captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, president trump's pick for labor secretary, andrew puzder, withdraws from consideration, as a number of senate republicans join democrats in opposition. then: >> papers are being leaked, things are being leaked. it's criminal action, criminal acts. >> woodruff: the president slams intelligence leaks amid new reports that his aides were in repeated contact with russia during the campaign. also ahead, in another dramatic shift: with israeli prime minister netanyahu by his side, mr. trump opens the door to dropping u.s. support for a two-state solution in the middle east. >> woodruff: plus, scientists fight back. the nationwide effort to protect

environmental data in an uncertain political moment. >> if we have the foresight to back the stuff up now, maybe later generations will thank us. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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>> woodruff: president trump's cabinet-in-the making is reeling tonight from another body blow. andrew puzder withdrew today as the nominee for labor secretary, two days after national security adviser michael flynn resigned under fire. our lisa desjardins is at the capitol, where she's covering this story. >> well, it was republicans. they did not have enough republican votes to pass this-- to have this confirmation happen and it was fast-moving today, judy. just this morning, john cornyn who was in charge of the vote counting for republicans here, told reporters he would be confirmed. just hours later, they didn't have the votes. why? i spoke to one of the senators, jeff flairk who was not yet a "yes" vote, and he said the main problem was puzder's revelation that he had hired an undocumented worker and had failed to pay backtaxes until he was nominated. flake told me, judy, for a labor secretary you just can't ignore

that. >> woodruff: so, lisa, with puzder now out of the picture, we're hearing from republicans, from the white house, that they think democrats are slow rolling all its rest of the president's cabinet nominees. where does all that stand? >> that's right. this is the slowest confirmation process in history but democrats point out that, in fact, many of trump's nom dmeez not get their paperwork in as quickly as in in the past. let's look at where we are right now in the general. so far, senate has confirmed 12 of president trump's cabinet nominees. one has been withdrawn, as we mentioned, mr. pruz dertonight. jude they leaves eight more cabinet nominees waiting to go through the senate. a hick-up on mick mulvaney just today as senator john mccain of arizona said he, a republican, will oppose him. looks like he'll have the votes, but that's not something-- they want all the republicans on board. his nomination, they don't have

them. >> woodruff: so, lisa, we know that's not the only set of issues that's roiling congress right now. the aftermath of the departure of general flynn at the white house is certainly, still, drawing reaction. what are you hearing about that? >> another wild day. until just three hours ago, the main iewsh dominating the news up here on capitol hill about the trump white house was russia. after a tumultuous 24 hours, president trump focused on two ignored reported contacts between campaign advisers and russian intelligence. instead, at a news conference with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu, he went after the media and those giving the media information. >> intelligence papers are being leaked. it's criminal action, a criminal act, and it's been going on for a long time before me. but now it's really going on. and people are trying to cover up for a terrible loss that the democrats had under hillary clinton. >> reporter: meanwhile, mr.

trump also defended ousted national security advisor michael flynn. the initial concern surrounded flynn's phone calls with russia's ambassador last year, but after revelations that he misled the white house about those calls, flynn was forced out this week. >> he's been treated very, very unfairly by the media-- as i call it, the fake media, in many cases-- and i think it's really a sad thing that he was treated so badly. >> reporter: the president got no direct questions during the news conference about the new turn in the story, and ignored shouted questions afterward. >> mr. president! can you guarantee that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the russians? >> mr. president! any questions on russia? >> reporter: that followed a report in "the new york times" that aides working in the trump campaign had, "repeated contacts with senior russian intelligence officials in the year before the election." pth: >> it's really the volume of

those calls that really caught u.s. intelligence by surprise, because they didn't see anything like that in other countries. and of course it's the timing that's the issue. is there collusion between the trump campaign and the russia hacking efforts? they don't have evidence to back up, you know, any charges of collusion. >> reporter: while the white house said relatively little, capitol hill was abuzz. democratic senators cancelled their schedules to hold a quickly-convened meeting... their leaders emerged calling for an independent counsel at the justice department. >> and the reports of constant contact between the top officials in the trump campaign and russian intelligence are chilling. i've been in congress for a long time, i've never seen anything like this. >> reporter: democratic leader chuck schumer is pushing for three things: preservation of all white house emails and records dealing with russia; public testimony by trump officials like paul manafort and michael flynn; and for attorney general jeff

sessions, a top trump supporter in the campaign, to recuse himself from any russia-related probe. house minority leader nancy pelosi: >> it just points to the need for us to have an outside, independent commission, nonpartisan commission with subpoena power to find the truth and what this means to our national security. the president is flirting with danger. >> reporter: meanwhile, republican lawmakers are watching closely. senator lindsey graham told fox news today that, if there were inappropriate contacts, congress should launch a bipartisan investigation. for now, republican leaders are signaling they don't want any new investigations. on msnbc, house speaker paul ryan endorsed the intelligence committee investigations already underway. >> russia has been trying to meddle with our country in our last elections. that's established. we know that. no one has made evidence, no one has made the claim that evidence exists that donald trump or his

people were in on it, were involved in that. >> reporter: the issue is made more difficult for republicans by the large number of unknowns and unanswered questions about relationships between russia and the trump world. again, matt apuzzo of "the new york times." >> was anybody in trump's world aware of or colluding with russian efforts to hack hillary's advisors, or the d.n.c. and influence the election? i think that's the big question. what were these people talking to senior russian intelligence authorities about? there are business interests that are at play here, so were these conversations strictly business? world? one of them, paul manafort, who was trump's campaign chairman, told us he never knowingly spoke to anybody in russian intelligence, and said, you know, it's not like these guys are wearing badges. >> reporter: as for the krelmin, russian spokesman dmitry peskov told reporters today: "let's not believe anonymous information."

>> they seemed to agree that they want to have michael flynn come to the capitol to testify in public. when could that happen? i asked intelligence chairman richard burr, and he said he hasn't been invited yet because "we don't even know what we would ask him yet." judy. >> woodruff: all right, lisa desjardins at the capitol. meanwhile, our own john yang is at the white house. now, john, it was noted, and lisa just reported this, the president today when asked about michael flynn, went out of his way to praise this man who essentially he just fired yesterday, and we were told he'd lost faith in him. >> reporter: that's right, judy. he made it sound as if the press had fired him and sean spicer, the press secretary, said there's no contradiction between admiring a man who served his country in the military but losing trust in him. he also went after the media, calling it fake news. we asked sean spicer if it hadn't been for the stories, would michael flynn still be in the job? he said no, because he had misled the vice president, never mind that the vice president only learned about that from

reading it in the newspapers. asked what was fake about the stories? sean spicer responded, "i'll have to get back to you on that." >> woodruff: now, john, we know separately that-- now i'm trying to remember what you and i were going to talk about, separately-- oh, i know. about the successor to general flynn. what you have learned about that? >> reporter: indications are the leading contender is former vice admiral bob harwick. he's a former navy seal. he was a deputy to the current defense secretary, james mattis, when then-general mattis ran central command for president obama. i'm told that an announcement could come as soon as the end of this week. >> woodruff: john yang reporting for us from the white house. thank you. in the day's other news, the russians rejected any notion of returning crimea to ukraine. just yesterday, white house spokesman sean spicer said president trump expects exactly that.

the russians annexed crimea in march of 2014, and today, the foreign ministry in moscow said, "we never give back our territory." u.s. defense secretary jim mattis issued a pointed warning today to nato allies on defense spending. he said they will have to do more, or run the risk that the u.s. will, "moderate its commitment" to the alliance. mattis attended his first nato defense ministers meeting in brussels and argued president trump's case that the allies share more of the burden. >> it's a fair demand that all who benefit from the best defense in the world carry their proportionate share of the necessary costs to defend freedom. and we should never forget, ultimately, it is freedom that we defend here at nato. >> woodruff: the trump administration wants nato members to meet an established target of spending 2% of their economic output, on defense. the u.s. spends more than 3.5%. in malaysia, police arrested a

woman in the apparent assassination of kim jong nam, the estranged half brother to north korea's supreme leader. malaysian news accounts say two women splashed a chemical on him at the kuala lumpur airport on monday. u.s. and south korean officials say they were north korea agents. meanwhile, an autopsy on kim's body began today at this medical institute in malaysia. that's despite north korean objections. the european union's parliament approved a landmark trade deal with canada today, after years of negotiations. supporters at the parliament, in strasbourg, france, argued the deal will counter rising protectionism, while outside, hundreds of protesters warned it will do more harm than good. >> we made now a very historic trade deal between the best partners in the world, actually, which we can find. because i really believe that apart from canada, there are

very few that match the standards of common values outside the european union. >> it's a threat to democracy, a threat to human rights, it's a threat to the environment. i suppose that what we can do now from here is to put pressure on our governments, put pressure on our m.e.p.s to do their job. it's not over. it's not over til it's over. >> woodruff: to be fully implemented, the trade deal will also need approval from various regional and national parliaments across europe. china formally announced today that it has granted president trump a ten-year trademark. he now has the exclusive right to use his name for building construction services there through 2027. mr. trump already has 77 trademarks in china. he has been trying to gain this one for the last decade. back in this country, nearly 3,000 workers at boeing voted on whether to unionize their plant in north charleston, south carolina. it is a key test for unions trying to organize in factories

across the south, where most workers are non-union. the vote at boeing involved the international association of machinists and aerospace workers. and on wall street, stocks rallied again on upbeat news about consumer prices and retail sales. the dow jones industrial average gained 107 points to close at 20,611. the nasdaq rose nearly 37 points, and the s&p 500 added 11. still to come on the newshour: i talk to a former trump adviser accused of having ties to russia; the president's evolving approach to israel, and much more. >> woodruff: the swirl of questions surrounding general flynn's resignation as national security advisor, and the new reports of regular contacts

between the trump campaign and russia, has democrats on capitol hill calling for an independent investigation. one of them is senator amy klobachar of minnesota. i spoke to her a short time ago, and started by asking what questions she has. >> well, i believe this is much more than the resignation of one national security adviser. you already had the trump campaign chairman step aside because of contacts with russia. and now this new report that there were multiple contacts between people in the campaign and russian intelligence people. so that's why i think we have to get to the bottom of it. this is about a fundamental concept, and that is a free democracy that should be free from foreign influences. and we already have had our 17 intelligence agencies tell us that there's been an attempt to influence our election. and now we're finding out that these contacts were ongoing. so we need to know who did flynn

work with? who did he talk to? what did he talk about to the russian ambassador? and, also, why was this happening? i think that's the biggest, over-riding question for national security. why was the trump administration so eager to placate the russians and make friends with them when they have done so many horrific things, including invading countries that are our allies. >> woodruff: do you have information beyond what's been reported in the press about that? >> well, i will say, when i was out with senator mccain and graham in the baltics and ukraine and georgia and spent a significant amount of time with president poroshenko in ukraine, i don't have the classified information for you to share, but i do have just my experience of learning that 10,000 people were killed there, of seeing that these cyberattacks have been happening for years, where it's really the modus operandi of russia where they have infiltrated estonia's system, this is what they do-- they try

to bring down these democracies with cyber attack s. >> woodruff: how do you think it should be investigated? we know the bipartisan intelligence committee is looking into this. are you prepared to leave it at that, because some democrats have said it should be an outside, independent commission. >> i think we can do both at the same time. the intelligence committee is important because they're going to be able to get underneath the surface with classified information. nope hopefully, they can will declassify some of it. and couldly, the independent commission, i was one of the early sponsors of this bill and announced it with the leaders of the bill, because i think you need a 9/11-type commission to really look at what happened so you can really also make recommendations so it doesn't happen in the future. i think we can do both things at once. >> woodruff: why do you need an outside commission? i mean, i talked yesterday with senator mark warner, who, of course, is vice chairman of that intelligence committee. he said at this point, he thinks that the intelligence commit itself can handle it. >> well, senator warner and i

are very good friends and i have full faith in his leadership and those of the other senator comoitzy, but the advantage of starting thup-- which will, by the way, take a much longer period of time-- is that you can put in place some expwhoartz can look at this really from a different perspective, and that's like the 9/11 commission did. what happened? and what steps can be taken so we can protect our democracy and others in the future. >> woodruff: you also were telling me, senator klobachar, that you and other democrats want to see the new attorney general, jeff sessions, recuse himself from any investigation going on inside the government. why? >> well, there's actually a specific rule on this, judy. and it says,"no d.o.j. employee may participate in a criminal investigation or prosecution if he has a personal or political relationship with any person or organization substantially involved in the conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution." or would be directly affected by the outcome.

senator session, who have i worked with extensively on the judiciary committee, while i've had a good working relationship with him, he has made it clear that he's not going to take on case where's there's conflicts. , he hasn't said that on this case. i don't know how he gets around it. he was an early supporter of president trump. he was involveed in the campaign. flynn was involveed in the campaign, and i just think it's better that he recuse himself as does senator feinstein and many other members of the judiciary committee. >> woodruff: senator, one other thing. i'm sure you know president trump is saying so much of this is fabricated by the news media, the news media is blowing this out of proportion, that the facts are not there to bear this out. and he's more upset about the leaking on the part of the intelligence community than he is about what the leaks purportedly show. >> you know, he has every right to go after that leaking. president obama did that as well. although, as senator corker said, president obama ran a

pretty tight ship, and there are more leaks going on than practically the entire obama administration. so the president has a right to look into that. but that is not the big story. the big story is the national security adviser resigned after only 26 days, and that in some sea of problems with russia and the fact that we've got to stand tall with our allies and that we have 17 intelligence agencies, no one's making that up. then you would have to discount the clear evidence from 17 intelligence agency that the u.s. government, that this had actually occurred. it occurred. it's a fact. and the only question now is hue we respond to it. >> woodruff: senator amy klobachar of minnesota. we thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. it was great to be on. >> woodruff: we turn now to a former member of the trump campaign's foreign policy team, among those alleged to have been in contact with russian officials. carter page manages an energy investment company, and joins me now. mr. page, thank you for joining us. so, briefly, start out by telling us how you knew or know

donald trump, and what kind of work did you do on the campaign last year? >>, you know, i-- it's funny you were just talking about leaks with your former-- former interviewee. i don't talk about the internal works that i did to help the campaign. i-- i was a junior member of the campaign's foreign policy advisory group, and i didn't-- had-- you know, compared to other people that had much more direct interaction with mr. trump, who i never actually briefed or was in any small meetings with. i went to many rallies with him. but never any direct meetings. so, you know, i think there's a tendency to talk about a lot of internal dealings in the u.s.

government, as you were talking about, and i think-- >> woodruff: let me just move on by saying, but you were a member of his foreign policy team. we were just talking about that a moment ago. >> yes. >> woodruff: but my first question, then, after that, carter page, is to ask you, you're aware of these reports out there, that there were officials in the trump campaign who were in repeated contact with russian officials, russian intelligence officials during 2016. were you one of those campaign officials? >> well, judy, you know, that-- going back to the question to sean spicer about fake news opinion i mean, this-- yes, i'm aware of the reports, which i saw on the front page of the "new york times" today. but i think i can actually answer that question as to why that was fake news, you know. that was just a regurgitation of old reports, based on the dodgy

dossier that the clinton campaign out with of. yes, i'm aware of these ongoing public relation attacks against the administration and people who have supported it. but-- >> woodruff: let me just stop and say the reports are citing intelligence agencies. so we're talking about the c.i.a., the f.b.i., so you're saying these agencies are not to be believed? or that the news media is making this up? or what? >> well what, i'm saying-- what i'm saying is, you know, at least last year, they were responding to false evidence, which is an obstruction of justice, false evidence given to the intelligence committee, intelligence community by the clinton campaign. now that's pretty well established, you know, with this dodgy dossier that came out last month. so i think it's pretty clear evidence. and, you know, in terms of it being fake news today, the big

front page story on the "new york times," i actually sent them a copy of a real dossier that i submitted to the civil rights division of the u.s. department of justice over the weekend. and, unfortunately, to one of the authors of that front page article, and that never got included at all. so, you know, it's-- it's very one sided. >> woodruff: we only have a limited amount of time here, so i want to use this time to everyone's advantage and ask you, you were in russia. you've worked in russia fair number of years. you clearly know russian officials. where do you think this comes from? were you in any kind of last year with russian government officials? >> it'st comes from deep animosity and deep negative feelings against the russians. and i think, you know, you just have to look back at the history of the last 70 years, and it's pretty clear where that originates from. and mrs. clinton and her team

did a great job of ramping that up, and it continues to this day with the helps of the likes of sally yates, and others that were hold-overs from the obama administration. >> woodruff: so you're saying that that-- whatever, what you describe as animosity towards the russians is not deserved. we just heard senator kobe bryant talk about the russians having the kind of agenda the u.s. could never share, they're undermining democracies across eastern europe. you don't agree with that view of russia? >> i view it as a two-day waystreet. and, you know, what i talked about in my speech in moscow in july, and what president trump and president putin talked about in their initial call was the concept of mutual respect. i think if both sides are acting respectfully and really thinking through and understanding the other side's perspectives, that takes care of a lot of it. so, you know, absolutely. you know, the senator is right that there are a lot of things that need to be repaired.

but i think continuing these fake news, fake intele reports is only going to continue driving us into the gutter grg did you have any meetings-- i'll ask again-- did you have any meetings last year with russian officials, in russia, outside russia, anywhere? >> i had no meeting, no meetings. i might have said hello to a few few people as they were walking by me at my graduation it's graduation speech i gave in july. but no meetings. >> woodruff: so, in other words, these reports that are citing, in very specific detail, what intelligence agencies say they have discovered, continuous, repeated contacts between the campaign and russia, you're saying that's entirely made up. is that what you're saying? >> judy, i don't think they said "discovered." i think they're looking at it. so it's a nice way for the enemies of the administration and the enemies of the positive u.s.-russia relations to keep

stirring this negative pot over and over again. and admittedly, they've done quite a good job over the last year. so i have to-- i have to hand it to them as excellent politicians. >> woodruff: are you cooperating with any federal investigators who are looking into this? have you been asked, for example, by the f.b.i. or other agencies to answer questions? and if you were called on to go before, say, a senate committee investigation, would you be willing to do that? >> i've never been asked by anyone in the f.b.i. or any of the other agencies over the last year. and i think-- yes, i would love to have the opportunity to speak with the senate. i've offered to a few of the senators to speak with them. and maybe offer them some realistic views of actually what's happening in the world. but i think, you know, there's-- there's a great level of ignorance. and so one question to ask your other senators you speak to is have they never actually stepped foot in russia or talked to

russian people? and i think, you know, that's very strong correlation with the ignorance that you see today, due to the lack of knowledge. >knowledge. >> woodruff: very quickly, what should the u.s. relationship with russia be? you're clearly arguing for something far more positive than what exists right now. >> i'm not saying "positive." i'm saying more practal and realistic and just having a open, respectful dialogue in which you really think about the other side and, you know, look to build your own country up here in the united states through better, positive relations, and not getting swirled out of control with these ongoing distractions which are taking away attention from bigger national security threats and causing disruptions, very unfortunately, for the united states. so i think there's a lot of work to be done. and i think russia can be a tremendous ally for helping in

that regard. >> woodruff: carter page, former foreign policy adviser to the trump campaign. thank you very much for talking with us. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: scientists scramble to back up data they say is threatened by the trump administration; and the debate over carrying guns on campus, 50 years after a shooting at the university of texas. but now, to the president's meeting with israel's prime minister at the white house today, and what it means for the u.s. role in the israeli- palestinian relationship. hari sreenivasan has that. >> i'm looking at two-state and one state, and i like the one that both parties like. >> sreenivasan: with that, president trump served notice

that he is not wedded to long- standing u.s. support for a two-state solution to resolve the israeli-palestinian conflict. he spoke with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu at his side. >> i thought for a while that two-state looked-- for a while, may be the easier of the two. but honestly, if bibi and the palestinians, if israel and the palestinians are happy, i'm happy with the one they like the best. >> sreenivasan: mr. trump also >> sreenivasan: the president urged a wider peace pact as well, involving other middle eastern countries. >> it is something that is very different. hasn't been discussed before. and it's actually a much bigger deal, a much more important deal in a sense. >> sreenivasan: mr. trump also left open the possibility of moving the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, despite palestinian demands that east jerusalem be their capital. netanyahu called for the u.s. and israel to "seize this moment," and he laid out his conditions for peace. >> first, the palestinians must recognize the jewish state. they have to stop calling for israel's destruction. they have to stop educating

second, in any peace agreement, israel must retain the overriding security control of the entire area of west of the jordan river. >> sreenivasan: the palestinians vehemently oppose that second element. they also flatly reject israel's ramped up construction in jewish settlements in the west bank. that point elicited this exchange today: >> i'd like to see you hold back on settlements for a little bit. we'll work something out, but i would like to see a deal be made. so let's see what we do. >> let's try. >> doesn't sound too optimistic. but he's a good negotiator. >> sreenivasan: netanyahu later added: >> i believe that the issue of the settlements is not the core of the conflict, nor does it really drive the conflict. i think it's an issue that has to be resolved in the context of peace negotiations, and we also are going to speak about it. >> sreenivasan: as the two leaders talked at the white house, palestinian officials say president mahmoud abbas met secretly tuesday night with c.i.a. chief mike pompeo, in the

west bank city of ramallah. joining me to delve further into the news out of today's white house news conference, and where the israeli-palestinian issue stands at the beginning of the trump administration, are shibley telhami. he's the anwar sadat professor for peace and development at the university of maryland; and tamara cofman wittes. she's a senior fellow in the middle east policy center at the brookings institution, and she served as deputy assistant secretary of state for near eastern affairs in the obama administration, from november of 2009 to january 2012. shibley, i want to start with you. what did both of these leaders get out of this before they even began having conversations? >> first, domestically. mr. netanyahu is obviously looking back home. he is in trouble on an investigation on corruption. he is being pressured from the ultra-right. he wants to show, at a time when the israelis are uncertain about where president trump is going to go, he wants to show he can make a deal with the president,

that he can have a working relationship with him, that he can deliver. it helps him at home. with mr. trump, mr. netanyahu is very popular in the republican party. in my polls actually, he's up there with ronald regan as one of the most popular leaders in the world, especially among the evangelical right. they both score points at home. obviously, they also score points on some issues that we knew they would score points on. for example, the stated american support for israeli security. the fight on terrorism. the iran issue. those are wrooshz there isn't much difference asht least rhetorically. and those obviously are the ones that register. but then, of course, we turn to the more central question where there will be inevitably some disagreements the israel and pal stinnian question. >> sreenivasan: tamarawittes, i want to get to you on that. the one-state, two-state. the president has always been

committed to a peaceful resolution to this, but why is the president's announcement today so important? >> well, look, i think it's always been the american position enuncated previously by the u.s. presidents that we can't want peace more than the parties themselves, and that the parties have to agree to a solution of their conflict, and we will support them in doing that. what's changed here is that for a long time, under president george w. bush, and then under president obama, the u.s. has agreed with both parties that a two-state solution-- that is, independent, sovereign states for israel and for palestine-- is the only stable, lasting solution for peace in the israeli-pal stinnian conflict. today, donald trump suggested that there might be some other outcome that could deliver a lasting peace. and that does throw into question the objective of any negotiation. >> if i may add on this one, just in terms of what is missing here. what is missing is when the

statement is "it's up to the parties to negotiate" with no reference to international law or previous agreements or some framework, you're leaving it up to the israelis and pal stinnians, a very unequal relationship. they're not going to be able to do this on their own without reference to what has been agreed or some grounds rule. that's number one. number two, the president throws in there the one state. he only gives two alternatives -- two states, one state. well, if you have one state, it can be only one of two days ways-- not a jewish state, democratic states for arabs and jews, but not a jewish state or apartheid state. by the way, if obama had put that proposal on the table just like trump stated it, he would have been attacked from all over the place from the right by suggesting the one-state solution could be on the table. so this one is really interesting because jiewf got some-- you've got some agreements on the left and rightave possibility of two states, but what they want is something completely different.

>> stewart: shibley, stay with you, is a one-state solution a nonstarter for the pal stinnians? >> no, it's not a nonstarter, even though for many of them-- obviously, they don't think it's realistic. when you ask them, "do you think it's going to happen?" most of them say no. but if they think they can have a full, equal relationship with israel, of course, they would, because ultimately that would be a majority. it's not a nonstarter. but it's a nonstarter if they're not going to have equal relations but it is a nonstarter for the israelis. >> sreenivasan: both said the goal might be more achievable if more regional partners got involved? what are the possible repercussions if there are more people at the table? >> well, look, i think this is an idea that has actually been tossed around fair while. it's something president bush and condoleezza rice tried to do at their annapolis conference, bring together want region as a whole, partly to compensate for pal stinnian weakness, and to put more on the table that's attractive to israel, in terms of regional security and

stability and regional cooperation. so in prince pecialg expanding the pie actually does give you more options for resolving the conflict. in practice, however, the arab straights made clear over and over again that they are not going to get in front of the pal stinnians in solving conflict. they are going to go where the pal stinniannians are going disg beyond. i don't see any reasoninar to change. i think this outside-in approach will last only as long as the arab governments think the palstinnians want it to last. >> sreenivasan: prime minister netanyahu started saying today that basically there are lots of things he has in common with arab states, say, for example, their fearave more powerful iran. what all of these arab states, in that shared sphere, or concern with israel, would they put the palestinian state on the back burner? >> he's right there is a lot of common interest, and that shows. and, obviously, you know, the president of egypt, the king of jordan, the leader of the

u.a.e., they have some cooperative relationships strategically, whether it's over iran or fighting trump. and also they all have working relations with trump, and even with putin, as the president of russia. in some ways you have this kind of strategic picture. but the bill bigelephant in the room is the israel-palestine question. it always has been. as tamara said fit weren't for, that, of course, then you could have it. what netanyahu wants to do is to show to the israeli public that he can built buildsettlements and not really make the concessions that are needed on the palestinian issue, and still make peace with the arab states. and he wants trump to help him. that's the way the arabs have interpreted it historically. well, interestingly in the news conference today, look at the body language. netanyahu was the one to say this is essentially my plan that i taught trump to advocate, instead of letting it even look like a trump plan because his interest is ultimately to send a message at home that he's the

one who is making trump do it, rather than to have the vaebz a fig leaf to come on board. i think many of them might play with trump. they don't want to say no to him. they have their own self-interests to want to play. the saudis remain a big question. but ultimately, i think, when push doms shove, the palestinian issue may be just a fig leaf for something other than israeli-palestinian peace. >> sreenivasan: tamara, very quickly, if you want to wrap up. >> sure. just to add, i think what is bringing israel and the arab states together right now is a common sense of threat. it's not necessarily a common vision for the region's future. >> sreenivasan: all right, thank you, both. >> woodruff: almost since the day president trump was sworn

in, members of a loosely-aligned grassroots movement composed of academics, programrs, researchers and scientists began archiving government data they fear could disappear. miles o'brien looks in on one of those efforts for our weekly science series, "leading edge." >> psyched to see everybody in the room, really exciting. >> reporter: it's early, cold, and saturday, and yet this room at new york university is standing room only. a few hundred volunteers are here to download and save scientific data created and curated by the federal government. >> without the data, you don't have environmental regulation. >> reporter: anthropology professor jerome whitington is one of the organizers of this data rescue event, the eighth in an ongoing, open-ended series which began after the election. >> now, one of the things we're going to accomplish at this event is, we're going to do a lot of work to get hard-to-

access datasets, things that previous events have struggled to get. >> reporter: they are focused primarily on the essential science used to create environmental regulations. they worry the trump administration's anti-regulatory bent and outright denial of peer-reviewed climate science might put the data in jeopardy. >> we're less worried about it being outright deleted and disappearing, and more worried about it becoming unusable or inaccessible in specific ways. >> reporter: so they are systematically building a data refuge in the cloud on servers hosted by amazon. bethany wiggin directs the university of pennsylvania program in environmental humanities. she is an organizer of the data refuge project. >> we've always thought of data refuge as providing an insurance policy. the situation is quite urgent. events on the federal level are moving quickly. the changes being made to programs is happening quite

fast. the situation is very uncertain. >> reporter: federally funded science has been maligned and cut back before, but the trump administration has upped the ante. while no huge data-sets have completely disappeared, some have been made harder to access or even find. the official white house website no longer contains any reference to "climate change;" a trump space advisor threatened to pull the plug on earth science at nasa; department of energy scientists received a questionnaire asking what climate change conferences they attended-- and what materials they shared; and the president's choice to run the e.p.a., oklahoma attorney general scott pruitt, sued the agency 13 times and tried to block obama administration climate change regulations. >> senator sanders. >> thank you, mr. chairman. >> reporter: vermont senator bernie sanders grilled pruitt at

his confirmation hearing. >> 97% of the scientists who wrote articles in peer-reviewed journals believe that human activity is the fundamental reason we are seeing climate change. you disagree with that? >> i believe the ability to measure with precision the degree of human activity's impact on the climate is subject to more debate on whether the climate is changing or whether human activity contributes to it. >> reporter: for his part, mr. trump has tweeted that climate change is a hoax cooked up by the chinese, and repeatedly criticized federal environmental regulations. >> i believe strongly in clean water and clean air-- but i don't believe that what they say-- i think it's a big scam, for a lot of people to make a lot of money. in the meantime, china is eating our lunch because they don't partake in all the rules and regulations that we do. >> reporter: this is benjamin franklin's grandson. >> reporter: physicist and former new jersey democratic

congressman rush holt is c.e.o. of the american association for the advancement of science. it is the world's largest general scientific society, with more than 120,000 members. >> when they hear public officials talk about alternative facts, they're aghast. and when they don't know what a new administration is going to do in support for research, they get very apprehensive about their ability to continue to do the research that they think is so valuable. >> reporter: holt was among the witnesses when the house science committee conducted its first hearing of the trump era. no one was surprised that the environmental protection agency was the focus. the republican chairman of the committee, lamar smith of texas, is a long time, staunch critic of the e.p.a. >> there is now an opportunity to right the ship at the e.p.a.

and steer the agency in the right direction. the e.p.a. should be open and accountable to the american people and use legitimate science. >> scientists are fiercely independent. they would resent horribly if they felt their work was being manipulated. it's not. >> reporter: also testifying that day; the e.p.a.'s deputy administrator under george w. bush, jeff holmstead. he is a partner at bracewell, a houston-based law firm that represents corporate clients in the energy sector. >> e.p.a. tends to focus on the science that supports the regulatory role that it sees for itself, and sometimes doesn't pay enough attention to science that cuts the other way. i think it would be valuable to e.p.a. if they had a more balanced perspective on a lot of these scientific questions that they're looking at. >> reporter: while scientists wait to see what shoes might

drop, a rumor mill echoes across the twitterverse. most agencies are laying low, avoiding controversy in public channels. the e.p.a.'s last official tweet was the day before the inauguration. meanwhile, alternative-- or rogue-- accounts emerge constantly, some apparently authored by worried employees inside agencies; others by sympathetic, connected outsiders. they are flares from a science community under siege. are scientists in a panic? is that what it is? what's going on? >> they know where the panic button is, and they look at it once or twice a day. >> reporter: keith cowing is a former nasa biologist who founded the watchdog website nasa watch 20 years ago. he's the proto-rogue, and now he says everybody seems to be joining in. >> nobody has said, "shut that database down, take that off your website." but what's going to happen when you've got this giant, bubbling, simmering, social media crowd

and they go from being worried about things that might happen to things that are happening? there's a colossal hair trigger waiting out there. >> reporter: in the meantime, data refuge is as much therapeutic as it is prophylactic. programmer brendan o'brien-- no relation-- showed me how they're doing their work. >> the toughest part about this is figuring out what this all means and to be able to archive it in a sensible form. >> reporter: data refuge organizers sent questionnaires to 65,000 scientists to determine how to prioritize their gargantuan task. so far, they received 7,500 responses. as they march through the databases, they are simultaneously developing tools to organize the effort, protect the integrity of the data, and make an app for widespread use. >> if we have the foresight to back the stuff up now, we may be-- maybe later generations

will thank us. >> reporter: scientists are also planning a public campaign to save their enterprise. on april 22, earth day, they intend to march en masse on washington, an experiment to test the volatile interaction between pressure, politics, belief, and facts. miles o'brien, the pbs newshour, new york. >> woodruff: this week, independent lens on pbs is presenting a captivating re-examination of america's first mass school shooting. "tower" includes archival footage, new animation and untold witness stories who unpack the horror that left 16 dead and three dozen wounded at the university of texas, austin in 1966. today, texas is one of nine

states that allow concealed weapons to be carried on public college campuses, prompting vigorous debate, as we see in this "independent lens" extra. >> my name is nick roland. i'm a ph.d student here at u.t. went to v.a. tech for undergrad and i was active duty army for four years. my routine is just like anyone else. you know, i get up, eat breakfast. the only difference is that i put a handgun in my bag before i get on my bike and ride to campus. i know it's loaded. it's got the loaded chamber indicator. once i get to campus, i'll find somewhere i can discreetly put my weapon on my hip. i'm just going to holster it and

place it right here on my hip. >> campus carry went into effect august the 1st of 2016, which means that a person with a handgun license can now carry a handgun, concealed, inside of a building of a college campus. my name is michael cargill. i'm the owner of central texas gun works, which is a gun store here in austin, texas. campus carry is now in effect. whoa, we can carry. i carry a .45, a .38 special, and a nine millimeter, love it. i like walking to the grocery store, i like going to the movie theaters, i like going to all those places, and now finally we can carry those same facilities on a college campus! woo-hoo! (applause) >> how do you all feel about guns on campus? >> weird. >> then, come support students against campus carry. my name is ana lopez, and i'm vice-president of students against campus carry at u.t. a college campus is somewhere where you should be able to

argue with someone and have different beliefs, and in the presence of guns, my freedom of speech, personally, is totally stifled. >> the final version is due tuesday? >> yes, tuesday before class. i'm lisa moore and i'm a professor of english and women's and gender studies here at the university of texas of austin. the campus carry law makes it really hard for us to do our jobs as instructors. students are allowed to bring guns to my classroom. i really consider that interchange of teaching and learning that happens in a college classroom to be something of a sacred vocation. it has introduced a level of tension, a level of wariness into the classroom setting that i just find heartbreaking, frankly. >> fire! ( gunfire ) this is about their personal safety. they are civilians that are carrying the firearm for personal protection. >> more than 30 people were shot

to death today at virginia tech university in blacksburg, virginia. it was the deadliest mass shooting in american history... >> i was a senior that year when it happened. it was hard because i really loved virginia tech. i think it's a really special campus and community. it was shocking, traumatic. it felt like somebody had attacked my family. had someone in one of those classrooms been armed, i think it would have made a difference, certainly. i think that people do deserve to have a fighting chance, and the concealed carry gives them another option for self-defense in that type of situation. >> i've debated with nick like, a couple months ago. and i get it. and i can't put myself in his situation, but causing everybody else to live in fear like you is counterproductive. people often forget that my university was the site for the first recorded mass shooting in u.s. history. that's usually brushed under the rug.

>> my name is ramiro martinez. back in 1966, i was with the austin police department. together, with other officers, we took down the sniper. right here is where he died. at the time, i started waving the shotgun and hollered down below, "stop shooting," but they kept shooting. i have been asked about my opinion about concealed handgun campus carry, and i'm against it. we don't need young people, who are just a little over 21, probably a little bit immature, to be carrying guns on the campus. >> look, the reality is there are vastly more guns in this country than there are people. we're awash in guns. my solution to that is not to disarm the people that aren't committing acts of violence. it's to give them a chance to defend themselves.

>> if a citizen had been out here with a gun, and i saw him, and i didn't know him from adam, i might have blasted him away. let the police do the policing. >> woodruff: you can watch independent lens's "tower" online at www.pbs.org/independentlens. and that's the newshour for >> a democrat on the senate judiciary committee are asking the u.s. attorney general and the f.b.i. director for a briefing on the circumstances that led to the resignation of general michael flynn. he stepped down this week as national security adviser over his contacts with russia during a transition. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> xq institute.

>> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the wellbeing of humanity around the world, by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at www.rockefellerfoundation.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

announcemajor funding for "quest" is provided by... sethi: without water, life as we know it wouldn't exist. our earth's oceans, lakes, and rivers aren't only cradles of biodiversity. they also play an essential role in regulating our climate, creating the oxygen we breathe, and quenching the thirst of our growing population. but the health of our waters is declining worldwide, and human activities are to blame.