captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, the congressional budget office releases projected costs of the g.o.p.'s healthcare bill, while the white house and republicans question the agency's analysis. then, ahead of rex tillerson's trip to asia, a look at the secretary of state's low profile in the trump administration. and, i sit down with former vice president al gore to talk about restoring america's information ecosystem in the age of trump. >> a false belief collides with physical reality. we are seeing every night on the tv news a nature hike through the book of revelation. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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>> woodruff: the congressional budget office is out tonight with its analysis of the republican health care bill. it includes the non-partisan agency's best estimates on cost, coverage and other issues. lisa desjardins has been looking at the numbers, and joins me now. lisa, what's the headline here? >> there are several, but a very big one, what will this mean for health insurance coverage for americans in the congressional budget office found this republican bill in just the first year, next year, would mean some 14 million americans who have insurance now would not have it, the ranks of the uninsured would go up and continue to go up, next year because the mandate ends, they say. so people would choose no longer to have coverage because there is no mandate penalty. that shifts in 2024, where we see now another 24 million americans or total of 24 million

americans over now uninsured because of largely medicaid cuts. >> woodruff: you were telling me members of congress and the white house have been commenting. >> we had quick reaction from congressional democrats. starting with house minority leader nancy pelosi. >> the c.b.o. reported that the republican bill pushes 24 million people out of healthcare, out of health coverage. this is a remarkable figure. it speaks to eloquent rito the cruelty of a bill that the speaker calls an act of mercy. i don't know if he thinks h it's an act of mercy to all the people who will lose coverage -- >> and republicans didn't waste time either. the white house new health and human services secretary tom price spoke. he thinks these numbers on cbo coverage are wrong. >> it basically says we will be right back at pre-obamacare status with about 40 million

people uninsured in this country. we believe that the plan that we're putting in place is going to insure more individuals than currently are insured. so we think that cbo simply has it wrong. >> woodruff: so, lisa, cbo, congressional budget office looks at premiums and their costs. >> this is a mixed bag. let's look at what the cbo found there. in the next two years the congressional budget office found this plan will increase premiums overall because healthy people will leave. the mandate penalty is removed and people who don't have to have care will leave. but after that, they say, the reamums will actually go down and that's because there will be more choices, that there will no longer be the bronze, silver plans. there will be bare bones insurance plans that are not allowed, more people will choose them, premiums will go down. but one important note, they think it's by age, so premiums will likely go up for older americans in general.

>> woodruff: the people we should be paying tension to across the board. what tact the budget? >> the cbo found something republicans like, they say this republican plan would save over $300 billion in the deficit over the next teen years. out it do that? well, a large part of at the is the medicaid cuts, over 800 billion in medicaid cuts. but republicans for a long time felt medicaid spending was out of control. they're reining it in here. that's going to be a very big debate. >> woodruff: i know you only had an hour or two to look at this, came out at 4:00 eastern this &. we'll continue to look at the impact to have the cbo report. thank you. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, the northeast braced for a late winter snow storm that could bring up to 20 inches of snow tonight. a blizzard watch is in effect through tomorrow evening for new york city, parts of new jersey and connecticut. preparations were under way today in new york and elsewhere, with mayors urging people to

stay inside and not take chances. >> this kind of snow coming down this intensely again its dangerous, it'll be dangerous to be on the road, want to urge everyone now to make plans to not be out on the roads tomorrow. first and foremost for your own safety, but second and very important so that all of the good people at the sanitation department can do their jobs and clear the roads. >> woodruff: even before it arrived, the storm caused disruptions. airlines canceled some 6,000 flights, and new york city called off school tomorrow. the state of washington went to federal court today, to stop president trump's revised travel ban. the executive order temporarily blocks refugees and travelers from six muslim-majority countries. california is joining washington's suit, along with minnesota, new york and oregon. hawaii has already filed its own challenge. the white house is now saying the president was not speaking literally when he accused

president obama of wiretapping trump tower. adviser kellyanne conway suggested over the weekend that it might have been some other form of surveillance, but she acknowledged today she has no evidence. later, press secretary sean spicer followed up at the white house briefing. >> he doesn't really think that president obama went up and tapped his phone personally. but i think that there's no question that in the obama administration that there were actions about surveillance and other activities that occurred in the 2016 election. the president used the word "wiretap" in quotes to mean broadly surveillance and other activities. >> woodruff: the house intelligence committee also asked that the justice department to provide any evidence of wiretapping by today. the u.s. senate moved this evening to confirm seema verma to oversee medicare and medicaid. the indiana health-care consultant will be charged with directing key changes, if congressional republicans push through heir replacement for

obamacare. in syria, last year was the most dangerous yet for children, since the civil war began six years ago. the u.n. children's reef agency, unicef, reports at least 652 syrian children were killed in 2016. that's up 20% from 2015. the number recruited to fight, doubled, to more than 850, with some acting as executioners and suicide bombers. the u.s. military confirms it's begun deploying attack drones to south korea, to counter what it calls north korea's "continued provocative actions." the move follows pyongyang's recent nuclear and missile tests. and, it comes just days after the pentagon sent an advanced anti-missile system to the south. scottish leader nicola sturgeon called today for a new referendum on independence. sturgeon spoke in edinburgh, and said most scots oppose leaving

the european union, and that's cause to reconsider independence. >> right now, we're on a path not just to brexit but to hard brexit that will have profound implications for our economy, our society, our culture, our place in the world, sense of who we are. and we have no control over that. we voted against it but nevertheless that is the direction the uk government is intent on taking us in. >> woodruff: in a 2014 referendum, 55% of scottish voters rejected independence. the british parliament would have to authorize a new vote. and on wall street, stocks mostly searched for direction. the dow jones industrial average lost 21 points to close at 20,881. the nasdaq rose 14 points, and the s&p 500 added about a point. still to come on the newshour: the costs of the republican plan to replace obamacare. the fog in foggy bottom-- the low profile of secretary of state rex tillerson.

crisis in south sudan: famine and civil unrest strike the world's newest nation, and much more. >> woodruff: now, reaction to the c.b.o.'s analysis of the republican health care bill. as we said, 24 million fewer people would be insured after a decade. and it would reduce the deficit by more $300 billion over 10 years. john yang gets some analysis now. >> yang: and for that, we turn to two experts who watch this all closely: zeke emmanuel, one of the original architects behind the affordable care act, or obamacare. he's the chair of the department of medical ethics and health policy at the university of pennsylvania. and lanhee chen, a fellow at the hoover institution who advised mitt romney and marco rubio in

their presidential campaigns. gentlemen, welcome to you both. dr. emmanuel, the big headline, 24 million fewer with health insurance after a period after this. that is more than who were added to the rolls by obamacare. what's your reaction? >> well, by 2026, one in five americans are going to lack health insurance if this plan goes through according to the cbo, and lest americans think, oh, this is only people on medicaid or people who got obamacare, the cbo estimates 7 million people who have employer insurance today will lose coverage. if you're getting coverage through your employer, it's not guaranteed under this plan. the big positive news for the republicans sounds puny in comparison. all those people losing coverage and the deficit goes down $34 billion per year. this sounds like no home run at all for them, and a real

albatross. one out of five americans, no health insurance, maybe that's acceptable in some places like texas, but i don't think across the country it's something we're going to find very tolerable. they also point out that the extensive coverage under this plan, what your insurance actually covers, is going to go down, so people will be responsible for more out of their own pocket. they will have skinnier health insurance, more deductibles. again, that is something that has proven unpopular. why the republicans want to encourage that is beyond pi comprehension. this points out it's a loser bill. we need to go back to the drawing board and try to get a bipartisan bill. i think there is a compromise but only when the republicans give up on this kind of approach. >> yang: lanhee chen, an albatross, loser bill? what do you say? >> i would argue this bill is a good start. it's not perfect, improvements need to be made, but let's start with a couple of things.

obviously, the congressional budget office estimates reveal the bill will cut the deficit and spending over the next ten years and provide almost $1 trillion in tax relief over the next ten years, so those are points you will hear supportive. on the coverage numbers, the 24 million is a big number. i think they have work to do there. the challenge, is without an individual mandate, without a massive and costly expansion to medicaid, you're not going to see the same kind of coverage numbers you saw out of the affordable care act. i think republicans need to be willing to accept that at least, as presently constituted, their plan is not going to get to the same levels. now, the question becomes are people going to have more choices? are premiums going down? indeed the c.b.o. report finds in 2020 the amount will go down and there will be more choices. consumers might want skinny down plans because they don't want the excessive mandates required by the affordable care act. so it's a reasonable response to

what we've seen from the overregulation created by the aca in the last ten years. in the employer marketplace, the cbo when they estimated obamacare upon passage also noted many americans would lose their coverage in the employer marketplace. it's not unusual to see shifting between market places that it's created by large scale reform such as the aca or the subject bill republicans are considering. >> $600 billion or so of this change is going to be tax cuts to the wealthiest 2 or 3% of americans, the insurance companies, the drug companies. we're going to see americans get less insurance. lanhee chen said that. which part of the essential benefits that the government is so-called mandating don't you want? hospital care, emergency room care? drug care? doctor care? >> he would like for americans to choose the benefits they want. i don't believe it makes sense

to give them the same plans across the board. >> lain here, you're saying we're taking away the money and letting you choose with no money. healthcare is extremely expensive. $10,000 on average per american. >> it is and the affordable care act made it less affordable. >> the affordable care act did not make it less affordable, it made it more affordable. >> year over year sounds less to me. >> the silver plan is low than the cbo predicted in 2010, we have been able to control healthcare costs and that has gone on. you tell me the one service on the essential benefits you're going to get rid of that will be better for people. >> i'm not in the business of telling people what benefits they should and shouldn't have. off the bottom ryan is what they plan to do is allow people to

choose the plans -- there are things that i would choose that are not going to be the same things someone else would choose, that's the point. this is not a decision washington should be making and that's the point the supporters of the law have been making. at the end of the day the aca leaves the essential healthcare benefits in place because they can't be removed through reconciliation. you know that better than anybody else. >> yang: you talked about premiums would be going down but the cbo found there will be a difference by age if by 2026, premiums for a 21-year-old would be 20 to 25% lower, for a 40-year-old, 10% lower. for a 64 year old, one year before medicare, 20% to 25% higher. >> yeah, the people who are sick and are need it are -- >> yang: wait a minute. rest let lanhee chen answer that. >> so t point is anytime you

create a an insurance marketplace you will have people coming in and out, people of different ages. it is the case there will be variation across age categories. the affordable care act increased premiums significantly for younger people, brought premiums down for older people because of the way the law was structured. so always winners and losers, we have to take look at exactly what happens. but what the republican proposal does is to create an additional subsidy to help people who are older. you could arguably tweak the subsidy to give them more support, but the notion there will be differences in costs of premiums across age is not prizing when you have large health reform. >> yang: 30 seconds to respond. >> you take the subsidies way down so you give people less money to buy insurance. this is a double whammy which is we're going to allow the premiums to go up and, by the way, the amount of coverage is going to go down because the essential benefits are going down. so -- and we should also mention that by --

>> essential benefits aren't touched by the law, you know that. >> they're actually going to send the premiums up for all people 15% to 20%. by 2026, yes, premiums for the younger will come down, but before that they will actually go up. so this is hardly a very good thing if you're going to say we're going to make it, cover everyone and we'll make it cheaper. it's not going to be cheaper. >> yang: we'll have to leave it there. dr. emmanuel and lanhee chen, thanks for joining us. >> woodruff: thanks to both of them. >> woodruff: we want to hear what people think on all sides of the health care debate. if you're concerned about health care reform, online find a brief questionnaire and share your experience. >> woodruff: secretary of state rex tillerson flies to asia tomorrow for high-stakes visits to japan, south korea and china,

as tensions in the region mount over north korea's missile and nuclear programs. but not flying with tillerson: the state department press corps, a significant change from prior administrations. this comes amid reports that tillerson has been sidelined on some major international issues, and that the white house wants to slash state's budget by 37%. here to walk us through all this is chief foreign affairs correspondent margaret warner. margaret, welcome. so what do you make of all this? >> judy, there is just no doubt this -- rex tillerson is the lowest profile secretary of state in modern times. he has not uttered a word publicly in the united states since arrival comments when he joined state on february 2. overseas, he does give prepared remarks but never takes a question for reporters. his issue about taking the press corps on such an important trip began with henry kissinger who

recognized it was very useful -- he could background reporters, get u.s. policy out there, help shape the coverage. i'm told the g-20 meeting in germany where his prepared marks were very well received, private meeting with the russian foreign men stir sergey lavrov, but he didn't want to do a press difference with la lavrov. he went before the american reporters and read a short statement, took no questions. here in washington, he has not been included in allied liters -- important allied leaders' visits like japanese prime minister or benjamin netanyahu. he didn't even present the annual human rights report which secretaries always do to demonstrate how important it is to the u.s., and the state department didn't have a daily press briefing as they've had

since the '50s till about ten tas ago. >> woodruff: how much influence is it believed that he has internally? >> that remains something of a mystery, judy. we can't discount him. here's the former c.e.o. of exxonmobil. tonight he's going on a really important mission as you explained in your intro tomorrow, he's having dinner tonight with the president and national security advisor general mcmaster. so far, there haven't been opportunities to see. we know he had influence getting iraq off the muslim country travel ban list, for example, but on other big issues, we don't really know whether he's going to have influence. for example, climate change, he's in favor of staying within the climate change treaty. but what has been happening in the absence of statements of policy from the state department is that policy is made by presidential tweet. he was not involved in former national security advisor michael flynn saying iran was officially on notice after this

missile test. he wasn't consulted when trump said with netanyahu, i'm gnostic on whether it's a one- or two-state solution. that upsends policy but i'm told that was negotiated with jared curb noor, his son-in-law. and the big concern among veteran dim plats is what is this steve bannon established called the strategic initiative group and is that going to run the show in. >> woodruff: is there a sense that there is a design behind all this, that there's a plan? >> that is the question that people are asking. did he understand this part of his job? did he know that his choice for deputy could be rejected by the president? he is now in a department without any policy people to advise him. one person said it's like a ghost ship. you hear the wind and sails but

no one's on deck. is he being sidelined by a sort of bannon kushner operation inside the white house? somebody who knows him well from exxonmobil said she's likely mystified that "he's not the person i knew." she saw him as a large, in-charge c.e.o. >> woodruff: fascinating. as you said, margaret, a change from previous administrations going back to richard nixon. >> absolutely. >> woodruff: margaret warner, thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: the assault on reason. al gore gives his take on the trump presidency. it's politics monday. a look ahead to the upcoming fight over the new health care plan. and running on ice. a marathon over a frozen siberian lake. but first, south sudan, the

world's youngest country, founded in 2011, is in free- fall. three of its six years in existence have been spent fighting a civil war that has killed tens of thousands. now, the ravages of that war have led to a man-made famine: last week, the united nations reported that 7.5 million people there are in need of assistance from south sudan, john ray of independent television news brings us this report. and a warning-- viewers may find some of the images upsetting. >> reporter: of south sudan's many torments, hunger has become the greatest terror of all. it is a horror written in the flesh and bones of this little boy. it has drawn the strength from his limbs and the life from his eyes. his name is khamis, two years old; but weaker than a new born baby. his mother has lost one child to

sickness, lost family to war, now starvation threatens her son. >> ( translated ): there is no food. anything we can find we will try to eat. we find grass, we will eat it. that's just the way it is for us now. >> reporter: the red warning signs are everywhere at this screening center, out in the countryside, we're told four out of every ten children are severely acutely malnourished, in language any parent would understand, they risk starving to death. so with every pained step, south sudan moves from the brink of genocide into the arms of famine. for many days and many miles they've trekked across a sand blown wasteland in search of something to eat and somewhere safe to stay. and all they've gained is the shade of a tree.

"everybody is hungry," the old woman tells me. but better here than at home. >> ( translated ): the soldiers came and so many people were killed, even the women and old people. my children were shot in front of me. the houses were burnt so we ran to the bush. >> reporter: there is food, but nothing like enough. in the district center of ganyeal, a u.n. plane has just delivered its once a month aid drop. and in the baking heat they collect their rations, but thousands have arrived too late. we found this woman scratching through the dirt for a few grains split from sacks of cereal. in the long grass all around, there are many like her. this is all she has for the next month. "it shames and pains," she says, "but how else can i live." the answer, for many, is to risk

the malaria infested marshes that line the river nile. we watched william gaul and his family, eight children in all, arrive after a 19-day journey from famine, through, fighting. all they've eaten on the way are water lilies. >> ( translated ): i have never seen so many people die of hunger. only god can help us now. without god, i am afraid, not one of us will survive. >> reporter: this is dalia, six years old, perilously thin. her fight for life is one tiny front line in a much wider struggle. 100,000 people on the verge of starvation; dalia is precisely the same age as her country, uncertain fate intertwined. but like so many children, khamis knows only fear and hunger. first the war, then the famine, now the reckoning.

>> woodruff: now, has faith in the power of reason fallen victim to modern politics? ten years after it's original publication, former vice president al gore has updated his book, "the assault on reason." it's new subtitle is telling: "our information ecosystem, from the age of print to the age of trump." i started by asking about criticisms he made in the original version against then- president george w. bush. >> my criticismser are not mainly aimed at any individuals, including president george w. bush or vice president cheney, but rather the way in which our democratic conversation has been degraded over the last several decades, and i say the same thing about president trump. for me, the most serious problem

is how our nation became so vulnerable to the assertion of blatant falsehoods that drive policy and are not corrected by the so-called immune simple of democracy of pre-press and a free democratic discourse. i think we have a huge systemic problem that we have largely ignored. when our founders created america, it was in the age of the printing press where individuals could freely join the conversation, and that robust, democratic dialogue more often than not lifted up the des available evidence and asserted what was more likely to be true than not. now we have things that are obviously false, leading us to war, leading us to deny people healthcare, leading us to ignore the climate crisis. we have to restore the integrity to have the democratic

conversation. >> woodruff: when you wrote the book, you were optimistic, you wrote, that the internet would be an open opportunity for the kind of discourse you would like to see. has it turned out that way? >> not as quickly as i hoped, that's for sure. i still do have hope, however. if you look at the way all the new reform movements dedicated to the public interest are living and thriving on the burnett, i do think there is still some considerable hope that the full participation of individuals in that conversation of democracy can once again erestore the integrity of the way our democracy works. >> you write about that in the book in the update, but you also say you think it's wrong to go after president trump as the principle cause of the. as you know, there are others who are out there saying he is a principal cause because to have the language we've heard from him about how many people showed up at the inauguration, about how many electoral votes that he

had. >> yeah. >> woodruff: so why is he not part of your focus, a pain part of your focus? >> well, he is, and i don't defend any of that. i just think a much more important part of the problem we face which was evidence ten years ago and is even more evident now is that the way we share information among ourselves as american citizens has been radically transformed. the line between news and entertainment has almost dissolved where ratings now have a big impact on what kinds of stories are covered and not. and when you talk about president trump, the cable networks turned over so many hours of prime time to him. why? because he was entertaining but also because it drove ratings. that is different from what the news media is supposed to focus

on. >> woodruff: but how much responsibility does he bear for what's going on? >> well, i mean, i think that asserting that former president obama was not born in the united states was just the height of irresponsibility, of course. he corrected that one. there are others that have yet to be corrected. >> woodruff: you met with president trump during the transition in new york, and you've written about you said you have been in touch with him since then. what's your take on him? >> he's one of a kind. i think, like a lot of people, i'm still trying to figure out exactly what he represents in american politics, but, if nothing else, he represents a way for tens of millions of people who were desperate for change to just turn the table over and say we want to start over again. but it is a challenge for our

democracy, it definitely is. but again, the remedy has to be devoting enough attention to restoring the way we make collective decisions in this country. >> woodruff: you're saying that can be done even with a president like donald trump who is as outspoken as he is and who makes the controversial statements that he does? >> i hope so. we're less than two months into this experiment, and people are already reaching conclusions. but, you know, george alwell once wrote that a false belief sooner or later collides with physical reality, usually on a battlefield. that's what happened with the invasion of iraq, and we're still bogged down there. tas what would -- that is what would happen if the congress passed this pending healthcare

bill that would knock so many out of coverage and raise the expenses of so many others, that's a physical reality that can be finessed with words -- that can't be finessed with words and falsehoods. >> woodruff: what is your take on the man the president chose to head the environmental protection agency scott pruitt who last week said he doesn't believe carbon dioxide is a primary contributor to climate change? >> and that's the perfect example of a problem i'm describing in the assault open reason. false belief collides with reality. we're seeing a nature hike through the book of revelation. these climate extreme weather related eevents convinced the vast majority of people the scientists have been right for a long time. we have to address this. but putting someone in the ep.a. who denies even the most basic scientific truth about

this, you know, it's the old cliches are you can say the earth is flat but doesn't mean you're going to fall after the edge. >> woodruff: you're saying the news media can do its job and not be accused on a regular basis of being fake news as this president says? >> fake news has been around as long as news has been around, but, again, the issue is how vulnerable are we to it? how can the immune system of democracy which is not only the news media but also the free speech we all enjoy and the way we make decisions collectively, how can that better protect us against blatant untruths repeated over and over again. >> woodruff: are you contestanting to have conversations with president trump? >> well, i'm upnot talking about any dialogue with him direct or indirect. i hope that our country remains in the paris agreement, but we face a climate crisis now that

is the most serious challenge our civilization has confronted, and the greatest country in the world has to remain a part of this unprecedented global agreement to deal with it. >> woodruff: and you're telling him that? >> well, again,ip not commenting on my communications because i want to have more. >> woodruff: all right, we'll leave it there. former vice president al gore, the book is "the assault on reason," out with a ten years' later update. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: thank you very much. >> woodruff: now, with news continuing to swirl around health care reform and wiretapping claims, it's time for politics monday with tamara keith of npr and amy walter of the "cook political report." welcome to both of you. before we talk about healthcare, i have to ask you, amy, about what former vice president al gore said trying to be

optimistic act the ability of the news media to, if his words, get the truth out of there in the face of a lot of, frankly, non-truths floating around. >> right, and we have created a world now, us as americans, where we like to surround ourselves with news and information that already confirms our own bias. it is very uncomfortable for us to go outside of that circle, and we do it not just in th channels we choose but in the ways in which we choose to get it. who are we following on facebook, twitter? usually people who agree with us. so we call something fake news because it challenge us our assumptions rather than going to what we should be doing and saying i should constantly be challenging my assumptions. so it's not the news media, it's partly the news media but really the consumer as well, breaking out of those bubbles. >> woodruff: tam, you see the challenge, you're coloring the news every daze.

>> the fake news confirms our bias that we want to believe as a news consumer, it's too good to check. but as a member of the news media, you keep going and, you know, reporting the numbers, the cbo numbers, the bureau of labor statistics numbers and talking about their methodology. >> woodruff: and that's what we want to do now. in the last few hours, we got this report, analysis, amy, from the congressional budget office. some good news for democrats, a little bit of good news for the administration. >> if you're the administration the first ling thing you look at, well, it reduces the deficit and that is good news, but at the core, judy, this is the challenge for the republican party fundamentally, which is the president of the united states, who is a republican, went out on the campaign trail and even when he was president-elect and said things, like, everybody's going to be covered, we're going to have insurance for everybody. he said that over and over

again. the people in congress and those even surrounding him, his h.h.s. secretary, the head of the budget office, believed that the issue is not how many people are covered but whether they have access to that coverage. so you have a populist president who promised everything was going to be okay, we're not going to touch medicaid or entitlements, you will get everything but it will be cheap around better and a free market republican leadership who says, we never promised those things, we think the market can take care of it. so those two things will continue to collide regardless of what the cbo report says, and we'll see it in a bill. >> woodruff: how do you see the political impact of the, tam? >> well, certainly leading into it, the trump administration and some in congress were sort of trying to work the left, trying to discredit the report before it ever came out. but these numbers are stark. you know, 14 million people almost immediately who will not have insurance who have it now, the number goes up significantly

as time goes on, and, you know, if you look at the breakdown, the people who this report indicate are the most likely to face hiring costs are older people and poorer people, and many of those people are the very people who supported donald trump, people who show up to his rallies. >> woodruff: seems like this is, in the short run, going to make this a little harder. >> for them to sell it and more importantly for the president to sell it because he's the one who talked about everybody will be able to keep their healthcare and the headline number out of this, of course, are the millions of people who will not. >> woodruff: the other thing i want to ask you all about is what we heard, the infamous or famous tweet, tam, from president trump to -- two saturday mornings ago where he accused president obama of wiretapping him in trump tower in a series of tweets that morning. we haven't stopped talking about

it since then. the white house or the administration has not come forward with any evidence to back it up, despite a request by the hill, and we just now have seen and you were telling us about it a statement by the justice department saying they're asking for more time to respond to the request. >> right, so the justice department got in touch with the chairman and the ranking member of the house intelligence committee which asked them to produce evidence that president trump had been wire tapped, and they're asking for more time. the administration, you know, we have been asking sean spicer the press secretary where did the president get this from, what is his source? he said there have been lots of reports out there but he won't say whether that was the president's source. in a new turn today he said, well, when the president said wirwiretapping, he put it in qus and, because it was in quotes, maybe he was talking more broadly about surveillance, even though there were other tweets where the president said his phones were tapped and that wasn't in quotes.

>> woodruff: i guess sean spicer's comment was he may not have meant it literally. >> and we're back to literally. yeah. so, amy, where does this go from here? we're waiting to see if there is any evidence. meanwhile, this is a very serious charge that the current president levels against the previous. >> yeah, and i want to go back to where you started this conversation, judy, about the public and their frustration with the media, this idea about fake news, who they trust and who they don't, and as i watch the story unfold, i can understand where a lot of americans get frustrated with this story. the president tweeted something out that clearly is completely unfounded in the same way he tweeted out this statistic that there are 3 million to 5 million americans who voted illegally, that the president was not born in this country, and the news media's job is to report this is unfounded, we haven't seen any evidence of this. every day, the question has presented to sean spicer or kellyanne conway when it looks

like in a way that the pedia's trying to get a kya gotcha. let's put them in an uncomfortable position. americans are looking for, we get it, he said something that's unfounded, but it looks like the media is trying to prove a point rather than trying to look out for the other issues that are out there, spend more time focusing on healthcare and those other issues. i understand undermining the former president is a big issue, but without -- >> woodruff: but without pushing forward, tam, you're left with a ragged uncertainty, if you stop talking about it or stop asking about it, you're basically leaving it unresolved. >> and at the moment it is still very much unresolved. i agree it is unresolved and the question has to be answered but i think we're not going to get an answer. >> one point we're trying to ask the president, too, and he's not giving an answer. >> he's never going to admit. if it's not true, h he will not

admit it's not true. >> woodruff: we may discuss this again. amy walter, tamera keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with a story about a marathon that takes place on a lake-- frozen, that is. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keep programs like ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations still with us, we turn to the power of the arts as a way to boost low-performing schools. jeffrey brown takes a second look at a program that's using music, performance and other arts to motivate kids in dozens of schools across the country. this story originally aired in january. >> ♪ 9, 18, 27, 36, 54, x, 99, >> brown: making music and using

the arts to build math and other skills, that's the theory here at the renew cultural arts academy, a public charter school in new orleans-- not long ago, one of the lowest performing schools in louisiana, a state ranking near the bottom in the nation. it's a school now showing measurable signs of educational advancement. why does the singing help you do math? >> because at my old school, when we didn't have any songs for multiplication, half my class used to get, like, "unsatisfactory" because they didn't remember it for multiplication. but now that i'm at this school, i'm singing songs, and i can memorize it more. >> brown: a floor above, an eighth grade social studies class uses the musical "hamilton" to make history come alive.

>> i'm obsessed with "hamilton," and, so, rap battles were just a perfect way to bring them into what a debate actually is and how to do it. it triggers their listening skills, too, and their writing skills because they're going to have to write their own. we provided the model for them, and they love it. >> brown: samantha king works for kid smart, a consulting company that's helped craft the curriculum here and at other schools. >> the general idea of arts integration is to appeal to different modalities of children's learning so they get to get up and use skills that they love or are drawn to-- theater, dance, visual arts, music. and we find that when you put both things together, it sticks. i mean, they remember things. it's in their body memory. >> brown: turnaround arts is a five-year-old program created by the president's committee on the

arts and humanities. it's the first federal effort to use arts education as a tool to boost achievement in the nation's lowest performing schools. private foundations make up 70% of the funding with public turnaround began in eight schools around the country. the number recently rose to 68 in 15 states and the district of columbia. >> there are about six million kids in this country who are in public schools, charter schools, who don't have those opportunities, so they don't get any arts in school. and to have something that positive and that joyful to kickstart literacy and a lot of the other core content subjects, it just seems like a smart way to teach. >> brown: that strikes a personal chord in the turnaround artists, accomplished professionals who volunteer their time to work with students and teachers. at renew delores t. aaron

academy, we watched actress alfre woodard, singer graham nash and our own david brooks, the "new york times" columnist, in action. >> let me hear the sound it makes. ah, never hold sound in! >> can you feel the vibrations on the guitar? put your hands on the body. >> brown: woodard, known for her award-winning film, stage and television roles, is a veteran of the program. why is this work important? >> art completes not only the education but the human being, our ability to create and to express that creation.

>> when they first came here, the windows were blacked out and the skylight was blocked off and the rats were running along the top of the wall. and now look it. >> brown: graham nash of crosby, stills, nash and young is a two- time rock and roll hall of fame inductee but never forgets his "bleak" childhood in post-world war ii england. >> i like to go into a thing not knowing exactly what's going on, but i'll deal with whatever it is. 0so, one of the kids comes up to me, and he goes, "you know, mr. nash, we've rewritten your song 'chicago,' and here it is. we're going to teach it to you." >> ♪ will you please come to new orleans just to dance. ♪ >> i went, "okay, let's go," you know, because you can either stop it right there and say, "look, you can't rewrite my song, blah blah blah," or you can just go with it and see what happens. and when you choose that moment, that's when the world opens up and all kinds of opportunities come your way. >> brown: an independent evaluation of the original eight turnaround schools conducted showed early success. half the schools improved their attendance rates, with an the average improvement in math proficiency was 22%, and reading close to 13%.

and discipline problems fell. at renew cultural arts academy, for example, suspensions were down 51%. and the kids themselves? new orleans ninth grader jared mullins has seen his own turnaround through the arts. >> i'll be thinking what more can i do? when i'm in the arts, i'm focused. >> brown: singing for first lady michelle obama, an early backer of the turnaround arts program. months later, in new orleans, mullens sang to a packed crowd of a different sort: a high school gymnasium filled with students, teachers, parents and turnaround artists. ♪ ♪

turnaround arts will expand to 20 more schools next fall, and, from new orleans, i'm jeffrey brown for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: now to our newshour shares, something that caught our eye that might be of interest to you, too. while most of us can't wait for temperatures to thaw, one russian community thinks this is the best time of year for a run... and a chilly one at that. the newshour's julia griffin explains. >> reporter: siberia's lake baikal. it's the world's oldest and deepest freshwater lake. it's also the perfect spot... for a midwinter marathon. >> ( translated ): it is a tradition, i do not want to miss it. so as long as i have energy, i will take part in this race. >> reporter: if a foot race could ever be considered an

extreme sport, it is the annual baikal ice marathon. a 26.2 mile dash from one side of a lake to another, in sub- freezing temperatures, over nothing but ice. this year, 200 participants from 32 countries enthusiastically signed up. >> this is a great race and we hope everybody enjoy it. >> reporter: at the starting line this year, temperatures hovered around an unexpectedly balmy 12 degrees. runners strapped on their snow cleats and stuck athletic tape to exposed skin. there was also the odd pair of butterfly wings. >> i love this place. i think temperature is pretty warm today. i expected it to be colder. but i think it's a good start for me to start ice-running. >> reporter: with a shout of a megaphone, they're off. as minutes and hours pass, the clusters of runners disperse.

one by one, they brave the slick ice, blistering winds , burning sun, with only ambition to cheer them on. the psychological challenges don't end there. the flat, featureless landscape makes it difficult for runners to gauge their progress. only periodic refreshment stands, with tea, water and a variety of snacks, mark the miles. yet, bartosh mazerski of poland crossed the finish line with a record-setting time of two hours, 53 minutes and 26 seconds. he had to miss last year's marathon, so this was a redeeming victory. >> i broke my leg two days before marathon. and i said i will come back here. i did it and i am very, very happy. >> reporter: for a frigid foot race, a heartwarming end. for the pbs newshour, i'm julia

griffin. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, ahead of a general election in the netherlands on wednesday, a look at the continued rise of the right in europe. 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: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and 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

>> hockenberry: welcome to the program. i'm john hockenberry filling in for charlie rose. we begin tonight with a discussion of i.s.i.s. with michael weiss of the daily beast. >> in syria, any kind of accounting for the demographic and sectarian tensions in that country seems to have gone out of the window. now we're saying let's get the job done quickly. the kurds are good at fighting i.s.i.s., a trusted and reliable proxy, we'll worry about the political aftermath later. militarily you can defeat organizations like i.s.i.s., we did it in 2010 when it was known as al quaida in iraq, but what comes next is what you need to worry about. >> hockenberry: then the trump administration's immigration detention policies. >> people need to think