i'm on page 3 of 158 pages so i've got a ways to go. i have been to a number of briefings. i've listened to the president. i'm skeptical and concerned particularly about a couple of factors. one is after five years we lift the conventional arms embargo on the iranians and they will be back in the arms shipping business in the middle east. arms that will probably be used against israelis and americans peace keepers. secondly, the fordow facility, the underground bunkered facility, the most advanced facility will be opened to enriched uranium and weapons grade materials after the 15th 15th year, and there are a number of thresholds from year 8.5, 10 and 12 which means they

will probably have a bomb within 15 years. >> woodruff: senator kaine what about you? what do you make of this agreement at this point? >> well, judy, what i'm trying to do is two things, to determine how the agreement matches with the april 2 framework, because i think if it matches the april 2 framework and there is a solid verification and inspection regime, it will be good for our national security. just one point, this is a reduction of the uranium stockpile iran has by 98%. they have 10,000 kilograms will reduce it to less than 300 and cap it. i've heard nobody else a plan to get iran to give up 98% of their enriched uranium stockpile. that's a positive. i have questions. some sanctions are lifted, some remain in place. how those interplay is a complicated question and that's

one of the reasons we need to take the 60 days to ask the questions. but there are positives about centrifuges and uranium and questions i want to dig into to. >> woodruff: senator isakson, we heard senator kaine talk about centrifuges are cut back in number, the amount of enriched uranium iran would be able to hold on to is drastically reduced. why is that not reassuring to you? >> it's reassuring that it slows down the process they've made but also gives them incremental stems between year 1 and 15 to be back where they were before. the best day of the treaty for the united states of america appears to be the first day and the best day for the iranians appear to be after that because sanctions and requirements are lifted. i will have to read the details but a nuclear armed iran sun acceptable to me, a gnarl proliferation race in the middle east sun acceptable to me, and if we're making it easier for

eat burn of those two things to happen i am reluctant to be supported. >> woodruff: what about the point senator isakson is raising? the president said at his news conference today that during this 8 1015-year period the u.s. will be monitoring very closely what iran does and that everything they do will be visible, even if they try to do something in a covert manner, there will be an ability on the part of the u.s. and its partners to stop it. >> i think the senator's put his finger on a good point that i would turn around and argue as a positive. his concern was will we get to the end of 15 years and iran might be close to a nuclear weapon? they were months away from it in 2013, and the interim negotiation which many said was a horrible, historic mistake, a big giveaway to iran, earned up slowing and even rolling back their program. can you imagine a point at year 15 or 25 where they might do something bad? yes, you could, and that's why

verification is important. remember we were at that point two years ago. i think the critics implils italy eke knowledge their concern for 10 or 15 years down the road. this is something that has brought a significant amount of peace for the world. we've got to look into it and ask these questions especially about that's going to have to satisfy me to go with this deal. if it does, you will see this rollback over a significant period of time, and that was dramatically better than the status quo ante, which is in the u.s.'s around the others' as well. >> woodruff: senator isakson, another point we heard the president make today is to believe that iran is prepared to give up its nuclear ambitions altogether is not -- i'm not quoting him, but in effect, he's saying it's wishful thinking, that this is a country that has come a long way in its nuclear program and that what this agreement does is stop that in a significant way for a period of time that then gives

iran a chance to turn in other directions. is that an argument that could be persuasive, do you think, to you and other republicans? >> well, going back to what tim just said a minute ago, verification is going to be a huge issue to be able to support that the iranians are doing what they're supposed to do. i was part of the new stark treaty, tim was too. we have great deal of verifications from the russians in that. 24 days' notice is a problem for me. i want to be able to verify and do so correctly. the iranians haven't been proven to be honest brokers in dealing with them for a long time if we don't have good type protection, we're in trouble. anotherthing, in the next 90 days, the i.a.e.a. has to be satisfied. if they certify they're satisfied the u.n. and e.u. immediately lift their sanctions against the iranians and

president obama will sign a national security waive tore lift ours. they get everything they want within 90 days of signing an agreement. we're hoping to protract a problem for 15 years that's not a deal. >> woodruff: inter kaine. in november of 2013 they had 20,000 centrifuges and over 10,000 kilograms of enriched uranium much of it near the 20% level that prime minister netanyahu said was the red line. that's where they were and were rocketing ahead. our sanctions hurt them economically but accelerated their nuclear program. now they've rolled the uranium back to less than 5%, they'll cap it and give up 97% of their stockpile they're going to give up two-thirds of centrifuges and agree to inspections which we didn't have before. i want to have a credible military threat if they ever break toward a nuclear weapon. part of a military threat is having inspections that give you intel about where their program is. we're getting all this that we

didn't have before the negotiation, and, again, we've got to dig into the details. i want to take the full 60 days. i was a co-author of the review bill with senator corker. we've got to dig in, but we have a lot we didn't have before the diplomatic effort started. >> senator isakson this inspections agreement gives the united states and other countries eyes into iran that we do not -- that the rest of the world does not have now. i finally want to ask you about the president's point today that the alternative to a deal like this or to this deal is to increase the likelihood of war in the middle east. do you see that as the other option? what is the alternative if this deal is the wrong answer? >> you know, i was in business for a long long period of time and the best deals i ever made were the ones i walked away from and the other side asked me back. it bothers me how much we've given up sanctions at the beginning, how much we've given up in terms of our leverage and

how little trustworthiness on the part of iran. yes the sanctions hurt the people of iran but while they have been hurt by the sanctions, the iranian government continued to enrich uranium, work on a bomb and military, that shows their priority, and we have to make sure that bomb is thwarted in every way we can. >> we have to look at the alternatives. they're not pretty. senator cotton said a war against iran will only take a couple of days. okay, that's an alternative. but i think if you look at the alternatives on the table, inspections we didn't have before, a dramatic rollback of enriched uranium we didn't have before, a reduction in centrifuges we didn't have before and a series of other provisions, if the analysis of the details bears that out, you know, i think it could be very, very good for america's national security. we've got to make sure the deal does what the talking point says it does. >> woodruff: senator tim

kaine, senator johnny isakson, we know this is just the beginning of the examination of that deal. we thank you for talking with us. >> thank you. absolutely. >> ifill: as u.s. critics of the nuclear agreement debate its merits, there is disagreement about whether it will achieve its intended goals elsewhere as well, including in iran. jeffrey brown has that story. >> brown: while members of congress debated the merits of the nuclear deal with iran, the reaction in tehran has been mixed. in the government, hard-liners have not come out against the new agreement while out on the streets there have been pockets of celebrations. i spoke to "new york times" tehran bureau chief thomas erdbrink a short time ago. thomas erdbrink, welcome. let's start in the streets. were there reaction from ordinary iranians seems to have been somewhat muted? >> well, a bit more muted than i expected, for sure. i mean you must consider the fact that these people have been living under the sanctions for years, now and a lot of people expected a massive street party if you will, yesterday night

when the news of the nuclear deal was announced. but it didn't happen. there were several pockets of jubilation, if you will across towrntion and a lot of people were out in their cars. but when you spoke to them when you asked them, are you really happy? there are a lot of people with doubts. some people said maybe we have given up our nuclear plan too easily. maybe we haven't negotiated enough. another says, you know what? why have we suffered so much for 12 years, only for our leaders now to make a deal with the united states. so there was a mixed picture on the streets last night. people were confused and some were critical. >> there were even reports of police showing up to tamp down some of the celebrations that were happening. >> well, i think often in iran when you get a sort of semi-spontaneous gathering some of the authorities get nervous and, in the case of one of the squares where i was president

people started shouting slogans in favor of the opposition leaders. at that point, the police came out and sort of dispersed people, only for them to later be allowed to again rejoin. there wasthere wasn't a very tense situation. overall, people were jubilant, honking their cars, they were happy, but, yes, there were signs of criticism in the form of support for the opposition leaders that are under house arrest. one of the election promises of president rouhani has been to get them freed, so people are reminding him or that fact as well. >> brown: now, just as president obama faces a political fight over this, there are hard liners in iran over the deal. how much clout do they have and how might they go about trying to undercut it? >> well, the picture is not as clear-cut as it is in the united states. iran's hard liners or conservatives or however you

want to label a them control several important power centers in the islam republic -- state television, security forces a large part of the economy. now, these people have gone along with the deal because iran's supreme leader ayatollah khamenei has sort of supported the negotiations. not only iran's hard liners but basically everybody in the country is waiting for what supreme leader ayatollah khamenei will say, and the first opportunity will be on saturday when he will speak marking the end of ramadan, and a lot of the analysts expect him then to also give either his blessing for the nuclear deal or voice some critical points that he might have. >> brown: you're saying it can't be considered a done deal from an iranian perspective until he speaks? >> technically, this deal is not signed by any of the parties. just as congress will have a say in sort of agreeing or opposing

this deal, in iran the parliament will also have a say in whether this is a good deal or not. this is an on site deal, called an agreement, a plan of action. so it's not the end to have the story as iran's foreign minister said. >> brown: finally, is there a sense and expectations among people that lifting sanctions could have a real impact in the lives of ordinary citizens or even perhaps lead to some political change there? >> for now, this news is sinking in slowly. iranians have been living through this rollercoaster of negotiations for the past 22 months. they have gone through deadline after deadline and, by now, a lot of people are telling me, we have to see it to believe it first. and if you ask me about political change, that might be held by many in the west that this deal might bring some sort of westernization to iran, but

if you listen close to iran's leaders, you will conclude that they will not allow starbucks and mcdonald's to open up here in the wake of a broader western change. >> brown: thomas erdbrink of the "new york times," thanks so much. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: after a three- billion-mile journey, nasa finally had the chance today to release the first ever close-up photos of pluto. the images showed mountains on the surface and features as small as half a mile in size. scientists said the pictures were stunning, surprising in some ways and could very well change the way they think about pluto and that area of the solar system. what's striking geologically is we have not found a single impact around this image.

this means this is a very young surface because pluto's been bombarded by objects in the kuiper belt and creators happen. just eye balling it, we think it's probably less than 100 million years old, which is a small fraction of the 4.5 billion year of the solar system. myles, this is exciting. what do science correspondent miles o'brien was watching the press conference today and joins us from boston. >> a much more interesting feature-filled place than we probably expected. i don't know about you, judy but i thought about pluto as being this dark, lifeless, icy ball, way distant in the far reaches of our imagination. but the closer we get to pluto the more interesting the features are. 11,000-foot peaks made of ice and interestingly, a surface that is not pock marked as our

moon is, an interesting clue for planetary scientists because when you look at the moon and see the crater impacts, you say that's a dead planet no geologic or tectonic activity. but pluto and sharon it's moon, kind of a bynary system are amazingly crater free, that means it's active, maybe a molten core and who knows what else. it's very exciting. >> woodruff: when you say ice on the mountains and surface, ice as we know it on earth? >> water ice apparently on pluto and on sharon. what's interesting about this is whenever we look on our planet and find liquid water we find life. now, we see ice on these two bodies. if they do, in fact, have molten cores and there is geologic activity, could there be

underground liquid aquifers? maybe. the scientists won't go that far, don't have the data to prove it burks opens up the imagination, could there be microscopic blue tonians out there? who knows. >> woodruff: how much more can they tell about what's in and on pluto from the spacecraft that is still how far away from the dwarf planet? >> well, it whizzed by somewhere between 20 and 40 times faster than a speeding bullet on its way way past pluto, already. it was a little less than 8,000 feet above the surface and took as many pictures and data as it could. it shut down communications with earth making scientists to have to sweat it out as it did its work. now it's sending back its data at the whopping rate of 2400 baud modems -- half that, 1,000 baud, 1 kilo bit per second. so it will take a while to get

the data in but it's filled with spectrometers that's filled with infrared and different aspects of the spectrum to flush out what's going on in the atmosphere and the surface of pluto and sharon as well. this data along with the information about the amount of dust in the atmosphere and the visual images as well as infrared images will give them a real sense of what pluto is made of. you have to think about the kuiper belt as being the deep freeze with all the ingredients of what makes us in our solar system be what we are. so if you want to see what we're made of, go to the deep freeze, the kuiper belt and take a look. you will see what we're made of. so there's a real connection to how our planet evolved. >> woodruff: i guess there is been a lot of conversation about the heart-shaped area on pluto. what's that about? >> we don't know. interestingly, for a planet that

has more features than rethought this heart-shaped area which appears to be like a valentine is relatively featureless. what is it? we don't know. it's named for the founder whose ashes are on board the new horizon spacecraft and it was named for him by the scientists. they will be looking at the edges where the lighter area meets the darker so they can figure out what's going on. >> woodruff: dare i ask you about that point. this is some conversation about whether pluto will be reconsidered and maybe it will be a planet after all. is that subtle that it's not one? >> you know, if you ask the scientists, they have their rules and they'll tell you pluto is not a planet in the classic sense because if you made pluto a planet, there is dozens of other objects like it in the kuiper belt so you you could go on

and on. we have to draw the line somewhere. i say pluto should be grandfathered in because we all love it. number two, it's the only binary system in our solar system, so should get a special exemption. i say pluto gets grandfathered in and that's the end of it. but if you're talking to neil tyson or mike brown at caltech, they get their scientific downdrop when i say that. >> woodruff: no one we'd like to look at the kuiper bet with than miles o'brien. thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: you can watch much more about this mission on nova tonight. "chasing pluto" airs later this evening on most pbs stations. >> ifill: we return now to the 2016 campaign, and our continuing conversations with the still expanding universe of presidential candidates. that includes senator ted cruz of texas, who jumped in the race

first, and is now among its top republican money raisers. he's the author of a new memoir "a time for truth." and he's "running." i sat down with him earlier today. mr. senator, thank you for joining us. >> thank you dpen, good to be with you. >> ifill: you wrote in your book you want to paint in bold colors. that's the kind of presidency you imagine, the kind of washington you imagine. has that worked for you in the senate? and how would it work as president? >> well, as you know that's a reference to what ronald reagan explained in terms of, number one, how we win but, number two, how we turn the country around. he said we have to paint in bold colors and not pale pastels, and i think that is clearly needed. people are tired of politicians who say one thing and do another, and what i've tried to do in the senate has really been very simple. it's been two things -- tell the

truth and do what i said i would do. >> ifill: you are not known as an accommodationist. in fact you say at every opportunity almost everybody else in washington is. you describe the washington cartel. does that include rand paul and mitch mcconnell who come in for criticism in the book? >> you say accommodationist. one of the areas that gets repeated in the media is uncompromise. every conservative likes to be dark cay chiewrd as you will never compromise. i never said that. the day i was i elected, i said i will happily compromise with anybody, i joked i'll compromise with martians if they're willing to shrink the size and power of the federal government, if they're willing to promote economic growth, if they're willing to expand individual liberty. what washington gets wrong far too often is that too many people compromise going backwards. they compromise in a way that's worse than status quo that digs

the hole deeper, that makes it worse. >> ifill: let's talk about compromise in a broader sense. yesterday there was an iran nuclear deal cut. scott walker one of your competitors you welcome to the race said the first thing he would do as many is roll that back. what's the first thing you would do as president? >> this deal is a catastrophic deal an historic mistake and endangers united states national security and the lives of millions of americans and millions of our allies, so any president worth his salt should repudiate this deal in the very first days of his or her presidency. i don't think it is a reasonable middle ground to do as the obama administration is trying to do to allow them, in fact, to accelerate iran's developing nuclear weapons. this is a deal that is profoundly dangerous to our national security. >> ifill: i would like to bring you back to 2016 for a moment. you were on your way to new york

later today to speak with donald trump, one of your competitors. do you think he can be president? >> listen, i like donald trump, i think he's bold, brash i'm glad he's in the race. >> ifill: does that mean you agree with his policy prescriptions? >> we need to wait to see what they are. one of the aspects of politics is you have to actually look at someone's record, not just what they say on the campaign. it's interesting, there are a lot of what i call campaign conservatives who, when they campaign, become conservatives and yet when they're in office, they don't govern as conservatives. >> ifill: but i have to ask you, donald trump a conservative? >> well, we'll give him an opportunity to lay out his record and views but what i am not going to do is join with the washington cartel and smack him. trump is focusing on illegal immigration and sanctuary cities and just about all the other candidates have vocally and vigorously embraced amnesty for years and one of the reasons is the washington cartel supports

amnesty. do you know who's losing? the ohio steelworker is losing, the single mom waiting tables is losing. the legal immigrant like my dad who washed dishes making 50 cents an hour, they're the ones losing. >> ifill: you talk a lot about your dad. bobby jindal said this hyphenated american thing is nonsense even though marco rubio and you both identify that way. let's talk about heritage how important is that in this race? >> well, look, our heritage is integral to who all of us are. we are all a product of our family journey. it's one of the things i try to do in the book, a time for truth is lay out my family journey going back generations, going back to my great grandfather coming to cuba, dying in the worldwide influenza epidemic. my grandfather growing up on a sugar cane plantation basically in indenture servitude and then

going, when he was a teenager a bus came by and offered everyone $5 and a sandwich to go to a political rally. >> ifill: at what point do you become just an american and not a cuban-american? >> every one of us, we're the product -- one of the things i try to describe in the book are the journeys. >> ifill: i do want to ask you a question about something you reference in your book in which you say one of your favorite country western songs is some of god's greatest gifts are unanswered prayers. what are yours. >> one i describe is the time i spent on the presidential campaign of george w. bush. i was in my 20s enjoyed success and was too cocky for my own good and burned some bridges on my campaign. i desperately wanted to go in

the administration and have a seen your position in the white house. i wanted to be the young idealistic staffer in the oval office saying, mr. president, do the right thing stand by principle. yet that didn't happen and it was my fault. i had burned the bridges. >> ifill: what lessons have you learned about burning bridges since then. >> when i referenced the country western song it's because, in hindsight, my wife heidi says that experience, she thinks, changed my personality in a very real sense, that i needed to get my teeth kicked in, that i needed to learn humility voluntarily or involuntarily as is usually the case. and the point i make is i had gotten what my hopes and dreams were at that point, if i had gotten that senior position, there's no chance i would be serving in the senate right now. if i had gone to the white house, it would have done what it does to so many other young staffers, they become convinced they're terribly terribly

important. >> ifill: but now you're ready? >> yes, and i'll tell you, the reason i'm running, this country is in crisis. growing up in our house, there was always an urgency of politics. it wasn't pick up the newspaper, turn on the "newshour" oh, that's interesting, that's what's happening. it was having presence approximatelied men and women in office is how you save yourself from tyranny. it was an appreciation. i remember when i was 9 and 10 years old cheering the ronald reagan campaign watching the debates as a kid and it was about can we get back to principles of liberty that enable people like my dad to start with nothing and achieve anything, and i think we're at a similar crisis point. the obama-clinton foreign policy is a manifest disaster. the world is literally on fire. >> ifill: and you're the man to put out the fire? >> the american people are the only force strong must enough to put

out the fire. the biggest divide we have politically is not betweenrooms and democrats it's between career politicians in washington in both parties and the american people. >> ifill: we are going to watch this debate play out all year long and part of next year as well. senator ted cruz of texas, thank you for joining us. >> thank you gwen. >> woodruff: in greece today, protesters clashed with police as the prime minister struggled to get parliament to approve the financial bail-out deal he negotiated with his country's creditors. the deal contains austerity measures that would hit greek consumers hard. pbs newshour special correspondent malcolm brabant reports from athens. >> reporter: all day, they marched to the greek parliament- - condemning the austerity bill with its tax hikes and public pension changes.

>> the greek people have expressed themselves through the ballot box twice. that they reject austerity. and despite that we're getting the worst package we've had over the past five years. >> reporter: and as evening fell, the trouble began: youths throwing molotov cocktails, and riot police firing back with tear gas. their goal: to stop the deal that prime minister alexis tsipras struck monday with greece's creditors-- in a bid to earn a new bailout and stay in the eurozone. even tsipras criticized the agreement on greek television last night. >> ( translated ): i am telling you right now. it is my responsibility that i signed a text i do not believe in. however, i am obliged to implement this text. because right now i must guarantee at least that the country and social groups shall not face destruction. >> reporter: but in parliament today, the leftist leader faced the stiffest opposition from members of his own syriza party.

>> ( translated ): there is no doubt that there is no way for me to say yes on a despicable agreement which will drive more greek people to poverty and will destroy the development and social fabric of the country, whatever is left of it from the last five years. >> reporter: at least two members of the government resigned, rather than back the bailout deal. that left tsipras relying on support from opposition parties and even some of them strongly opposed the new economic measures. greece's finance minister tried to win over doubters today underlining the potential benefits to greece. >> ( translated ): this is a tough agreement. this is an agreement which only time will ow whether it's economically viable. there are concerns about recession, there are concerns but under certain conditions, if the combination of recessionary and non-recessionary measures may finally lead to growth. >> reporter: any incentive the greeks have to fully implement the austerity measures imposed

by europe have been completely uort from the international monetary fund. it says that greece's debt is unsustainable. the country may have to take a 30 year break before making any repayments. and the creditors may have to take a haircut. this is an analysis with which germany-- europe's biggest player-- totally disagrees. moreover, some in greece say questions about the stability of tsipras' government may delay any bailout funds. nikos kostandaros is the editor of "kathimerini," greece's biggest newspaper. >> if we go into a period of great political uncertainty, i think that the european money will have to hold off to see what's happening, who will own the program and who will run the reforms and the austerity that needs to be carried out. >> reporter: meanwhile, the greek people were left today to cope with a 24-hour strike that crippled public transportation and even shut down pharmacies. and, greece's banks stayed closed and remain so through tomorrow. for the pbs newshour, i'm malcolm brabant in athens.

>> ifill: the wars in the congo are now over and the country is rebuilding. for the victims of sexual violence that means medical and psychological treatment. for the perpetrators of that violence, it is prosecution. pbs newshour special correspondent jonathan silvers brings a story of both from the eastern congo city of bukavu. >> bukabu is slowly emerging from a conflict that spanned two decades and spared no one. roughly half the people endured the violent death of a family member. 80% have been forced to flee their home at least once. with the economy shattered and basic supplies scarce, survival is a matter of improvisation. conflict has left countless places around the world in a similar condition. what makes the town extreme is the sexual violence the conflict unlished according to the

medical staff here at the hospital. >> what is typical? rape is now typical. it wasn't present in former rebel yuns. now there is individual rape mass rape, in churches of boys, of entire families. this is all very new. >> the doctor is director of a sexual violence unit at the hospital. she estmates over one-third of the girls in the region have been raped, many brutally and on multiple occasions. >> why is she bleeding? something must have happened. >> non-government organizations provided the hospital with equipment that expedites diagnosis, but demand for emergency care far exceeds the hospital's limited resources. for every woman taken in, another is turned away. among postoperative patients on the morning we arrived a 4-year-old girl. >> this girl was raped about two

and a half months ago and she was very malnourished. she was totally damaged in the private part. so we had to wait two months and she had surgery about two weeks ago, which was successful. she's basically bodily mended now, but who knows what will happen in the future with her. >> the hospital treated roughly 30 young children in similar condition in the space of four months. all came from a nearby village. in addition to treating their patients' medical needs hospital staff are now gathering forensic evidence in the hope that it may one day be used to identify and prosecute perpetrators. >> despite our efforts, there are no solutions. nothing is quick. when government officials see

what we see and fail to react, it's revolting. you feel like taking them by the throat and shaking them. when things like this go on it means we are no longer a society because the society is about humanity, and when we lose our humanity, we are no longer a functioning society. >> with national institutions largely dysfunctional, local authorities are trying to respond to conflict-related violence and abuses of human rights. the congo police department is making an effort to train officers in modern crime scene techniques. that training is starting to pay off. police captured this young man in the midst of a robbery. upon arrival at the station house, they discovered that he's a former soldier suspected of multiple rapes and murders. the overwhelming majority of perpetrators of sexual violence are soldiers and paramilitaries. their nervous make them hard to hunt down and often protected by

commanders according to police commissioner. >> in times of war, the perpetrators are mostly armed soldiers. in times of peace, the majority of perpetrators, some 80%, are civilians, but they're always the same people, between 17 and 40 jobless poorly educated. in war they get recruited to terrorize with weapons. later they continue to terrorize during the post-war disorder. >> while the international community has not intervened in sexual violence here, it has strongly condemned the crisis. in response the d.r.c.'s military has recently begun convening tribunals of soldiers charged with rape and sexual slavery. >> few survivors dare to come forward to speak about what happened to them. the stigma is unbelievable in their community. they're rejected by their families, their husbands, their parents, their children they lose their livelihood they lose any sense of place in their community. so speaking out about what

happened to them comes at an enormous cost to them. >> terren exams sexual violence in sub-saharan africa. she traveled to bukabu to monitor a trial of soldiers charged with rape and sexual slavery. last year over 150 soldiers and officers were tried in military operational courts like this one. >> what we found over time is that even those survivors who dare to come forward often fail at the local level because of inadequate evidence supporting their allegations. >> one of the cases that she is monitoring involve the sexual enslavement of an add adolescent girl by a soldier. the girl is mentally impaired. in trial her identity was concealed by a head scarf and sunglasses. minutes after the session began the military judges abandoned the rules and ordered the girl

to remove the head covering confront her oppressor in court. the prosecutor objected saying the judge was violating rules shaming the victim and putting her at risk of retaliatory violence. the judge overruled the objection and the girl complied. we turned off our cameras to protect her identity. the judges have yet to rule on the case. >> this is a tactic that is not uncommon in the democratic democratic republic of congo and there is an outcry among so many people we work with who are just desperate to find effective mechanisms to hold at least some of those responsible to account for a former judicial process. >> despite the obstacles, the police commissioner noticed an increase in women seeking assistance at the bukabu police department. they've been encouraged by recent laws against gender-based violence enacted by the government but the courts often impose fees on victims, often

too young to pay, and can't promise they will investigate. here is 30 a month no transportation, little resources and no support from the judiciary. >> there are so many challenges to a.b.m. girls. above all we need a vast number of professional investigators here with proper equipment. otherwise, conditions will remain just as they are. >> for the pbs "newshour", jonathan silvers in but bukabu, democratic republic of congo. >> woodruff: finally tonight our "newshour shares" of the day, something that caught our eye which might be of interest to you, too. beachgoers in the cape cod town of chatham had a rare on-land encounter with a great white shark monday. the seven-foot-long shark had been chasing seagulls and then was beached on shore when the tide went out. iphone video of what happened

next has drawn more than two million views on youtube. it shows chatham harbormaster stuart smith pouring buckets of water over the shark's gills to keep it alive until help arrived. smith and a colleague were able to tie a rope around the ailing animal and tow it back into the water. a second video posted yesterday shows what happened after rescuers resuscitated the shark and pulled it out to deeper water, where they waited to see if it would regain strength. >> oh, look at him. >> woodruff: the shark swam away about three hours after the rescue effort started. >> ifill: must be summer sharks. on the newshour online: when it comes to cell phone use, you've heard of distracted driving, but what about distracted operating? there aren't any federal regulations that restrict cell phones in the operating room. that's why physicians and medical groups are calling for clear rules. read more about doctors'-- and patients'-- concerns, on our

home page. that's at pbs.org/newshour. >> woodruff: tonight on charlie rose: former mideast envoy dennis ross and former undersecretary of state nick burns on the iran nuclear deal. >> ifill: and that's the newshour for tonight. on thursday: could a new tax help reduce the effects of climate change? i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the worlds most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and...

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