captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, report of president-elect donald trump's son-in-law being named a senior white house advisor, sparking concerns of nepotism. we talk with trump senior advisor kellyanne conway about how the new administration is taking shape. also ahead, a look at president obama's healthcare legacy: the successes and failures of one of the biggest overhauls in america's health coverage. and, the children of the camps. what life is like for the iraqi kids who are growing up as collateral damage of war. >> what worries me the most is to have this children roaming around with no proper schooling, with no proper protection, with losing their future.

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a crush of confirmation hearings begins tomorrow for team trump, but the focus tonight is on someone who's not subject to senate confirmation. he's a close relative of the president-elect, and it's widely reported he's getting a top white house slot. john yang begins our coverage. >> yang: throughout the campaign, jared kushner had donald trump's ear-- and now it appears he'll be following him to the white house as a top advisor. like the president-elect, kushner, who turns 36 tomorrow, is the son of a real estate

magnate. he became c.e.o. of kushner companies, his father's multi- billion-dollar business, in 2008. in 2009, he married ivanka trump. trump insiders credit kushner with restructuring and modernizing his father-in-law's campaign. during the transition, he's been involved in key personnel decisions. former secretary of state henry kissinger told "forbes" magazine: "every president i've ever known has one or two people he intuitively and structurally trusts. i think jared might be that person." even with president-elect trump's confidence, kushner could face hurdles before he can assume a white house post. they arise from both who he is and what he owns. a 1967 federal law bars officials from appointing relatives to any agency they control-- it's not clear whether it applies to white house jobs.

as for kushner's business holdings, a spokesman told "the new york times" he'll resign as c.e.o. and divest "substantial assets," but declined to name them. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: we'll get the trump team's perspective on this and other issues, right after the news summary. in the day's other news, russia pushed back against a u.s. intelligence report that it meddled in the presidential campaign. the report last week said president vladimir putin personally ordered the effort. today a kremlin spokesman said the investigation is "reminiscent of a witch-hunt," echoing language that president- elect trump used last week. >> woodruff: mr. trump today

deflected questions today about the hacking. he said: "we'll talk to you about that at another time." he holds a news conference on wednesday. china warned president-elect donald trump today it will "take revenge" if he reneges on the so-called "one china" policy. that doctrine treats taiwan as part of china. the threat from chinese state- run media came after the taiwanese president made a weekend stopover in houston, texas and met with republican lawmakers. mr. trump has spoken with the taiwanese leader, and at one point, appeared to suggest the one-china policy might need reconsidering. the man accused of killing five people at the fort lauderdale airport in florida had his first appearance in federal court today. according to court documents, esteban santiago has admitted to the fatal shooting last friday. at the hearing today, the iraq war veteran said he understood the charges against him, which

carry the death penalty. northern california and nevada are facing what could be their worst flood disaster in the last decade. a powerful storm system moved in over the weekend, unleashing heavy downpours and strong winds. it also forced some 1,300 residents in reno, nevada to evacuate after the truckee river overflowed. mudslides also closed roads and highways in the sierra nevada, the musical "la la land" swept seven golden globes, and the ceremony also touched off a war of words with president-elect trump. it started with actress meryl streep, and her speech accepting a lifetime achievement award. she deplored mr. trump's imitating a disabled reporter during the primaries. >> this instinct to humiliate

when it's modeled by someone in the public platform by someone powerful, it filters down into everybody's life because it kind of gives permission for other people to do the same thing. when the powerful use their position to bully others we all lose. >> woodruff: the president-elect fired back on twitter today. he called streep "one of the most overrated actresses in hollywood" and "a hillary flunky who lost big." mr. trump also tweeted praise for fiat chrysler's decision to build new jeeps and a truck in the midwest, instead of mexico. the company says it's creating 2,000 jobs. and on wall street, stocks followed oil prices lower. the dow jones industrial average lost 76 points to close at 19,887. the nasdaq rose 10 points, and the s&p 500 slipped eight. still to come on the newshour, i sit down with senior trump advisor, kellyanne conway.

our politics monday duo take on a packed week for the president elect. a look at the legacy of president obama's healthcare overhaul, and much more. >> woodruff: the last day has seen a rise in both concern over and defense of president-elect trump's cabinet nominees after news that some of them have not completed ethics reviews. lisa desjardins reports. >> desjardins: the president- elect walked out with a business leader: jack ma of the chinese e-commerce giant alibaba, but his words were about politics and his cabinet nominees. >> i think they'll all pass. >> desjardins: that after trump met with key ally, senate majority leader mitch mcconnell, who dismissed concerns about vetting. >> yeah, everybody will be

properly vetted as they have been in the past and i'm hopeful that we'll get up to 6-7, particularly the national security team, in place on day one. >> desjardins: this ahead of a packed week. with two confirmation hearings set for tomorrow, and at least three slated for thursday. betsy deross and three other trump nominees have not cleared an ethics review. democrats with senate leader chuck schumer called it a rush job. >> jamming all these hearings into one or two days, making members run from committee to committee makes no sense. each nominee even if it takes a few weeks to get through them all in order to carefully consider their nominations-- that is well worth it. >> desjardins: schumer says the obama transition eight years ago moved nominees who had ethics clearances. but the confirmation hearing schedule was packed back then, too, with nine hearings, including one for secretary of

state-designate hillary clinton, that's being called the obama treatment: fast confirmations. but democrats say the difference is that president obama's nominees all cleared their ethics review before their hearings, and the office of government ethics says some trump nominees had not even filed all their paperwork as of this weekend. >> woodruff: so, lisa, thank you for that report, but take us through in process. what exactly is required of these nominees? >> it depends on what committee you're going in front of. take what everyone is required of. every nominee has to have an f.b.i. background check, give financial disclosers to the commitio of their choice or the committee that oversees their nomination and has to fill out a committee questionnaire. whether or not an ethics review must be filed before a hearing or a vote, it must be filed at some time, but that's why we see the hearings this week before

the ethics reviews are all in, also only three committees require tax forms from the past. >> woodruff: tell us a little more about what is missing for some of these nominees. >> these ethics forms are significant. there are two pieces to them. one is the financial disclosure, and the second is a letter in which each nominee has to state any potential conflict of interest with their future job and more importantly what they're going to do to make sure the conflict of tye interest doesn't matter. rex tillerson said he will go ahead and not just get a salary from exxonmobil but any future bonuses which were significant we's going to sever ties altogether with exxonmobil. >> woodruff: and as we said some of the nominees have very complicated thanksle backgrounds. i want to ask you wha what the office of government ethics said, he said never in 40 years has a nominee gone before a

hearing without having their ethics review completed. >> that's extraordinary coming from an ethics office. almost. the republicans say there is one example of a hearing held with a nominee who hadn't failed their paperwork, rod paige, his ethics paperwork came eight days after his hearing but importantly, before the vote. all of this, the bottom line is senators are questioning nominees now before they have some of their paperwork. >> woodruff: and again only one in 40 years? >> and this office of government ethics reviews thousands of government appointees, every cabinet nominee in the last 40 years, and there is only one exception we know of to this rule until now. >> woodruff: one bottom line, lisa, is could these nominees go ahead and be subject to a senate vote if that ethics approval is not done? >> the answer is no and the reason is both mitch mcconnell

the republican leader and the democratic leader chuck schumer said they want all the paperwork in before the full senate vote. but again, this is the review time, this is the chance where senators can actually scrutinize these nominees and they're doing it in some cases without the full set of information to ask questions from. >> woodruff: so you and i were discussing, we know donald trump talked in his campaign about changing the way warrant works. is that what's happening here or are we seeing a tinkering with tradition? >> i think that's absolutely what's happening here because the way the senate works is by tradition, and they are changing that tradition to some degree for donald trump. the office of government ethics says the big problem here is these are nominees who just didn't get their paperwork as early as in the pavements their comple it did -- as in the past. they are complicated forms but the senate team is aware of that. not having the information in

hand is changing the way washington works and scrutinizing our future government. >> woodruff: we'll be occupied with this all this week, into next week. we've got, what, five separate confirmation hearings wednesday, several every day this week trying to follow it all and do the best job we can covering it. lisa, thank you. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: a short time ago, before the kushner announcement, i spoke with senior trump advisor kellyanne conway about the concerns surrounding some of the cabinet picks going before the senate this week. i started by asking why the confirmation hearings should go forward before the office of ethics has fully vetted the nominees. judy, as i understand it, some of the materials just have not been complete in the process, and, so, there is no reason to delay hearings that we expect will cover the substance

of the duties each of these men and women would have in the their respective departments and agencies. in addition, it's my understanding some of the desig knees have been requested to turn over tax information that has not been part of the regular course of action in the past. so i'm not sure where that stands, but we need a fully functioning government next week as we have the transition of power from president obama to president trump, and that necessitates having secretary of treasure, defense and commerce and other agencies and departments in place. i'm sure the senators can ask these appointees and designees under oath for confirmation of the materials that haven't been completed but i assure you all the appointees and designees have been complying with all the requests and obligations requested of them. >> woodruff: when you mentioned tax returns, not all are required to do that, but by practice they are expected to.

des the president-elect think they should comply with these rules when h he himself has not provided his own tax returns? >> well, the president-elect and his senior team believes that anything that is required by law should be handed over, and he knows that these men and women who, in some cases, are making enormous sacrifices to move to washington, d.c., divest themselves out of their significant holdings and successful companies to do so are now complying with the ethics rules. again, anybody can ask a question they want to ask, judy. i just hope the confirmation hearings are not a big game of gotcha and a game of hide the ball and the level of destruction promise bid some in the house and senate would be unfortunate because we need the government to function. president obama had seven appointees confirmed on inauguration day. we would like the same courtesy

and practice. >> woodruff: but i would interrupt to say that a number of the individuals the president-elect nominated have very complicated business, financial backgrounds. it's taking time. doesn't the public expect there to be a full vetting before they take office? >> yes, the public probably does expect that, and, of course, the process necessitates information and disclosure, and under oath, these men and women will be asking questions from the senate committees who are overseeing the hearings. i think that's incredibly important, also, because people should realize that, in past confirmation hearings, sometimes people are just asked to talk about how they will deploy different functions, what decisions they made in the past in hiing and firing, and certainly in their business practices. sometimes they're asked about personal financial information. but let's just hope that advances forward for america and

the questions they're asking have something to do with the proper functioning to have the government. >> woodruff: we were talking about the tax returns, are mr. trump's tax returns still being audit by the i.r.s.? will that continue as he takes office of the president? >> this was discussed last week and the audit is ongoing. the answers are the same, as long as there is an active audit, he will not be turning over his tax returns. >> woodruff: will he turn them over once that audit is complete? >> he said that he would. i just don't know about the specifics of the audit. again, respectfully, this was vetted very often and talked about in the media constantly on a daily basis, and the american electorate decided they wanted donald trump to be their president notwithstanding. >> woodruff: let me ask you about the news today, several news organizations reporting the president-elect's son-in-law jared kushner will come into the white house as a seniored adviser. what exactly will his role be, and why is there not a concern

about nepotism? >> well, a few things -- jarred will make that announcement formally when h he and the president-elect are ready to do. so i sure hope the news reports are true, judy, because it's an absolute privilege and pleasure to work with jared kushner and has been all along in the campaign. jared kushner offers a tremendous business acumen and experience as a very successful real estate developer and businessman similarself. he has holdings in many of the companies that he has now promised to divest. he will sell his share at fair market value, and significant holdings like 666 5th avenue, thrive capital, and other companies in which he has a stake. the anti-nepotism law does not apply to white house appointments. the president can appoint the staff he wishes to, and he has had -- jared has had many lawyers look at this and they have concluded, in concert with

the office of government ethics, the o.g.e., that jared is able to have the special advisor appointment by the president. >> woodruff: two quick questions, given, though, he's the president's son-in-law, will he be the first among eeng walls of advisors in the white house, and second of all is ivanka trump, his daughter, coming into the administration in any -- >> excuse me, judy. jared kushner has the trust and the ear of his father-in-law, and that's most important in working in the west wing in that capacity, and he has this combination of political instincts and business acumen that's truly exceptional. he's involved in many of the decision-making processes that will continue in the white house. jared's always been a fabulous team player on our senior team. he really respects the advice and counsel of all of us. we're very dan khan did with each other and play to everybody's best and highest use. ivanka trump will make that

announcement, i'm sure in the coming days and weeks and she, too, has significant success in the private sector, certainly as an executive in the trump corporation, but also with her own brand, which is quite successful. she tells me hundreds of millions of dollars in sales this year, the ivanka trump -- >> woodruff: excuse me. sounds like you're saying she is coming in to the administration. >> well, that would be the intent. that certainly would be wonderful news to me and i believe that is the intention and goal. but ivanka trump will make that decision and announcement on her own terms. she, too is working with ethics compliance and experts and lawyers to make sure everything is as it should be before the announcements are made and the jobs are taken. >> woodruff: kellyanne conway, thank you very much for talking with us. >> woodruff: for more on the upcoming cabinet confirmation hearings, the latest on the president-elect's transition to the white house, and president obama's farewell speech tuesday, it's time for politics monday with tamara keith of npr and susan page, washington bureau

chief for "usa today." welcome to both of you. tam, we heard from kellyanne conway. what do you expect from these confirmation hearings? >> ethey certainly will be interesting, but they will all be happening at the same time, so we will have to have split screens to pay attention to everything. add on that screen donald trump having a press conference on wednesday on the same day that there are five confirmation hearings. it's going to be information overload. democrats will try to put up a fight to draw out contrasts with donald trump potentially between his cabinet picks and the president-elect, and they will try to make it as painful as possible, but there isn't much the democrats can actually do. >> woodruff: susan, do you expect this ethic, the lack of ethics review to be done for some of these nominees to continue to be an issue? >> i think the democrats will try to make it an issue but it's not stopping the hearings.

mitch mcconnell on sunday on "face the nation," said they wouldn't hold votes on the floor until the ethics paperwork was done. so there is not a law that says they have to wait, but it's certainly been the practice in the past not to confirm somebody. but the fact the review won't have been done before the hearings for some of these candidates is serious, because there are some things they won't find out about the ethics review. >> woodruff: are democrats targeting in particular some of the nominees over others or how are they looking at this? >> well, that's the challenge that they're facing is they have targeted eight nominees. well, eight is a very big number, and, so, they aren't -- it's sort of a scatter shot approach. there isn't one nominee they are going to take down, in part, because they don't have the votes to truly block anyone unless they get republican help. and at the moment doesn't look like they have it. now something could change, a

hearing could go poorly. but at the moment, by the numbers, democrats aren't in a strong position, they don't have much leverage. >> woodruff: susan, what is your reporting telling you about who is going to get the most attention from democrats or are they spreading it out equally among all of them? >> i think there are some cases where there will be proxy fights. i think rex tillerson is a good example of that. some democrats and even somerooms don't have a chance to quiz donald trump about his policy toward russia, but they can ask rex tillerson about it, and rex tillerson as head of exxonmobil halls had a lot of dealings with russia, in general, and vladimir putin in person. in some cases they are target the person, i think that will be the case with jeff sessions. in this case, i think some of the democratic senators have kerns about things he said about race relations and voting rights and immigration, so in that case

it may take a more personal turn. >> woodruff: she just mentioned what mitch mcconnell said over the weekend. i'm trying to understand, is this really different from what happened eight years ago when president obama's nominees were coming through? because he made it sound as if all this is just the same way we've always done it here. >> well, and they have typically tried to defer to presidents, and they have typically tried to have a big group ready to go when the president takes the oath of office. however, donald trump's nominees, some of them, at least four of them, have not finished -- who have hearings scheduled have not finished the ethics process, and that is out of the ordinary, as we heard in an earlier segment. the only precedent republicans are pointing to goes back to when george w. bush is first coming into office and they have one example. so it is the best practice to have the ethics review done and it is also a practice that has

largely happened in the past. >> woodruff: susan, i want to turn to something that happened last night, the golden globe's awards, we reported it earlier, meryl streep getting an award uses her time to take on donald trump, and she pinned it on what she described as his mocking a news reporter with disabilities, and we saw mr. trump come back and tweet about her today calling her overrated and saying he didn't mock. is this something that's smart for him to engage in? how do you see this? >> well, it's untradition for a president to take on meryl streep when she criticizes him at the golden globe's, or arnold schwarzenegger when he doesn't get ratings as big as he did for the reality show that he took over. i think, you know, most political pundits would say this is a big mistake, i's not presidential. but, on the other handish it's pretty authentic. it's a kind of attitude and a kind of swagger that got donald trump where he is today. so i guess we'll have to see if

voters are comfortable with this approach, because, believe me, i think we're going to be seeing tweets like this for the next four years. >> woodruff: well, we shall see. finally, i want to ask botho of you, do we know, tomorrow night, president obama, tam, gives his farewell address, we'll cover it live here 9:00 eastern. you've given some thought to the fare we'lls of this president. >> this is a long tradition going back to george washington who delivered the first farewell address. it tends to be a mix of looking backward and forward. george washington offered warnings for people to come and so did dwight eisenhower and i think president obama will likely fall into the category of president who talk about american values and america's role in the world, so i think we can -- you know, as he did on the campaign trail for hillary clinton, talked about what he

sees as american values, that might be the message that he tries to send with his farewell. >> woodruff: susan? the stakes got much higher when hillary clinton lost the election because we now have president obama trying to make his case that he's done a lot and it's good the country's in better shape than when he took over and that is a legacy that's worth preserving because donald trump will come in and try the to dismantle big parts of that legacy, so i think the stakes get hiring for him, and i think his party is a little in the wilderness trying to figure out where they go, and what role will barack obama be with the democratic party going forward. >> woodruff: i know a lot of people are asking that question especially since he's going to continue to live in washington die see, he won't be able to hide, i guess will try to hide, but we'll see. susan page, tamera keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome.

>> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour, the upended lives of iraqi children fleeing the war in mosul. but first, we continue our series on president obama's legacy. the president has been making the case during the final days of his term to preserve his signature domestic achievement. it comes as congressional republicans have already begun the process of dismantling the affordable care act. more than 20 million americans gained coverage through the law. but as special correspondent sarah varney reports, the nation remains deeply divided over whether it is the president's greatest success or greatest failure. >> this is going to take a little while. >> reporter: when president obama signed his landmark healthcare bill in march 2010, he achieved what presidents and members of congress had long tried and failed to do-- >> we are done. >> reporter: --provide near- universal health insurance to americans.

democrats were jubilant. those in obama's inner circle, like bob kocher-- one of the law's primary architects-- celebrated their victory at the white house. >> it was a moment of total joy. we felt like we'd accomplished something hard and amazing and important that would go down in history as being an important step forward in american healthcare. and the president felt that way, and i think we all celebrated and, and felt like the hardest part was perhaps behind us. >> reporter: since harry truman, every democratic president has dreamed about universal coverage. jonathan oberlander, a health- policy historian at the university of north carolina at chapel hill, says obama succeeded in winning over health care interest groups that had fought previous reform attempts. but the bill became a flashpoint for bigger ideological battles. >> in key respects, it was a policy success, but it was also always a political failure since 2010. and that political failure reflects that partisan polarization, which democrats

and the obama administration never figured out a way to overcome. >> reporter: the bill passed without a single republican vote and would face unflagging opposition. >> reporter: explosive town hall meetings... >> reporter: angry tea party >> obamacare has got to go. protests, and a supreme court decision in 2012 that despite upholding most of the law weakened one of its central provisions by making the medicaid expansion optional for states. senator charles grassley, a republican from iowa who was involved in the initial bipartisan discussions, said his side turned away after democrats, who themselves were frustrated by the prolonged negotiations and felt they had a mandate, decided to move forward alone. >> it was a take it or leave it, and so basically, we were pushed out of the negotiations. and quite frankly, there was a

lot of institutional knowledge among republicans, that would've probably prevented a lot of bad things that happened, going wrong. i think it's a perfect example of trying to do something in a partisan way. >> reporter: the obama administration believed the law would eventually become popular as more americans felt its benefits. but public opinion remained divided and republicans voted to repeal it more than 60 times. now president-elect donald trump has vowed to kill the law for good, a promise that appealed to many voters around the country. here in mansfield, ohio, once a booming manufacturing town, the affordable care act has brought insurance coverage, new health care jobs and an influx of

federal money. all told, nearly one million ohioans are covered under obamacare. but economic angst in rust belt states like this one handed the presidential election to donald trump, giving him the power to repeal president obama's signature domestic policy. what happens next is up for grabs. kari westfield helps sign patients up for medicaid in this ohio county where mr. trump won nearly 70% of the vote. >> the most recent was the g.m. closing, and that was a huge, huge hit to the economy. >> reporter: as manufacturing plants here have closed, nearly 30% of residents have had to enroll in medicaid which was expanded in ohio to include most low-income adults under the affordable care act. since the health law took effect, the share of uninsured patients at third street family health services, where westfield works, fell from 30% to 10%.

that includes larry avery, a 31- year old basketball coach who has been rushing to get medical and dental care before mr. trump takes the law away. >> i just thought it was a move that he was doing just to make it harder than what it already is, because, i mean, if it's working, if it helps, why would you want to take that away? i don't think it benefits the country at all. >> reporter: among those trying to enroll in obamacare's expanded medicaid are trump supporters mary and jim heenan. a nurse trying to recover from an opioid addiction, mary heenan says she and her husband need help. and though she says it can be difficult to reconcile, heenan still despises the health law. she says it forced the surgeons she once worked with to provide shoddy medical care. >> i know i'm in this spot where i need help right now from the government, but the affordable care act is the worst thing that's ever happened to this country. and, that's exactly why i voted for trump, because i knew

hillary was gonna follow in obama's footsteps. >> reporter: but john corlett, at the center for community solutions, an ohio think tank, says other voters didn't take mr. trump's promise to repeal the law seriously. >> i think people have a natural inclination to think that when something starts that it's hard to stop. that it's hard to take down. and i think a lot of people sort of approached it that way, said, well, no they wouldn't do that. >> reporter: across ohio, the health law has dramatically reduced the number of people without health insurance. at metro health in cleveland, as elsewhere in the country, the influx of insured patients has allowed the health system to provide more primary and preventive care, improving and cut costs by nearly 30%. despite strong opinions about what's become known as obamacare, elements of the law remain widely popular-health plans can't refuse to insure based on pre-existing conditions, cap essential and young adults can stay on their parents' plans until age 26. >> no repeal without replace. no repeal without replace.

>> reporter: mindy hedges showed up at a rally outside senator rob portman's office in columbus to show how vital the law has been for those with medical problems. >> i'm scared for a lot of reasons. i'm scared for our country. >> reporter: before the health law, she couldn't get insurance. >> i was so grateful to president obama. i owe president obama my life. as a type-1 diabetic, i'm uninsurable as far as the insurance companies are concerned. and now, they couldn't take that into any consideration. and my age! they couldn't take into consideration. >> reporter: hedges has been calling her congressman and senators every day to make sure they hear her story. >> will he be supporting keeping it at least until we have something better or at least something to substitute for it? >> reporter: but there are others, especially small business owners and the self- employed, who are frustrated by what's been happening in the insurance marketplaces.

anietra hamper, a travel writer who started her own business a few years ago, says the law made a mess of her coverage. >> every year, there has been fewer providers. there's fewer plans by the providers that are left, higher monthly premiums, deductibles have skyrocketed, and the benefits have dwindled. >> reporter: those frustrations drove hamper to vote for mr. trump, who says he wants to keep the law's more popular provisions and scrap the rest in favor of a less regulated insurance market. but health care experts say it will be impossible to pay for those benefits without a mandate that all americans have coverage. repealing it with no plan in place, they say, will create chaos in the insurance market and catastrophe at hospitals and clinics. but hamper says the law has already done enough damage. >> this isn't working. so, if donald trump says he wants to reinstate a free

marketplace, where we have more choices, more competition, better care, more affordability, okay! and, like every other american, you know? we have to hope that that's what we get. >> reporter: senator grassley says it's too soon to lay out what comes next. >> obviously, repeal is very much what's going to happen. whether it's a transition period that it takes a period of time to get total replacement or whether it's done incrementally, those decisions have not been made at this point. >> reporter: whatever the outcome, many observers say president obama's legacy will forever include his ambitious attempt to solve one of the nation's most intractable problems. >> i think forever we've changed the conversation that we need to have an approach to cover all americans. and, if nothing else, this law now, leads republicans to agree, that we need to have an approach to cover all americans with high quality insurance.

so i think that's a real accomplishment, and that wouldn't have happened without this law. of the most gifted presidents in the 20th century tried comprehensive healthcare reform and they failed. president obama succeeded in passing this. it will go down as a landmark. >> reporter: and one of the most important legacies of the obama years. for the pbs newshour and kaiser health news, i'm sarah varney. >> woodruff: tomorrow we continue our series on the obama years with a look at the president's efforts to reform the nation's criminal justice system. >> woodruff: iraqi forces are engaged in heavy fighting in mosul against isis militants, battling neighborhood by neighborhood. since the operation began last october, almost 130,000 of the city's million-plus residents

have fled. many are living in nearby camps for internally-displaced people, in iraqi kurdistan. half of them are children. for two and a half years, all they have known is isis. now they and their families are stranded, waiting out a long, cold winter. from northern iraq, special correspondent marcia biggs and videographer eric o'connor report. >> it's a scene of utter chaos. news of food amazing leaves the people into a frenzy, charging the truck as desperate hands reach out to catch bread and water talk to a mob of hungry people. the camps were supposed to be temporary, yet families are facing what promises to be a very long winter. it's painfully cold, down to it's painfully cold, down to freezing temperatures at night, the toxic smell of gas heating

the tents is sickening. these are sounds most of these children have not made in almost two and a half years. every day, the children clarm at the gates of this child-friendly space. they get a precious six hours a week here to play, sing and learn. a far cry from the horrors of i.s.i.s. we sat down with a few students in the drawing tent. like most children, 13-year-old vilha stopped going to school when i.s.i.s. came to mosul and missed out on things like drawing. now she draws her memories of home h. >> we had a garden, so i draw flowers. >> this 12-year-old could stay in school under i.s.i.s. which used militarization and indoctrination as part of its lesson plan in. these pages of a math book, children are asked to solve problems about setting land mines and killing nonbelievers.

>> after i.s.i.s. came, i sat in school one and a half years. everything changed in. math, the curriculum changed. thy used bullets. one bullet plus two bullets equals three bullets. >> was that scary? yes, it was so scary. >> reporter: eshe finally asked her parents to remove her from school but she still has big dreams. i asked her what she wants to be when she grows up. you want to be a doctor? like many of the children, she's drawing an iraqi flag. >> it says i love iraq. >> reporter: words forbidden under the islamic state where the iraqi flag was banned and members to have the iraqi army executed. 12-year-old mohamed wants to be an artist and is proud >> ( translated ): they killed two of my uncles they worked for the police. isis killed anyone from the police. >> reporter: did you spend a lot of time with your uncles were you really close with them? >> ( translated ): yes.

they loved me. they used to bring me toys. >> ( translated ): me and my dad used to play hide and seek with them. >> reporter: did you get scared that your father would get hurt too? >> ( translated ): yes. >> ( translated ): i am worried about my father and brothers. almost all of my uncles are police so my father was afraid. >> reporter: it's a familiar fear. 12-year-old mahmoud wants very much to talk but is clearly distressed traumatized. >> ( translated ): isis was in mosul for about two and a half years. when they came to the city, we thought they are good and they wouldn't hurt us, but they began to kill and torture people that's why we hated them. >> reporter: did anyone you know get hurt? >> ( translated ): i didn't see and i don't want to see. it was horrible and scary. >> reporter: his favorite subjects before isis came were math, reading, and islam. he says he wants to be an engineer. >> ( translated ): i'm comfortable now that i am back to learning and studying. i can study now which is good. i'm relieved.

>> reporter: do you feel safe here? >> ( translated ): yes, here i feel safe. there are people protecting us, guarding us. but we still live in tent and it rains a lot. it's really affecting us. >> reporter: he echoes a fear we heard time and again. the terror of isis replaced by an unknown future in a tent at the beginning of a cold, wet winter. 20-year-old hijra's husband fatih was a soldier in the iraqi when isis took mosul, seven men came to the door. asking for her husband. they finally gave us the body a month after he died, but they wouldn't allow us to have a proper funeral. >> reporter: suddenly a widow with two children, no money, no job, she was devastated, but too afraid to speak out.

if she ventured outside the house without strict infrastructure clothing, i.s.i.s. would torture her male relatives. she and her children are here with her older sister and her family. they fled mosul after iraqi forces backed by coalition airstrikes pushed i.s.i.s. from their neighborhood. they still have two sisters and three brothers in mosul so they covered their faces to protect them from retribution. public torture and execution made routine under i.s.i.s. >> how did you explain this to your children? how did you try to protect them from this? >> i didn't let them do anything. i even banned them from going to school. i didn't let them go outside. i would see torturing in the market. cutting off hands, cutting off a head. they used a lot of torture. but thank god, i didn't let the children see any of it. >> reporter: hibba became pregnant last year and entered a deep depression. she gave birth to her baby at home a month before we met, with her husband and sister by her

side as coalition airstrikes thundered down. >> it was the hardest day >> ( translated ): it was the hardest day in my life. i was so scared and confused. allah made it easy for me and i gave the birth. there was shelling at the houses also i was so scared. >> reporter: are you afraid of the life that he's been brought into? >> i'm worried about the weather and the cold temperatures here. of course i'm afraid for him, for so many reasons. >> reporter: aid organizations expected more people at camps like these, but for a much shorter time. as the battle for mosul continues to to grind on with mo end in sight, those fleeing the battle continue to arrive in droves and doesn't look like they are maulid warfa is at unicef, which runs the child friendly space. he says he worries most about the duration of the battle and the fact the camps were set up as emergency measures, without proper schools in the plans. >> what worries me the most is to have this children roaming around with no proper schooling,

with no proper protection, with losing their future, that is imagine if these were your children what do you want to be? you want them to be going to school, you want them to be children again, you want them to be protected, you want them to be loved. you want them to be growing up as very peaceful human beings. >> reporter: the longer the war grinds on, the longer these families remain trapped in what human rights organizations are calling de-facto detention centers. as we drove up to the camp we noticed parking lots, filled with the cars of those who drove to the camps at the beginning of the fighting, but are now forbidden to leave. brigadier general halkwat rafaat says they are keeping them in the camp because they could be a security threat. >> ( translated ): leaving the camp is forbidden. they can't leave the camp until mosul is liberated. we keep their i.d.'s with us. they will get their i.d.'s when they go back to their homes. >> ( translated ): no, they can't.

>> of course, life here is better than i.s.i.s. i.s.i.s. terrified people. they made us afraid of everything. but we are trapped here, an it's like we traded one jail for another one. we simply want to leave and live our lives. we know nothing about our families in mosul. we don't know what is happening there. >> reporter: and still they come despite the harsh conditions. we were there when 6-year-old dema arrived from mosul with her family off, not even yet off the bus. >> i want to say hi to my grandparents in kirkuk and my grandparents in irbil. >> reporter: then she was overcome with emotions. they are likely 100 miles away but she has h no chance of seeing them or leaving this camp anytime soon. like most of the resilient children we met, she was all

smiles wean we saw her again. are you happy here? >> yes. >> reporter: why? there is no bombing here. >> reporter: what will you do now? >> i want to play. >> reporter: it was a universal desire, as we left, in their tattered clothes, most without proper shoes, the children wanted nothing more than to go with us, and it was everything we could do to drive away. for the pbs newshour, i'm marcia biggs, in hassan sham camp east of mosul, northern iraq. >> woodruff: finally tonight, to our newshour shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. the organization "back on my feet" uses running as a catalyst to combat homelessness. the group operates in 12 cities across the nation, including boston, where cristina quinn from pbs station wgbh paid them

a visit. >> reporter: it's 5:30 a.m. it's dark and it's cold. but none of that has discouraged this group from meeting up for their morning run. this is team hope. they meet up every three times a week outside of the hope house rehab center in roxbury. the group is made up of guys from various homeless shelters and recovery houses from around boston. the whole idea is that these morning runs will change their lives. that's the core mission of the organization back on my feet, using running as a catalyst to move people out of homelessness and into jobs. and as executive director, theresa lynn, puts it, showing up for these runs is just the beginning of charting a new course. >> the first step is running or walking with a team three days a week. you do that for a month, then you're eligible for what we call the next steps, which is really where the program gets started. it's employment training, access to job resources, access to

housing resources, more gear, more running clothes. w co-create a plan with you. >> reporter: that includes counseling, updating skills, paying for exam books and certifications or finding an apartment. it worked for curt ronan, a recovering addict who still runs with hope house three days a week. he says the program has been transformative. >> running is part of my recovery and i want to show that it does work. >> reporter: he's been clean for three years, and in that time, has run both the boston marathon and the new york city marathon. the stakes are even higher now that he has a baby on the way. victor rivera, just out of prison, is hoping the program can work the same magic for him. his teammates also say he's the fastest runner. >> i look forward to it every day we run because we have stories that are similar or things that we can relate to and that actually helps me stay with the group. >> reporter: rivera says the

combination of community and routine are keeping him focused and on the right path. he's now in a culinary arts program and is excited about the networking opportunities back on my feet provides. you sound like you are on the righy track. do you feel like you are on the right track? >> for the most part, you know, some days are better than others but for the most part, i feel like real confident about myself. >> reporter: for the pbs newshour, i'm cristina quinn in boston. >> woodruff: later tonight on pbs, "independent lens" presents a film about the challenges of storing nuclear material. "containment" looks at efforts by governments around the world to deal with highly toxic substances that will still be dangerous tens of thousands of years from now.

>> behind me is basically the legacy of the cold war between the soviet union and the free west. we produced, i think, close to 30,000 weapons, warheads, and there is lots of plutonium and other fissile materials left over from the production of those weapons. someone has to take care of it, and in some way needs to isolate it. that's what this facility is for. >> woodruff: "containment" airs tonight on most pbs stations. on the newshour online right now, a poet playfully explores the question of what makes america unique in our weekly poem. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. tonight on charlie rose: a conversation with president

obama's chief of staff, denis mcdonough. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening for special coverage of president obama's farewell speech. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, ad improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> 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 >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

>> this is a bbc world news america. funding of the presentation is made possible by the freeman foundation. the newman's own foundation, giving all profits to charity and pursuing the common good. kovler foundation. and, the aruba tourism authority. lotlanning a vacation is a easier than you think. you can find it in aruba..