tv PBS News Hour PBS July 26, 2016 3:00pm-4:00pm PDT
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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. >> ifill: and i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: we bring you the newshour tonight from the wells fargo center in philadelphia, site of this week's democratic national convention. >> ifill: it's day two here--- delegates are set to make history by nominating a woman, for the first time to top a major party's presidential ticket. >> woodruff: and with president bill clinton speaking tonight, we look back at a different kind of first lady-- in part two of our hillary biography series: the ups and downs of her eight years in the white house. >> she knows the issues better than anybody i know, including her husband. that was threatening to some people, to some voters. >> sreenivasan: and i'm hari sreenivasan in washington: we'll have all the non-convention news of the day, including: polluted
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water, corruption, and a crumbling economy-- why venezuela's oil problem is crippling the country. >> ( translated ): the oil goes to the bottom of the lake. that's where the crab is. it migrates, or dies, or gets covered with petroleum, and when it's stained like that, no one will buy it. >> ifill: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ love me tender >> we can like many, but we can love only a precious few, because it is for those precious few that you have to be willing to do so very much. you don't have to do it alone. lincoln financial helps you provide for and protect your financial future because this is what you do for people you love.
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called it the "highest, hardest glass ceiling"-- the barrier to a woman becoming president of the united states. tonight, she's being named the democratic presidential nominee, after turning away a vigorous primary challenge from bernie sanders that extended this week onto the streets of philadelphia and the floor of the convention. in fact, behind us now, the delegates have begun to cast their votes. we'll come back to that a little later, but first correspondent lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> bernie sanders! >> reporter: this is hillary clinton's nomination night, but bernie sanders still got a standing ovation from new york delegates this morning as he pushed again for uniting against donald trump. >> we must defeat the worst republican candidate in modern history of this country. >> reporter: but it's not all unity yet: a sanders backer touched off a shouting match at a texas delegation breakfast.
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>> we want to be clear, we are currently condemning our current presumptive nominee. [booing] >> you folks need to grow up! you need to grow up. >> get out of here, she won! >> reporter: vice president biden played down the divisions as he walked through the convention floor, chatting with delegates and saying he thinks sanders supporters will rally behind clinton in the end. >> we have to be a little graceful here. you know, the delegates worked their tail off and they're here in large numbers. give them a chance, man. give them a chance. i promise you they're going to be fine. >> reporter: after this evening's state by state roll call vote, the focus shifts to hillary clinton's experience, and the delegates hear from top democrats, past and present. the democratic women of the u.s. house-- led by minority leader nancy pelosi-- will take the stage early.
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former attorney general eric holder will speak to clinton's stand on social justice. and, former president bill clinton will round out the night, making the case for his wife. republican donald trump had a decidedly different take, at the veterans of foreign wars convention in charlotte, north carolina. he roundly criticized clinton and the democrats gathered in philadelphia for making no mention of the islamic state threat so far. >> we need to change our foreign policy to focus on defeating and destroying isis, a word you didn't hear last night at the democrat convention. you didn't hear about it. they don't want to talk about it. because in a very true way they really established isis because of weakness. >> reporter: meanwhile, at an economic summit in laos, secretary of state john kerry raised moscow's alleged involvement in hacking the democratic national committee's e-mails. but russian foreign minister
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sergei lavrov dismissed the issue. >> well, i don't want to use four-letter words. >> reporter: the clinton campaign said today there's no evidence that its e-mail system has been breached. for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: next we head down to the convention floor, where npr's "weekend edition sunday" host rachel martin is standing by. rachel is joining us every night this week as part of our joint pbs newshour and npr convention coverage. rachel what should we be expecting tonight? >> reporter: hi, judy. sa you can hear behind me, the roll call is still going on, and as was mentioned in that piece that just preceded me, history is happening here tonight in the democratic party is hoping that history can help heal the divisions that still exist between bernie sanders supporters and those in this arena who are supporting hillary clinton. there will be a whole slew of speaks, or this stage tonight
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who will be making the case for hillary clinton. the theme of the campaign tonight is supposed to focus on hillary clinton's experience, sticking up for children and families over her career. to that end, we're going to hear from the so-called mothering of the movement. these are the mothers of eric garner, trayvon martin, sandra bland, other ands who will be addressing the the issue of police brutality in this country, race relations. we will also be be hearing an important speech tonight from former president bill clinton. by our count, it will be the eighth time that president clinton has addressed the democratic national convention. this will be, perhaps, the most important speech he has ever given in this arena as he endorses his own wife for president of the united states. back to you, judy and gwen. >> woodruff: making history, rachel. we'll be glued to all of it, thanks. >> ifill: thank you, >> ifill: thank you, rachel.
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our next guest shattered her own glass ceiling in 2007 when she was elected the first woman speaker of the house of representatives. now minority leader nancy pelosi joins us now. welcome. it's so good to see you here, but i'm wondering as you watch this roll call play out, where the bernie sanders supporters are still getting their final cry in, whether you think that you're signaling unity with this. >> we're signaling strength. as we disagree with each other, we learn more about each other, and more and more people are coming together. some may never get there. they just may not get there. but largely, this convention is coming together. everybody understands that whatever our differences, they're vastly-- small compared to the vast difference between the democrats and the republicans, between hillary clinton and the republican nominee. >> woodruff: i've curious about your own delegation, madam leader, california. 300-and-some delegates for hillary clinton, but over 200
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delegates for bernie sanders. california is the biggest, most populous state in the country. how are they coming together? >> they'll come together. we'll have the biggest vote for hillary clinton. governor brown said he thinks we can win by 20 points for hillary clinton in california. we'll see. but it's going to be big. >> ifill: so donald trump is making things up when he says he's going to compete in california? >> let him think that. >> ifill: okay, let me ask you how you do win. what is key going forward, leaving philadelphia, for your nominee? >> well, what is key for winning the election is to be able to put forth a vision for our future and how it this election affects people's lives. we're about rejecting trickle-down economics. instead an economy that works for everyone, not just the privileged few. in terms of winning the election, it's all about turnout and how we connect with the voter as to what it means in their lives to turn out to vote.
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to win the house and senate, state houses, state governorships and the rest. so turnout is everything. and turnout really runs on the fuel of inspiration. so i believe hillary clinton's vision, based on her experience, based on her knowledge and judgment, as well as her connection with the american people, after a latest of service and leadership for america's families and children. >> woodruff: i don't think anyone is closer to the voters in washington than members of the house of representatives. you know that place very well. right now, donald trump is doing much better than hillary clinton among white men, and particularly white men who have not attended college. how does hillary clinton counter that? >> with an economic agenda to create jobs, good-paying jobs, increasing paychecks, the economic agenda is what is really-- it's about the economy. you know that statement. it's not a cliche. it's a fact. and i think that so many times
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white, noncollege-educated white males have voted republican. they voted against their own economic interest because of guns, because of gays, and because of god. the three "gs," god being the woman's right to choose. that is softening. some of those people were never going to be voting democratic anyway. but i believe that with the turnout that we expect to have, we will draw some of them in with our message, and enough other people to win the election. >> ifill: leader pelosi, how do you compare what we're going to be seeing here tonight with the nomination of hillary clinton to gerald dean ferauro in 1984? you were there. >> 1984, i was chair of the host committee, at the san francisco convention. and i can tell you, i can just drum it up immediately, the thunderous response that that
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convention had to her nomination. mind you, the convention was very split between mondale and gary hart. so it had a similar feeling to this. nonetheless, as nomination of the first woman as vice president of a major party, it was thunderous. and that's what will happen with hillary clinton, even beyond because she's going to be nominated for president, the most powerful person in the world. it's very exciting. >> woodruff: and it will be historic, as we've been saying. but should it be a factor in how people vote, the fact that she would be the first woman president, the fact that she say woman? >> i don't think-- i think that people want to know what the election of a particular person means in their lives. what is jur vision? what is your plan to get something done that affects me? and i've always ?aid my own rise in the leadership, please don't ever ask anybody to vote for me because i'm a woman. that happens to be, in my view, an enhancement, but nonetheless
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it's all about who is the best person for the job. hillary clinton is the best person for the job. she will go into the oval office before prepared even than president obama. he has said that himself. better prepared than president bush, george w. bush. better prepared than her own husband. she has vision, knowledge and judgment. she is a strategic thinker, based on her experience and convention. i know something about power, being the first woman speaker of the house. actually, the legislative branch is the first article of the constitution, and so president, vice president, speaker the of the house, third highest. and for me, it's particularly almost emotional to think that she will have that much power to help develop a consensus in our country and be the leader of the free world. >> ifill: power is is the word. nancy pelosi, minority leader of the house of representatives. thank you so much. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: who has already made history herself by being
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the first woman in the position. >> and i'm happy to relinquish the title of the highest elected woman in the history of our country. >> woodruff: now, to the second part of our series exploring hillary clinton's life. tonight, the eight years she spent in the white house. her tenure as first lady can be categorized as atypical, and even controversial at times. she logged many firsts-- first presidential spouse with a graduate degree, first to testify before a grand jury, and the first to have an office in the west wing of the white house. before the clintons ever stepped foot into the white house in 1993, and she was given her own west wing office, there were hints hillary clinton would be a different kind of first lady. >> i suppose i could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas, but what i decided to do was fulfill my profession. >> woodruff: that candid comment early in the '92 campaign didn't go over well with voters, so she shifted to a more traditional role until election day.
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but as soon as her husband was elected, she was again a public player. >> hello. this is hillary clinton. i want to thank you for letting me speak with you about an issue that is central to our children's future. >> woodruff: early on, president clinton tapped his wife to steer a major initiative-- running the task force on national health care reform. david gergen was an aide to the president at the time. >> she's an extraordinarily competent woman. she knows the issues better than anybody i know, including her husband. that was threatening to some people, to some voters. men of the older generation would say, "i would be really proud if my daughter grew up to be like hillary clinton, to be the kind of path breaker she is, but i sure as hell am glad that my wife isn't." >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. >> woodruff: in the beginning, the health care effort looked promising, says author rebecca
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traister. >> when she first took on the project, and initially testified in front congress about health care reform, it actually looked like it might go well. she was already a very divisive figure-- people hated her, people loved her. she was so clearly smart, competent, her approval ratings went way up, people liked it. >> woodruff: but as weeks passed, clinton's healthcare plan was attacked by the right and the left. conservatives called it a government takeover. even with a democratic majority in congress, the bill never made it out of committee. hillary had recruited dozens of experts to help craft an elaborate plan for universal coverage, but she had insisted most of the work be done in secret. david gergen says it was that and the lack of political outreach that led to failure. >> she hadn't learned yet to play the washington game. >> woodruff: the collapse of the healthcare initiative was one of the major factors in the g.o.p.'s takeover of congress the following year.
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during bill clinton's second term, hillary was successful in her push for a program that enabled washington to partner with states to ensure health coverage for uninsured children. but unlike the first four years, she spent less time in the west wing, and more time traveling abroad, much of it promoting women's rights. >> it is no longer acceptable to discuss women's rights as separate from human rights. >> woodruff: traister describes it as a retreat into a more traditional first lady role. >> she and chelsea did a lot of traveling around the world. she wrote a book called, "dear socks, dear buddy-- notes from the white house pets." she was blamed so enthusiastically for what happened with health care reform, and she was really attacked so forcefully, that it precipitated a real retreat by hillary from this divisive public role that she had held
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within the administration. >> woodruff: hillary was also at the center of a string of controversies. the clintons' involvement in a failed arkansas land deal known as whitewater, would follow both of them through his presidency. >> i think one of the most troubling moments for me at the white house came over the whitewater issue. >> woodruff: former white house aide david gergen. >> i had a conversation with the president and we got his assent to give over the documents to "the washington post." but then the president said, "before we do this, you gotta remember this. both hillary and i were involved in this, we can't release the documents without her blessing as well, and by the way, david you oughta go get it." i made the effort to see her, and try to persuade her to give over the documents, and i was ultimately very, very unsuccessful. >> woodruff: for years, hillary clinton resisted calls to release documents related to whitewater and other controversies.
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that in turn, drew more attention from the news media and ultimately led to the appointment of a special prosecutor. >> if you stick to secrecy too much in the white house, and there's a temptation for every white house to do that, but if you stick too closely to temptation, you can pay a big, big price. and she paid a price for it. >> the conventional wisdom about whitewater always is, take any straw that you can to go on. i don't have any doubt that there are those who will say this should go on. i just would like to tell them, "go on where? we've been going on for four years." >> woodruff: the investigation ended after it was declared there was insufficient evidence to prove any wrongdoing. but the prolonged struggle led to a far more damaging controversy, brought to light by independent counsel kenneth starr. >> had it not been for kennh starr, we would have never heard of monica lewinsky. and if we had never heard of monica lewinsky, bill clinton would have not been impeached. >> i did not have sexual relations with that woman, miss lewinsky.
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>> woodruff: as the story of the president's involvement with a young white house intern unfolded, it set off a firestorm of headlines about the state of the clinton marriage. gergen describes their relationship as being a bit like a seesaw. >> as long as the seesaw was in equilibrium, they worked well together. when hillary sort of got hurt and lost a couple of things, lost the congress, and the seesaw tipped like this and bill was on top, that's when i think he allowed himself to succumb to some of the temptations. there was a lot of volatility in that relationship. how well did she handle it? well, she stuck by her man. >> woodruff: as the end of bill clinton's presidency approached, sympathy for the first lady helped boost her image: she began openly planning her own political career. >> bill and i are closing one chapter of our lives, and soon we'll be starting a new one.
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for me, it will be up to the people of new york to decide whether i will have the privilege of serving them in the united states senate. >> woodruff: one year later, hillary clinton added yet another first to her resume. the first presidential spouse to run for elected office. >> ifill: we mark this historic night with two women who have been trail blazers in their own right. kamala harris is attorney general of california. she is the first woman and first african-american to hold that office, and she is running this year for the u.s. senate. and representative cheri bustos of illinois was the first woman elected to congress from her district. she now works to elect other woman candidates. welcome to you both i want to ask you both to think back to 19 84. we were just asking nancy pelosi about this, when geraldine ferraro became the vice
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presidential candidate. cheri bustos, how different is it now? >> i still think there are challenges. i recruit candidates all over the country. we have 38 people who are on that list of cease where we think we have an opportunity to pick those up for democrats. half of those are women. there are still challenges when we're looking at women running for office and i think how we're going to correct that is what's going on right here. when we get a woman in the white house i think it will be easier to get women to run for office and i hope we make some tremendous gains over the years. >> i agree. also, there's a significance to the nomination of hillary clinton that relate relates to e my mother gave us when we were growing up, my sister and me. is & she would say, "you may be the first to do many things. make sure you're not the last." so there is that thing about the
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way hillary clinton has actually lived her professional life that is also about mentorship, encouraging other women to be forward and do it, knowing they can succeed. equally important is what mechelle obama said last night. the significance of hillary clinton breaking the ceiling, is the significance of telling our sons, as well as our daughters, "you can do anything, unburdened by who has done it before." and that's an important point to make to everybody, not just girls, not just women, not just people of a certain race. it's telling everyone, "anyone can do whatever they want. it is all possible if you work hard." >> woodruff: you were saying there are still obstacles after all this time? what are they? we've had women elected to the senate. a few women elected governors. what is it, 17% of the house of representatives are women. is it a matter of confidence? is it money? what is holding women back?
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>> it is very, very different when we're recruiting a woman versus recruiting a man, the questions that we get. a man typically will say right off the bat, "i can win?" that will be question number one. if you say yes, we're all in. with a woman, it is, "how does a campaign impact your children, your family? how cow take it when these attack ads are running? how does your family take that?" and "if i am elected, how is it when i have to go back and forth to washington, d.c.?" when i'm involved with recruiting women, i've got a very close-knit group of girlfriends. we were all elected right around the same time. and we'd take a woman candidate who were looking at out to dinner and we'd talk about all those challenges, whether it be if they have young children, i will call my good friend congresswoman grace ming who has two young boys and say, "grace can you talk with this woman how it is when you have two young
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boys and how you skype when walking on the house floor and do homework by skype." very different sets of questions you get and perceived obstacles as hear. >> ifill: kamala harris, today hillary clinton's campaign manager said he believed the double standard applied to women. that is not the only thing driving some of the kind of historic unfavorable numbers for her, but he thinks it's very real. what do you think? >> i think that to be sure. i'm a career prosecutor. i was elected as the first district attorney of san francisco and the first attorney general of california, which means i'm the top law enforcement officer of the state of california. and there were a lot of people who doubted that i would be elected for that reason. they said-- well-meaning people-- "no one like you has done this before and that will be a challenge and people aren't prepared for someone like you holding that position." there are challenges but i think equally important, and i think the congresswoman is absolutely correct, when we understand that, and through your leadership and women and men
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like you, pulling together an infrastructure to encourage those women to have faith that they actually can do it and building the infrastructure around them. anything can be done. i think also the point you were asking about fund raising is a very real one for women. most women are taught to be independent and to be independent means don't ask anyone for money. and then you run for office and you have to ask everybody for money. and there's a real psychological burden that associates with that. and so i say, "listen, just be clear. you're not asking someone to buy you a pair of shoes. it's about having them invest in what they believe is in the best interest of their community, their families, and the issues. >> woodruff: congresswoman, right now the polls show crump is doing better with men than hillary clinton is with women. why do you think that is? >> i believe that as we get closer and closer to november and the policies that both
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hillary clinton stands for and the democratic members of congress and what we want to support after she's in the white house, and we talk about that on the campaign trail and among all of the states in our nation, i think those number numbers will. what we stand for are currently backburner issues-- equal pay for equal work. paid family leave. making sure that seniors will have their social security and medicare there as they age because that affects women disproportionately. so as we talk about this and what we want to do, not just for women but for our families and you take a look at what hillary clinton stands for and what the democrats stand for, i think we'll see some shift in those numbers. i feel confident of that. >> ifill: after all is said and done, what difference does it make if there's a woman sitting in either the highest office in the land or on a school board. i'm not saying you're running only as women, because, obviously, you're not, but what difference does it make? >> we all it's difference is the
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importance of diversity. and diversity is important because we all have different life experiences. and when decisions are being made that are going to impact so many people, it's important that we have considered all the ramifications based on how it will roll out. the more diverse the group of people are who are making the decision, the better the decision will be, especially when you're talking about the decisions that are being made by the president of the united states. and, you know, certainly we know, also, in terms of demographics, women disproportionately are responsible for caring for children and caring for elder relatives. women are disproportionately responsible for dealing with household issues, whatever they may be. women are increasingly equal or even in greater numbers the bread winner in the family. so women have a certain life experience. we know girls have a certain life experience, and those people who are making the decisions should understand the
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ramifications of their decisio decisions. >> woodruff: california attorney general kamala harris, and representative bustos from the the state of illinois, we thank both of you for being here. >> thank you. >> woodruff: thank you so much. as you can hear the the >> woodruff: as you can hear, the state by state roll call vote is happening here in the arena in philadelphia and we expect that hillary clinton will be officially nominated by the time our broadcast is over. we will throw back to hari in washington now, and return for more on that development in a few minutes. >> sreenivasan: thank you. in the day's other news: the islamic state group claimed responsibility for the brutal killing of a catholic priest in france. it happened in a small town outside rouen, in the country's normandy region. two knife-wielding men took hostages during a mass, and cut the throat of the 86-year-old priest before they were killed by police. president francois hollande called it a "vile terrorist attack." >> ( translated ): we must stand together.
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the catholics were the ones who were hit, but this targets all the french. and that is why we must stand in cohesion, together, in a bloc that no one can break. today we must be aware that the terrorists will stop at nothing, unless we stop them. >> sreenivasan: a nun who witnessed the attack said the militants gave a sermon in arabic, and filmed the murder of the priest. the people of japan awoke today to after the country's worst mass killing since world war ii. a man with a knife killed 19 people as they slept, and wounded 25 others at a home for the mentally disabled, west of tokyo. the suspect had worked at the facility before being let go, and news accounts said he'd written to parliament, warning of his plans and demanding that all disabled people be put to death. he gave himself up after the killings. the prime minister of australia has ordered an investigation of alleged abuse at a juvenile detention center. graphic footage emerged monday, showing aboriginal youths being tear-gassed and stripped naked. human rights activists accused the government of ignoring the issue for years, but prime
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minister malcolm turnbull denied that and insisted there's been a cover-up. >> the real challenge now is to get to the bottom of what has happened. we need to know what has happened, why it happened, why it was able to happen, what is the culture that enabled this to occur, what lessons we learn from it and how we can ensure it never, ever happens again. >> sreenivasan: the abuse was detailed in a documentary by the australian broadcasting corporation. it was filmed largely in darwin, between 2010 and 2015. back in this country, a federal judge has given initial approval to a $15 billion settlement over volkswagen's emissions cheating. the deal gives owners the option to have the company buy back their cars. but they can also opt out, and pursue their own lawsuits. volkswagen still faces billions in fines and penalties, and possible criminal charges. on wall street: stocks struggled to make headway, for a second day. the w jones industrial average lost 19 points to close at 18,473. the nasdaq rose 12 points, and the s&p 500 added a fraction.
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and, the first solar-powered, round-the-world flight finished today, where it began. "solar impulse 2" landed in the early morning hours in abu dhabi, 16 months after it first took off. it made 16 stops along the way, and flew some 25,000 miles-- all without using any fuel. the plane weighs roughly as much as a minivan, and is powered by more than 17,000 solar cells. now, we return to a venezuela in crisis. we recently brought you a report from caracas on the collapse of the economy and the healthcare system, and the lawlessness run rampant there. tonight-- again in partnership with the pulitzer center on crisis reporting. special correspondent nadja drost and videographer bruno federico report from western venezuela on lake maracaibo, it is the hub of venezuela's oil industry-- the country's lifeblood, which is now a trade in serious trouble.
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>> reporter: the drop in oil prices has not just devastated the venezuelan economy. it's causing an environmental crisis as well. an oil spill that happened in may still covers the shoreline of lake maracaibo. >> ( translated ): lately we've been seeing a lot of oil spills, it wasn't like this before. >> reporter: jose gregorio garcia is part of the añu indigenous group, who live in the lake area. añu means "people of the shore," and fishing has long been their sustenance. but leaking oil is damaging their livelihood. 15,000 barrels of oil have spilled into the lake in the last two months, according to the state oil company. >> ( translated ): there were species that we don't see now. we think it's because of the contamination. >> reporter: shrimp, are gone completely, and the lake's once- thriving blue crab fishery is also disappearing. >> ( translated ): the oil goes to the bottom of the lake. that's where the crab is. it migrates, or dies, or gets covered with petroleum, and when
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it's stained like that, no one will buy it. >> reporter: oil wells have been abandoned and production has slowed to a 13-year low. that means money that was supposed to be set aside to stop oil spills has dried up. alfredo dominguez, who checks oil platforms for the state company, which operates all the oil fields, says there's a lack of everything: equipment and the parts to fix it, and oversight by management. plus, thieves have also wrecked the infrastructure. >> ( translated ): they rob cables from the oil stations, bulbs, everything that can be melted down, they take apart the tubes. the wells keep pumping and sending the oil to the station, but the cables and tubes have been cut, so the oil ruptures and spills into the lake. >> reporter: for decades, lake maracaibo has been a symbol of venezuela's oil wealth, but today it's in a state of decay. beneath us, there is a massive network of interlaced tubes--
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transporting oil and gas. locals refer to it as a bowl of spaghetti. but many of these tubes are old and face a lack of maintenance, and they are leaking, constantly, small quantities of both oil or gas. and the result is this. back when oil was selling at record prices throughout the tenure of the late president and icon here, hugo chavez, the government used oil revenues to try to transform the country and lift the poor out of poverty, says carlos munoz potella, a petroleum economist at the and an adviser to the nation's central bank. >> ( translated ): it started a policy that wasn't very productive in economic terms, but it was the payment of a social debt. >> reporter: under chavez, oil revenues went increasingly to funding social programs, subsidizing food and building homes for the poor. >> ( translated ): it was a revolution financed with oil. >> reporter: but critics say the government didn't use any of the windfall to maintain oil production-- it keeps dropping.
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now with oil prices down, the country has racked up billions in unpaid bills to contractors. billions more have gone missing in corruption schemes. but the oil industry is also bleeding profits to illegal gasoline smuggling rackets. nowhere is that more evident than a few hours drive west to the border with colombia. old american cars are about all you see in the border towns of what is like venezuela's wild west. shunned for being expensive gas- guzzlers anywhere else, here, their huge tanks are in demand, to fill up with cheap gasoline to smuggle across the border-- it is so heavily subsidized, a gallon costs a mere three cents. but across the border in colombia, a gallon sells for 90 times that. and it's in that margin of profit that contraband gasoline thrives. the government estimates 100,000 barrels a day are smuggled out-- that means smugglers are sucking
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dry at least $2 billion a year from the country's coffers. in order to help prevent that, the border between venezuela and colombia closed last year. but smugglers are creating new routes, using unofficial border crossings, and it's on remote back roads like this one, that the flow of gasoline continues. it starts behind the high concrete walls in the town of paraguaipoa, where smugglers pool gasoline from various sources, including the tanks of those big american cars. a smuggler agrees to take us on the first leg of his smuggling route, as long as we don't reveal his identity. this is big business, very lucrative, and highly-illegal. he tells us we can't film outside the truck-- if anyone notices us, it can put everyone at risk-- this area is filled with armed groups, all of whom have a stake in the racket. >> ( translated ): sometimes drivers will be tied up and
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killed, it happens to helpers, too, soldiers get shot down and whoever falls, falls. >> reporter: in order to traverse this frontier land with their contraband goods, smugglers have to pay off everyone-- from authorities to rebels and other armed groups from the colombian side. >> ( translated ): you pay the military, the national guard, the police, the intelligence agency, military intelligence, you even pay the colombian guerrillas. everyone eats from this. >> reporter: colombian paramilitaries, too, he says. >> if you don't pay, you'll get shot at the least. >> reporter: we arrive at a lake, where workers line up empty barrels to tow across where they'll get filled at a rudimentary gas station, loaded onto trucks and continue their journey to the other side of the border. many people live off this trade, including the military's national guard, who we see inspecting every vehicle, except for trucks with contraband gasoline, at a check-point, a mere ten miles before a closed
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border crossing. as we peer out from behind our tinted windows, a local accompanying us explains how contraband gets across here. >> ( translated ): those civilians are the moscas. >> reporter: moscas, flies, the name given to civilians buzzing around on motorbikes who act as a link between smugglers and whichever group they have to pay off-- here it's the military. >> ( translated ): one of them already arranged everything and paid the military so that these trucks can pass through. >> reporter: truckload after truckload, contraband gasoline is waved on through by the military. smuggling rackets keep draining oil profits. oil wells in lake maracaibo continue to decline. as the oil economy tumbles, and pulls venezuela deeper into crisis, it draws attention to the perils of over-relying on oil revenues, to prop up an economy. back on lake maracaibo, fisherman jose gregorio garcia has benefited from oil's bonanza years, as well as suffered from too much oil, contaminating his fish supply.
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living shoreside of the once- booming oil industry garcia knows it has to change. >> ( translated ): we've seen what happens with petroleum. the price of oil rises, and falls. we've always lived off this, the good price of oil, but we have to find an alternative. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, reporting with bruno federico, i'm nadja drost on lake maracaibo. >> sreenivasan: to hear more about this story and our reporting from venezuela check out our "outside the bubble" conversation with special correspondent nadja drost. that's on our facebook page: facebook.com/newshour. now we go back to gwen and judy in philadelphia. >> woodruff: thank you, hari. we are here at the convention hall in philadelphia. south dakota has just put hillary clinton over the top, meaning that she has won more than the 2,382 delegate votes she needed to wrap up the nomination.
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what started as a twitter hashtag in 2013 after the acquittal of george zimmerman for the murder of trayvon martin has grown into an activist protest organization with increasing influence. john yang has our report. >> black lives matter. >> reporter: less than ten miles from the democratic convention, demonstrators gathered to remind delegates black lives matter. >> they need to pay attention to the will of the people. >> black lives matter. we need a radical new system cause the one we have is broken and it's not working for any of us here in america. >> reporter: the issue of race relations looms over this presidential campaign, driven by the high-profile shooting of black men and women at the hands of police, which has triggered demonstrations like this one. just last week, hillary clinton stressed her commitment to the african american community after police shootings in louisiana and minnesota. >> we white americans need to do a better job of listening when african-americans talk about the seen and unseen barriers you
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face every day. >> reporter: during the primaries, black lives matter protestors confronted both clinton and sanders. representative barbara lee understands their demands. >> young people involved in black lives matter movement, they're holding us all accountable to an agenda to make this country better. >> reporter: shaun harper is director of the center for the study of race and equity in education at the university of pennsylvania. >> i think that from that moment onward that both senator sanders and secretary clinton understood this was a movement to be taken seriously and that these were not just rowdy protestors who were wanting to be seen or cause a disruption. >> reporter: retaliation against the police has created a tension between supporting the victims of police shootings and supporting law enforcement. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in philadelphia. >> ifill: jordan davis was 17 years old when he was shot and killed in 2012. his assailant claimed davis
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>> ifill: jordan davis was 17 years old when he was shot and killed in 2012. his assailant claimed davis and his friends were playing their music too loud. his mother, lucia mcbath and six other mothers who have lost children to gun violence will appear together on the convention stage tonight. we spoke with her a short time ago. thank you for joining us. talk about your reason for being on the stage tonight. our country has been so caught up in a discussion about law enforcement versus police abuse, and even though your son wasn't a victim, wasn't quite in that mix, how have you been watching this unfold? >> well, it's been disheartening, of course. and what we're beginning to recognize is that, you know, gun violence is in many, many forms, yo,you know, whether it's law enforcement on individual citizens or individual citizens that are gunning down law enforcement, or if it's just, you know, black-on-black crime, it comes in all forms. and it's very disheartening to continue to watch this evolve and erupt over and over and over
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again because i know firsthand as a victim of gun violence what this does not only to the victims but to the families and their communities at large. >> woodruff: you have chosen to endorse hillary clinton. you're here to support hillary clinton. she's running for president. so much of criminal justice, though, occurs, these decisions occur at the local level. what difference can a president make? >> well, absolutely the president has the the heart of the people. and the president-- we follow the lead of the president. if the president has a heart for what's happening in the nation, a heart for people, wanting to create and stimulate change for the better, preserving human life, then i believe policy will fall right in under the heels of the changes that the president puts in place for the nation. >> ifill: you talk about the-- what the president can put in place. you are also involved in my brother's keeper initiative at the white house. but i guess we who cover washington sometimes see a lot of talk and not a whole lot of action and i just wonder why you
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think this might be different. >> well, i know this will be different because i know secretary clinton has been doing this work, championing for human and civil right within the communities and the nation at large. she's been doing this even before she became first lady. she's been doing it as senator clinton. she's been could go it as secretary of state. so her record is firm and it stands to reason that she would continue to serve and do what she's been doing all along. so i have hope. i know that she-- she's a great visionary, and i understand that she really is putting in place some good measures, solid measures that will really be of the best interest of the nation. >> woodruff: gwen mentioned this is more than just about the role of law enforcement, police. the republican convention, a big part of their message was they need to respect the role of police officers. how do you strike that balance between saying police need to not discriminate when it comes to dealing with black men and women, but on the other hand, making sure there's a respect for the role of police?
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>> well, i think it's a matter of retraining and reeducating on both sides. citizens within the community learning to respect, have a healthy respect and regard for police officers as our protectors. and at the sam at the same measg sure that our police are reeducate soad that they're able to understand different cultures and racees and ethnicities, and, also, i think, too, that we should have police officers that actually live withins those various communities that are serving those individuals. and i think that sets up a better environment for relationship building, bridge building. and i think it's going to take a lot of effort within the community, constituents within the community, as well as the police enforcement to really build those bridges. it's going to be a work on both ends. >> ifill: we saw michael jordan trying to strike that balance yesterday with the million-dollar ambivalent to the n.a.a.c.p. to the legal defense fund and the million-dollar gift to the chief of police.
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i want to end with you telling us a little bit about your son jordan. >> thank you for giving me the the opportunity to talk about jordan. it helps me to keep him alive. jordan was a chiestled inclusion. he loved everybody. he used to bring children together, always say that the jock, the nerdy kid, the athlete-- he brought them all together. jordan wanted to make sure that everyone had the same right, the same abilities to do and to live the way he was living. he was always the kind of child that wanted to include everyone. i say that as a single mother for 13 years, i had an s.u.v. full of kids all the time. and jordan wanted to make sure that everybody was loved, accepted and forgiven. so i think he would be proud of me because i'm getting to walk out the very things i was trying to teach him. >> woodruff: and finally, lucia mcbath, it seems important to you to keep this connection with the other mothers.
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>> absolutely, yes. >> woodruff: and i guess be stronger as a group than you can be as one individual. >> absolutely. and secretary clinton did say to us-- i specifically asked her in the very first meeting we had with her. i said, "i think you know you have the support of all the mothers here. what is it we can do for you? what is it you would like us to do? what do you see for us?" and she said, "individually, all of you are so strong and you're all working within your communities and across the nation. it would be so powerful if you would come together as one united force for the movement in this nation." so the campaign has deemed us the mothers of the movement. and we're very, very grateful to be able to act on her behalf for the nation. >> ifill: lucia mcbath, one of the mothers of the movement, thank you so much for joining us. >> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: and it looks like the states are nearly done with the votes, let's go to john yang on the floor. >> tools and paper to cheese,
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broughts, and beer, we are home to the bucs, the brewers, and america's team, the green bay packers! ( cheers ) and we are home to future senator russ fine gold. ( cheers and applause ) tonight, we cast 49 vote for senator bernie sandrs. ( cheers ) and we cast 47 votes for the next president of the united states, secretary hillary clinton. ( cheers ). >> thank you very much, wisconsin. you've cast 47 votes for secretary clinton and 49 vote for senator sanders. wyoming. wyoming, you have 18 votes. how do you cast your votes?
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>> madam secretary, my name is ana kaprell. i am the chairwoman of the wyoming democratic party. wyoming, the equality state and the home of many firsts -- the first national park, the first national monument, the first state to guarantee women the right to vote, and the first state to elect a woman governor. tonight, we are proud to be the last to cast our state's votes. seven votes for senator bernie sanders, and 11 votes for the next president of the united states, the first woman president of the united states, hillary rodham clinton. ( cheers ) >> thank you very much, wyoming. you have cast 11 votes for secretary clinton and seven votes for senator sanders. and now to vermont.
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how do you cast your 26 votes? >> i'm dottie deems, chair of the vermont democratic party. on behalf of the great state of vermont, a state that helped fight and win the revolution that gave birth to our united states of america, the state that helped fight and win the political revolution of 2016, thanks to our senator bernie sanders. ( cheers ) a state whose leaders denounced the demagoguery of joseph mccarthy, and today whose leaders like madeleine kunin, howard dean, peter welch and our own senator lahey, speak out against the modern-day mccarthy, donald trump, on behalf of the home state of
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senator bernie sanders, who has changed the trajectory of this country in a way that will make the lives of working americans better for generations to come! ( cheers and applause ) vermont casts our votes are-- vermont casts our votes 22 votes for our beloved senator sanders. ( cheers and applause ) and four for the next president, hillary clinton. it is now my honor to present our senator, bernie sanders! ( cheers and applause )
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>> bernie! bernie! bernie! bernie! bernie! >> thank you! madam chair, i move that the convention suspend the procedural rules. i move that all votes, all votes cast by delegates, be reflected in the official record, and i move that hillary clinton be selected as the nominee of the democratic party for president of the united states. ( cheers and applause ) >> ifill: and with that, bernie sanders, by affirmation,
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moves for hillary clinton to become the first woman nominee in a major political party. hillary clinton now has got enough vote to win the nominations, after all the last-minute drama. they arranged it so vermont would cast the final vote in a final sign of unity for hillary clinton. >> woodruff: there could not be more of a unified symbol coming out of this convention. we started yesterday watching the boos. now we see this party coming together. hillary clinton is nominated. the democratic party's choice for president. >> ifill: hillary clinton-- bernie sanders came to the floor to make sure that he did it. well, that's all you're going to get tonight from the wells fargo arena here in philadelphia. that's the newshour for now. but stay with us, we'll be right back here with mark, david and amy at 8:00 p.m. eastern for live special coverage of the democratic national convention. among tonight's featured
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speakers: former president bill clinton. i'm gwen ifill. >> woodruff: and i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and we'll see you back here soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: lincoln financial is committed to helping you take charge of your future. >> the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide.
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>> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> 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
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♪ >> this is "bbc world news america." >> funding of this presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation. newman's own foundation, giving all profits from newman's own to charity and pursuing the common good. kovler foundation, pursuing solutions for america's neglected needs. and a group of tourism authority. >> planning a vacation escape that is relaxing, inviting, and exciting is a lot easier than you think. you can find it here in aruba. families, couples, and friends can all find their escape on the island with warm sunny days,
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