captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> we have actually great unity in the republican party. >> woodruff: president trump denies there's a rift among republicans, despite increasingly public criticism of him coming from some g.o.p. lawmakers. then, chinese president xi jinping tightens his grip on power, having his political goals enshrined in the country's constitution and not naming a successor. and, exploring a non-political side of cuba. miles o'brien is our guide to the rare mix of animals on the island. >> we found amazing things, some species and some cases that we didn't know were in the park, and probably, several species new to science.

>> 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. >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language.

>> collette. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> 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. >> woodruff: president trump

rejected talk of a republican rift today and instead said "there is great unity" in the party. he dismissed harsh criticism of himself by republican senators bob corker and jeff flake, and said they are not running for re-election because they couldn't win. mr. trump spoke as he left washington for a g.o.p. fund- raising event in dallas. he complained that the news media makes him seem "more uncivil" than he is. >> you know, people don't understand, i went to an ivy league college, i was a nice student. i did very well. i am a very intelligent person. you know, the fact is-- i really believe-- i think the press creates a different image of donald trump than the real person. >> woodruff: meanwhile, senator flake had more to say on the president. he invoked the demagoguery of wisconsin senator joe mccarthy, who infamously led a communist witch-hunt in the 1950s, and

he warned, "you can't continue to just remain silent." >> i hope that we're reaching a tipping point where my colleagues and every elected official will say "we can't go on this way." these politics-- you know, how can we explain to our kids that we're countenancing this kind of behavior? >> woodruff: republican senate leaders tried again today to put the public feuding aside, and focus instead on tax reform. we will return to the g.o.p. dispute, right after the news summary. a influential moderate in texas republican ranks is stepping down as speaker of the state house of representatives. joe straus announced today that he won't run for re-election next year, citing growing political divisions. he had helped to block conservative initiatives such as the so-called "bathroom bill" aimed at transgender students. the president today also focused on a new revelation about a dossier on his possible ties to russia. the "washington post" and others

reported that hillary clinton's campaign and the democratic national committee helped fund the research. mr. trump called it a "disgrace." >> this was the democrats coming up with an excuse for losing an election. they lost it very badly and very easily. i mean, you look at the votes; it was 306 to, what-- 223 or something. they lost it by a lot. they didn't know what to say, so they made up the whole russia hoax. >> woodruff: most campaigns do opposition research. the trump dossier alleges the russians had compromising and salacious information on the candidate. he has insisted it is all false. a pregnant teenager who sparked new debate about undocumented immigrants, has had an abortion in texas. her lawyers confirmed it today. she has been in custody since september, but federal officials had refused her requests for an abortion. a federal appeals court ruled in her favor yesterday.

the sentencing hearing of army sergeant bowe bergdahl opened today at fort bragg, north carolina. he has pleaded guilty to leaving his post in afghanistan in 2009. the taliban held him five years before agreeing to a prisoner swap. bergdahl could get life in military prison for desertion and misbehavior before the enemy. the hearing could last several days. fears of violence built in kenya today ahead of tomorrow's repeat presidential election. the opposition says the vote is rigged and should be delayed. but the supreme court declined to hear appeals, amid talks of judges being intimidated. protesters burned tires, blocked roads and clashed with police in several cities. in nairobi, their leader, raila odinga, urged followers to become a "resistance movement." >> do not participate in any way in the sham election.

convince your friends, neighbors and everyone else not to participate. >> woodruff: president uhuru kenyatta won the initial vote in august, but election officials cited irregularities and nullified the result. today, kenyatta insisted the re-run will go forward. the u.s. state department warned that both sides may be undermining kenya's election system. back in this country, the transportation security administration says all passengers on flights to the u.s. will be subject to new security screenings. the new measures range from interviews to stricter searches of passengers and luggage. those rules apply both to american citizens and to foreigners. a warning today about american airlines. the n.a.a.c.p. cites what it calls "a pattern of disturbing incidents" of discrimination

against black passengers, and they should be on alert. the company insists that it won't tolerate discrimination of any kind. on wall street today, disappointing quarterly earnings triggered a sell-off. the dow jones industrial average lost 112 points to close at 23,329. the nasdaq fell 34 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 12. all three indexes were down half a percent. and, rock 'n roll pioneer fats domino has died. he passed away early tuesday in new orleans. he signed his first record contract in 1949, and had a string of hits during the '50s and early '60s, including "blueberry hill" and "ain't that a shame." ♪ you made me cry when you said goodbye ♪ ain't that a shame my tears fell like rain

♪ ain't that a shame you're the one to blame >> woodruff: ultimately, he sold more than 110 million records, and was one of the first ten honorees inducted into the rock and roll hall of fame. fats domino was 89 years old. still to come on the newshour: pennsylvania congressman charlie dent on the rift in the republican party. chinese president xi jinping solidifies his power with no apparent successor. we travel to cuba, home to a rich mix of rare wildlife. and, much more. >> woodruff: we begin tonight with politics, and a deepening rift within the republican party.

for more on these tensions within the party, i'm joined by representative charlie dent, a republican from pennsylvania. he also announced he won't seek re-election next year, after seven terms in congress. representative dent is a co-chair of the moderate conservative "tuesday group," and member of the house appropriations committee. i began by asking if he agrees with jeff flake. >> many of us have been critical of the president in terms of his tone and his temperament. we, as members of congress have spent far too much time trying to answer questions about the tweet of the moment. sometimes they're inappropriate. sometimes they're, perhaps, offensive. sometimes they're unimportant. but because we are doing that, we are distracted from doing the people's business. and i think jeff flake is on point, and i've said to my colleagues, it's important that people like senator flake, myself, and bob corker speak up, that we should bring voice to some of these issues. and when we agree with the president, woe shouldn't be afraid to say so. and when we disagree with him we

should act as a check. when the president does something that's off the rails, we need to call him out and not apologize for it. >> woodruff: well, are your fellow republicans afraid to speak up, some of them? one point senator flake said yesterday, "we can't be explicit stand buying a president when we don't agree with what he's doing." >> look, i've encouraged my colleagues to speak up, to say what-- to say publicly what they say privately. i'm not here to see seek redemp. i didn't support the president during the campaign, and for a lot of reasons i stated over that time period. and i think it's important that my colleagues stand up. and we should exercise our article i authorities. we are the congress of the united states. we have to reassert ourselves as. as republicans, we complained quite a bit, justifiably, when president obama over-reached and talked about congress being trampled and this time it's even more important to stand up now because at times the president has made disparaging comments

about the media, about judges, and i think it's important that we defend these institutions that are critical to our democratic values-- democrat with a small "d" i'm talking about here. it's important that we protect these institutions and let the president know when we disagree with him. those are the types of things that often get said about the press and the media and the judges in authoritarian countries. we don't do that here in the united states, and we have to be better. >> woodruff: congressman, how widely held are the views that senator flake and you hold to one agree or another among republicans? >> i think that main of my colleagues share our view about what's happening at the white house. and let me-- let me qualify it this way: i expect a certain amount of dysfunction in government. you know, we have a separation of powers, checks and balances, and sometimes, you know, we can laugh at ourselves in terms of what happens in congress in a democratic body. but, you know, i've often said,

you know, at the white house, they seem to have taken the "fun" out of "dysfunction." it's very difficult for us at times to deal with some of these issues. i don't like having to answer questions about miss universe's weight, for example, or crowd size, or, you know, accusations that president obama spied on donald trump or his campaign. we don't like to have to answer these questions that we know are either unimportant or offensive or perhaps untrue. >> woodruff: do you still consider yourself a republican? >> absolutely. i'm a proud member of the party of abraham lincoln and theodore roosevelt and dwight eisenhower and ronald reagan and george h.w. bush, and we have an obligation as republican members of congress to stand up for this party of individual liberty that believes in a strong national defense and limited role of government, and we shouldn't shy away from that. but there is a battle going on for the soul of the republican party. i mean, i am concerned-- and this is true of both parties

right now by the way, judy-- there's-- there's elements of isolationism, nativism, protectionism, that rear their heads in both parties right now spp and these are not attributes of a great nation. so i think there's a-- i happen to believe there's a political realignment occurring in our country. the ground is shifting right under our feet and no one knows how this is gog resolve itself. >> woodruff: well, do you think president trump is helping that along? >> it seems he's trying to remake the party in the image of himself or maybe steve bannon, and i don't think that is in our party's interest. i mean, the party shouldn't be about a man or an individual. it should be about a set of principles and ideals and ideas. that's what we should be about. and i do get concerned when i hear now-- we used to have a litmus test tseemed, for a long time it's battle in the republican party was a litmus test between the purist and the pragmatists. you know, were you pure enough?

and i was always in the pragmatic camp, so you would be defined as a rhino-- republican in name only-- if you weren't pure enough on all the issues, if you weren't doctrinaire enough. that paradigm has shifted. the new litmus test seems to be loyalty to the president as a person and that troubling to me. jeff flake, by the way, say very conservative member of the senate, very conservative. so, really, his issues were not ideological. it was about his loyalty to the president. and i think that's unfortunate. we as members of congress are elected by our constituents. our job is to work with the president, not for the president. we are a separate branch of government, separate but equal. and i'm very concerned, you know, there's too much talk here of separation of parties and not enough talk of separation of powers. >> woodruff: just quickly, finally, congressman, prospects for tax reform? >> i think the prospects of tax reform are reasonably good. difficult issue. we're likely to pass a budget out of the house tomorrow. and then we're-- and when we see

the real tax reform plan, that's when the-- that's when the work really begins. but i do think there's a chance to get some, at the very least, some business tax relief, hopefully partially offset, but i think there's a real possibility to get some reform. i'm not going to make any grand predictions about a massive, comprehensive reform, but i think we'll get something. >> woodruff: congressman charlie dent of pennsylvania, we thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. great to be with you. >> woodruff: over the past week, china's communist party has gathered for its once-every- five-year congress, in beijing. usually focused on policy, it also chooses both the country's leader and his successor. but this year, there was a twist. john yang has the story. >> yang: thanks, judy. chinese president xi jinping is solidifying his grip on power.

today, when he introduced new members of the so-called "standing committee," the most powerful group in the country, there was no successor to xi identified. yesterday, xi's "doctrine" was enshrined in the constitution, elevating him to the same status as modern china's founding communist leader, mao zedong. for a look at what this means for china, the u.s., and beyond, we're joined by christopher johnson, who served almost two decades as a c.i.a. china analyst. he's now at the center for strategic and international studies. mr. johnson, welcome. >> thank you. >> this all happens, of course, two weeks before president trump will be in china to meet with president xi. what are the implications for u.s.-china relations in all of this. >> i think the most important development is now xi jinping has demonstrated he is the unquestioned ruler in china, and what has been striking about the bilateral relationship, really, since president trump came into power is the two men have been actually running the

relationship. the u.s. government is not fully staffed yet yt, as we've seen, and the president has occasionally undermined his own secretary of state and other officials through tweeting and so on. we see the two presidents, largely, running the relationship. xi is now ready to welcome president trump all the more powerful. >> i itin his 3.5-hour speech to the party congress last week, president xi talked about the great rejuvenation. he wants to make china a global power. >> right. >> at a time when president trump is pulling away the u.s. influence on the global stage. how is that going to play? >> well, it will be interesting to watch. there's no doubt that president xi sees opportunity in president trump's isolationism, as some would put it. right from the beginning, when the president was elected, there's a reason why xi jinping when the summit and talked about china's role increasingly as a defender of global rules and norm and multinationalism and climate change and global

alleged. this doesn't ring true if you look at it on the surface, but if the u.s. is pulling back and china sees an opportunity, that are stepping into the vacuum. and xi jinping is telling us they not only expect to be a global power. they are already one. >> is there anything that happened in the party congress that concerns you about u.s.-china relations? >> one of the things i think is potentially important is xi jinping made a point about the island building in the south china sea. this is typically something where china has conducted this activity but not wanting to talk about it. xi jinping talked proudly about it in his speech. this could be a dog whistle, if you will, for conservative elements in the united states who believe china is trying to push the united states out of the region. >> and you mentioned president xi talks about multinational trading, and climate change, both areas where president trump is pulling away. are there areas of possible cooperation between the united states and china? >> i think the main area to look at is the economic relationship. president trump is sure to tell

president xi, "i need more help on the trade balance issue, and if you don't help me, i'm going to come after you through trade penalties and remedies." xi jinping has an opportunity. he's signaling a desire to slow down china's economy. this will be good for the united states, and the globe in that concerns about a chinese financial crise that could cause us all a lot of trouble could be modified. >> will this have any impact on mr. trump's desire to get china to help him with north korea? >> i think he will seek to indicate to xi jinping, okay, you have all the power now. why don't you lp me more on this issue? there's been a sort of narrative in the past that xi jinping or any other chinese leader on north korea has been constrained by hard-line influences in the milt who remember fondly china's support for north korea and in the korean war. if xi jinping is really as powerful as he says, there should be nothing standing in his way of being more supportive on the north korea issue.

the real question is does xi jinping himself want to help the united states on the issue. >> as xi consolidates his power as he did at the party congress, are we moving towards a cult of personality like mao. >> i don't think so. there's been a lot of debate about this, whether xi jinping is a power-mad, megalomaniac, like mao zedong. i think he's a pragmatist and has demonstrated that several times. he doesn't look like someone who wants to cling on to power forever and he doesn't act in a whimsical way. xi jinping has a plan, and we have been watching him steadily execute it over the last five years and he will continue to do it going forward. >> christopher johnson, thank you for joining us to help us understand all of this. >> my pleasure. >> woodruff: now, a big win overnight for u.s. banks and credit card companies. it goes back to a long-brewing battle over whether consumers

have the right to bring class- action lawsuits against those companies. william brangham has the details. >> brangham: until recently, consumers who signed up for checking accounts or credit cards gave up their right to be part of any class-action lawsuit brought against that company. most people had no idea they'd given up this right, because banks and other institutions tuck what are known as "abritration clauses" into those long, fine-print agreements we all sign without really reading. the consumer financial protection bureau had passed a rule saying that arbitration was unfair, and groups deserved their day in court. but then last night, the senate overturned that rule 51-50, with vice president pence casting the tie-breaking vote. so what does this actually mean for consumers? to help us understand that, we turn to bloomberg's elizabeth dexheimer. welcome. so what does this 15 mien for consumers? >> so the status quo you just described will continue. you mentioned it's arbitration agreements. these are very common and when you open a checking account or a credit card, you typically sign

a contract with this clause that says you will not join together with other consumers in a class action lawsuit, and that if you've got a problem with your bank, you think that they're overcharging you or some-- a grievance that you have, you're going to resolve that through a closed door arbitration process instead of arguing it in open court. this is an issue that, as part of the dodd-frank law, following the financial crisis, the consumer financial protection bureau, was told to study this issue. they did. they published a report, and based on those findings, they crafted this rule. since the beginning, for years, republicans and the financial services industry has been against it and been pushing back. >> so the industry has been fighting this and putting a lot of money into lobbying this for a long time, right? i mean, this-- are they really looking out for the consumerss' interest, or are they looking out for their own financial interests here? >> both.

they certainly argue that this is in the interest of the consumer. they point to the consumer financial protection bureau's own study, and some of its findings about how awards for consumers have grievances and resolve them through arbitration are often better than if they go to court. however, another part of this is certainly that banks want to avoid what they see as frivolous lawsuits. >> and the consumers' groups around the country decried this. they said that this move last night was a huge giveaway to wall street, in essence. what is their argument? >> right. so, they say that the best way to hold companies accountable is through lawsuits, and particularly, they've looked at recent scandals at wells fargo and at equifax to give a reason when companies-- when consumers are harmed by companies, the best way to hold them accountable is by set something sort of a precedent, and the

best way to do that is through-- is by suing them. >> and the way that the senate did this last night, right, means that there's no doing over. am i correctly reading this? that they've now made it so no future administration can undo what they've done? >> that's correct. congress used the congressional review act to reverse the rule. that is a law that congress can use to overturn any regulation within 60 days after it's enacted. and it means that the c.f.p.b., effectively, can't take this up. so, yes, it was a very effective way to squash this issue that republicans have been fighting for years. >> elizabeth dexheimer from bloomberg, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we return now to this week's swirling political news, with matt schlapp. he's the chairman of the

american conservative union and the former white house political director under president george w. bush. and, hilary rosen. she is a longtime democratic consultant and managing director at the public relations firm s.k.d. knickerbocker. and we thank both of you for being here. matt, to you first, this feud that has gone on now for several days between the president, senator corker, now senator flake. is this helping the president? what is it doing for him for the republican party? >> i don't think it's helping the president. although, i do think there is a strong feeling within the republican party and the conservative base of the republican party that they really want their republican leaders to fight back against the eight years of the obama agenda. it's one of the reasons they picked donald trump in the nominating process. but what you see with corker and with flake and with susan collins in some of these other members, they were never for trump. some of them were "never trump." and after a year, that relationship has just mott of not mended and it's not going to

mend. >> woodruff: hilary rosen, how do you look at this? >> i think the fact that they're both stepping down i think is actually a long-term victory for president trump. my guess is they're going to be replaced by potentially-- well, arizona has a potential for a democratic pickup. but, you know, in tennessee, by a senator who is probably going to be more loyal to president trump. his problem, though, is short term, which is over the next, you know, year and a half, do they hurt his ability to get things through the senate? and i think they do. so i think it was short sighted to pick this fight as early as they did. and i think he's going to suffer for it, on capitol hill. >> woodruff: matt, you can comment on that. i want you to comment also on what charlie dent said to me in the interview a few minutes ago. he said it has become too much about one man rather than the republican party. he said there's a loyalty test and he thinks the president and steve bannon are trying to make

the g.o.p. in the image of president trump. >> presidents lead their parties. and when i was at the white house, one of the things i did was work with candidates like charlie dent. i consider charlie didn't a friend. charlie dent is a moderate, and the party is dominated by conservatives. moderates and conservatives have to learn to work together and we have historically. but there's a new element of some of these independent-minded people who also want to join our coalition. i'm all for it. and those people in the republican party who don't want to expand the party, they're making a huge mistake because if you don't get the 51 in america, if you don't get a majority of the electoral votes in the presidential race, you don't win. and i want to win races. >> woodruff: so hilary rosen, looking at this from the other side of the political aisle, does it look like this is getting the republican party stronger or not? >> well, i think it's getting more concentrated. and so i think if you look in particular areas like a tennessee, it becomes stronger if you look at what happened in

alabama when the conservative candidate won the republican primary. so i think it essentially creates more division and less incentive for more conservative republicans to want to compromise and work with democrats. i think-- but it also puts places in play that may not have been in play, like arizona. you know, i think we can pick up a democratic seat in arizona because moderate republicans and independents have sort of been driven away from due to the kind of combativeness of donald trump. >> let me just quickly address this. jeff flake was at 18% amongst republicans in arizona. he had no shot of winning. bob corker wouldn't get out of a republican primary in tennessee. same for susan colins if she ran for governor of maine. these people who are bellyache regular people who had political problems in their states and were going to lose anyway, so that's important here. >> but their independence is valued by the middle of the spectrum there, and that's-- that's where you're fighting for election in those senate race, i

think. >think. >> woodruff:iment to turn you both to these reports, matt, in the "washington post" other and news organizations that the hillary clinton campaigns were among the democrats funding this so-called dossier in research into president trump's relationship with russia. what's the consequence of this? >> it sure muddies the water for people who believe the special council i investigation and the whole of the trump collusion is a problem. we now learned that one of the-- one of the people running against trump in the republican primary started this process, somehow tipped off hillary and the clinton and the democrats that they were funding this research, and went to vladimir putin's, some of his crony. hudemocratic money going to vladimir putin's cronies to try to harm donald trump. it seems like after all of this, the collusion that we know about it, if "the washington post" and "the new york times" and the of "the hill" are right, is collusion with the hillary

campaign which is ironic and that's why investigations going gto interesting places. >> woodruff: hilary? >> let's be clear, donald trump and his administration are under investigation because he fired the f.b.i. director who was investigating countless meetings between his campaign fors and russians. and that that his top lieutenants did not disclose multiple amounts of those meetings in their form. so that's why that investigation is going on. i think this dossier only muddies the water from a rhetorical standpoint, not from the investigation standpoint. it's mere opposition research that a candidate did during the campaign. >> no. >> there's no suggestion of any kind of government involvement. it was actually a british-- >> no. >> ex-british spy who ended up doing the majority of this work. it had nothing to do with russia. i don't think that we're going to see expwg happen here-- anything happen here with

respect to that. mueller has what he'll have. >> look, i can be quick here. hilary didn't refute anything i said. the money that went through this process to piewt's cronies, and james comey, as the f.b.i. director, picked up this dossier project and did it under the auspices of the f.b.i. as well. this is crummy. this stinks, and this looks bad for the democrats. >> woodruff: we started talking about one feud, and now i want to ask you about this other feud the president has had, matt, for the last more than a week with the gold star family. the president was asked about all this today as he got on a plane to go to texas. let's just quickly hear what he had to say. >> i was really nice to her. i respect her. i respect her family. i certainly respect la david, who, by the way, i called la david right from the beginning. just so you understand, they put a chart in front, la david, it says ladavid johnson. right from the beginning. there's no hesitation.

one of the great memories of all time. there was no hesitation. >> woodruff: the president talks about this. should he just drop it? >> yes. >> woodruff: or is it helpful to keep talking about it. >> he should drop it. i was with president bush during the years when he had to have some of these meetings and conversations. it's gut wrenching for a president. and i think it should be private. and i think that the congresswoman made a big mistake down in florida who tried to police plit size this, and i think the president makes a mistake, if he continues to engage this woman who clearly is grieving. it must be a terrible loss. i haven't experienced something like this. i think we need to give her, her privacy. i think we ought to leave it alone. and i think he should keep making the calls. most of the calls will go well. most of the people will appreciate calls, even if they're raw emotionally. but i don't think we be should be talking about it in a public sense. >> woodruff: hilary, what did we learn from this? >> well, we learned that the president and his chief of staff should not go on tv and call a grieving widow and her friend,

even if that friend say congresswoman, liars. and he picked this fight. he's kept it going. it's an extraordinarily painful for a lot of-- not just that family but for a lot of families who have suffered loss. and they still have given no reasonable explanation for what even happened to these soldiers in niger. and i think if the president really cared about this situation wait he tried to express today, he would focus more on getting answers for those families than protecting his name when he clearly picked this fight to start. >> woodruff: we know there is an investigation under way at the pentagon, and we're all waiting to see where that goes. hilary rosen, matt schlapp, thank you both. >> thanks, judy. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: from film to literature, tom

hanks on his new collection of short stories. but first, miles o'brien reports from cuba, where scientists are working to protect the island's rich diversity of wildlife-- some of it found nowhere else on earth-- against growing pressures both human and wild, from outside. it is another in our weekly series, "leading edge" of science. >> reporter: toby ramos is cuba's croc whisperer. for more than four decades, he has lived in cuba's zapata swamp, hoping to bring the reptiles back from the brink of extinction. they are feisty, ferocious, and able to jump-- as we saw at a nearby breeding center. >> ( translated ): the cuban croc is very bold and unafraid

of humans. they come right up to investigate any disturbance in the water. they stand their ground even if you try to capture them. this makes them easier to catch than their american counterpart. >> reporter: which is one big reason they are in such trouble. the crocs were hunted relentlessly in the first half of the 20th century. 13,000 were killed in one year alone, for their skins and meat. today, the poaching continues relentlessly. right now, the wild cuban crocodile population is estimated at only about 3,000. they are critically endangered. they are not extinct, thanks in large part to toby ramos. he works closely with natalia rossi of the wildlife conservation society. >> he's not only professionally a person that has a body of work for 40 years, but he is a brave person to work in the field. he's still fit and eager to grab

a crocodile. >> reporter: they offered no guarantees that we would even lay eyes on one, but nevertheless, we came to this remote warden's outpost to try our luck. and not long after we arrived... >> it seems there is a crocodile. >> reporter: oh, is there a crocodile? let's see. where? where? a curious croc surfaced nearby. toby ramos is a total pro. in all these years, he has captured thousands of animals and yet only been bitten twice. we were eager to watch-- from a safe distance. he is not in it for the thrill, but rather to protect the species. poaching is only part of the problem. the other threat comes from another species that has flourished here: american crocodiles. they thrive here, crowding out their cuban cousins, and also crossbreeding with them, creating a hybrid species.

>> ( translated ): we have only seen this hybridization happening in two very specific areas. plus other areas where only american crocs are present. >> we are working hard to protect what we have today, because we might lose one of these unique populations. >> reporter: cuba is replete with unique populations of rare and endangered species. scientists say the country is a crown jewel of bio-diversity in the caribbean; its mangrove swamps, coral reefs and its populations of unique amphibians, reptiles and birds are all unsurpassed. >> now, we are heading onto an open area with palm trees, which is seasonally flooded right now. >> reporter: biologist maydiel morera gave me an eye-opening tour of some rare birds in another corner of the zapata swamp. >> that flooding movement or cycle keeps this area clear, and it's very, very good for birds

mainly. >> reporter: cuba is home to 370 species of birds; 27 found only here, including this one. what is that? what is that called? >> cuban trogan, it's the national bird of cuba, and it's my perfect bird in cuba, also. >> reporter: beautiful, plumage. we also saw a great lizard cuckoo, a cuban pygmy owl, a west indian woodpecker, a cuban green woodpecker and a cuban screech owl. >> you see my dot here. >> reporter: yeah, yeah. i see him, i see him. >> that is it. >> reporter: beautiful bird. look at that bird. >> i think the most fitting english word for this is "cute." >> reporter: we were joined by wildlife biologist ana porezecanski. she is director of the center for bio-diversity and conservation at the american museum of natural history in new york.

in 2015, the museum launched a partnership with the cuban museum of natural history. they funded an expedition to cuba's humboldt national park, 275 square miles of extraordinary diversity, from sea level to peaks of nearly 4,000 feet. >> we were able to go and do an inventory, a survey of the bio-diversity of the park together with park technicians, cuban scientists and museum scientists. and we found amazing things, some species and some cases that we didn't know were in the park and probably, several species new to science. >> reporter: cuba's ecological bounty is a consequence of some deliberate planning by the cuban regime, which protected about 20% of the nation's land and territorial waters and also years of geopolitical and economic isolation. >> the political situation kept cuba isolated from fast development. so in a way, there was not a like a strong competing interest

of money versus conservation. >> reporter: for scientists, cuba is a tantalizing mystery. >> it's kind of a black box in terms of knowledge because there has been a lot of research done in cuba, but the connection of that research to the research done in north america and other countries in the continent has not been yet integrated. >> reporter: cuban scientists don't have the funding to answer some complex questions on their own, like, can pure cuban crocodiles survive? and does habitat loss, poaching and cross breeding make it likely the heartier cuban- american cross breeds will prevail? on the front lines in the zapata swamp, toby ramos is also trying to find the answer, studying animals that he understands perhaps better than anyone. how many times have you done that before, toby? ( speaking spanish ) >> thousands. >> reporter: can i touch? >> yes. ( speaking spanish ) >> reporter: much dryer than you

think. once we let our crocodile swim free, we got back in the boat and gunned it. a big thunderstorm was brewing. keeping these crocodile alive is not easy already, but add to the mix the growing pressure as tourism increases here in cuba. as more people come here, there's more pressure on these animals, and it makes it much harder to keep them alive. can wild cuba co-exist with widespread progress? more on that in our next report from cuba. in cuba's zapata swamp, i'm miles o'brien for the pbs newshour. this guy's good! >> woodruff: now, to the "newshour bookshelf:" tom hanks is one of the most recognized and acclaimed actors in the

world. now, he has done something new: written a book, titled "uncommon type," a collection of 17 short stories, mostly about people seeking connections of one kind or another. several of the stories include an obsession of hanks': typewriters. jeffrey brown met up with hanks here in washington this past weekend, and began their conversation by asking about the different approaches to acting and writing. >> as an actor, my job, that i figured out a long time ago, was to get beyond self- consciousness, because it's the death of acting. if you have this outside presence, and you're seeing how you look, and sound, you'll never be able to get free enough in order to pursue the truth of what the character or the story is. >> brown: but here you're creating the character. >> yeah, once i could get involved in the individual stories, then i sort of roll up in the back of the head, just like it is in performing, and out it comes. but getting to that point when

the eyes roll into the back of the head... >> brown: but self-consciousness as in "hey, i'm an actor trying to write," or "this isn't my medium," or? >> how about all those things? >> brown: all those things. >> plus a few other things, such as "have i really thought this out?" you put it on your laptop, or you take notes, and you say, well, gee, it looks like notes, you know? it looks like a paragraph, it's about as long as a paragraph should be, but is it really saying anything? >> brown: were you nervous, though, sort of putting yourself out in-- no? >> no, and i'll tell you why. it's because i cannot be nervous in my day job. i cannot go in front of the, a camera, or in a rehearsal, or in front of an audience and be nervous for a moment. >> brown: well, you could-- some people-- but you're not? >> no, it's petrifying all the way, but you have faith in your balance. it's all a high wire act, and i've walked on a high wire before, so i trust i'll be able to do it again. and so i was not nervous about delivering unto the powers that be these blocks of work, because

it's no place for ego. it is a place for protection of what your original instincts are, but you can't deny when somebody says i read your piece, i liked some of it, and a bunch of it doesn't work. what are you going to do, argue with them, and say yes it does, it does too work, you can't say that! you can only-- >> brown: well, you could, perhaps. >> well, you could, but you do have to weigh it, and come back and reexamine it, and over and over again. just like any cut of a movie that you might see early in the process, it just does slowly get better, and you do discover that combination of your own voice, and a style of working that is void of self-consciousness. >> brown: you know, from what i had read beforehand, i half- expected all these stories to be really about typewriters. instead, instead-- >> wouldn't that be a great volume, of 17 stories about typewriters? >> brown: but instead, the references are kind of strewn about. there's a sort of "where's waldo," it shows up in different ways. >> little easter eggs.

>> brown: what's with the typewriters? for many people, it's this sort of nostalgic thing, it takes us back. what is it for you? >> well, i collect them in the way somebody would collect vintage guitars or postage stamps. or you know, stolen coffee cups from the great hotels of the world, which i've done a couple of times. there's a beauty and aesthetic quality to them that i just admire them. they are perfect devices. they do one thing, and only one thing. you can't make a phone call on a typewriter, and you can't pull up today's "new york times." >> brown: imagine that. >> they literally take what is in your head, and with a tiny bit of physical training, it transposes it into fibers on a piece of a paper, that if you put something good down on that

piece of paper, even if it's just a birthday letter to your seven-year-old daughter, or, you know, william manchester's "the glory and the dream," you've got something that runs the gamut from something that is incredibly simple, to something that captures the, you know, the entire zeitgeist of the human condition. that's impressive stuff. >> brown: you know, i'm thinking of a story, like a special weekend, people are always wondering, i talk to a lot of writers, and there's always this question of how much of the writer is in the stories, how much of it is you? >> there are, there's plenty of beats or specific things, moments of confusion that i had throughout my entire life, not just when i was a little boy, but up until the elevator ride down here to talk to you. i had an awful lot of ammo as

far as that goes. but there is a time, he's nine, and he and his mother drive to the house that he grew up in, and for the boy, nine years old, it's a moment of just the most glorious nostalgia that he could possibly, and he's only nine, it's magical, but for the mother, he lived there for half his life, but she lived there for this fractional, uncomfortable blip of bitter compromise and unhappiness. and i don't have necessarily the right to write that about my own parents, but as you've gotten older, you realize that my own parents were, they weren't doing anything to us, they were just trying to get by in their lives, and deal with levels of unhappiness and reality that a nine-year-old boy is not really apparent to. >> brown: you're here in washington partly to get an award from the national archives for your work-- and i want to get this right-- in supporting history. now, this does seem like, for

all of us who've followed your work for so long, an obsession? >> from "bosom buddies" on, yes, i am, an obsession of being fascinated with the american story. and these are the great, you know, the great march of time and history. i read history because what really happened is always 10,000 times more interesting than anything you could make up. you think you know something about a subject matter because you're studied, or you read it, or you saw a movie about it a long time ago, and getting down just a little bit deeper not only puts history in a great perspective, but it also puts the present day-- >> brown: well, but what does it tell you about the state of the american story today? i mean, we're in washington, >> alas, there has always been fake news, there has always been alternative facts.

the danger lies in someone hiding behind that truth, as opposed to exposing them. you go back and study the first true contested election in the united states of america, between john adams and thomas jefferson, after adams' first term. that was probably the first time really there was fake newspapers. there were editors that put out absolute blatant lies. i think the danger is there, in which someone says, because there is fake news-- i wonder who we're talking about right now, by the way-- because there is fake news, you cannot believe anything. it is the death of truth. no, no, the hard work then is discerning what that truth is, the important work of democracy and liberty and our republic comes in to determine what is the truth. but hasn't truth always been this incredibly illusive quality that people either pursue or obfuscate?

>> brown: one more topic. i want to ask about you personally, good guy, you project decency in many characters. you project decency. >> how dare i. >> brown: how dare you. this is real, this is who you are? >> look, you're talking to a man who is, i've enjoyed the benefits and i've worked very hard. i can't believe this is a job that you get paid for, and that's me. i, when i was in high school and i saw friends of mine in the high school play, and knew that they were getting credit for taking this class, i thought, why am i wasting my time in sociology and biology, i can take this class in school? and it's been, it hasn't been that much different ever since. >> brown: the new book, "uncommon type," by first time

author tom hanks. >> thank you, because people say we're here to talk to tom about his new book-- no, we're not, we're here to talk to tom about his book, not latest, not new, just book, but thank you. >> brown: thanks for talking to us. >> pleasure. >> woodruff: online, you can watch more of our interview with tom hanks, where he discusses "the post," his new film about the "washington post's" decision to publish the pentagon papers. also on the newshour online right now: ocean noise pollution is a known problem for many marine mammals. but a new study demonstrates that invertebrates like oysters are also affected, literally clamming up when it gets too loud, with consequences for both the animals and water quality. you can learn more on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. who knew. tune in later tonight on pbs: "frontline" presents part one of

a two-part series that looks at russia's attempt to influence the u.s. election in 2016. "putin's revenge" tells the inside story of how vladimir putin came to see the u.s. as an enemy, after consolidating his own power in moscow following his presidential victory in 2000. >> woon of the first things he did was take control of television. >> during the yeltsin years, independent television chams flourished. even as they rid could political figure. >> they have a common show, and when putin comes to rise in public life, it features a putin puppet as well. and he's never portrayed very flatteringly. putin, apparently, evidence driven to madness by the show

and by the way he was portrayed on it, the way he was mocked on it. >> they were among the first to fall in the crosshairs of putin's government. >> he sent armed operatives to raid the offices of media most, the parent company, which was at the time the largest independent media holding in russia. >> he is imprisoned and while he's in jail, one of putin's lieutenants comes to visit him in jail and says, you know, you could get out of this mess if you sign over." he eventually does that, hands it over to a kremlin-friendly oligarch. >> doing that, putin made clear to broadcast media, which is how most russians get their news, was no longer going to be outsourced. this was going to be a state-run operation. and it's remained that way throughout putin's term.

>> woodruff: "putin's revenge" premieres on "frontline" tonight on most pbs stations. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> bnsf railway. >> collette. >> 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. >> 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

>> pati narrates: whenever i travel, i always look forward to meeting with my fellow women chefs and cooks from all over mexico. oaxaca is different. [crowd cheers] >> narrator (continues): women here are proud, passionate, powerful, and cooking is a shared experience that gives the food a whole other meaning. >> all these dishes are so important because they have been done for centuries >> narrator: today i'm joining the sisterhood and getting a taste of a traditional oaxacan celebration. in my kitchen, two recipes inspired by those incredible women. a rich mole coloradito. and a chunky and savory mashed potato cazuela. and one for the women who inspire me in my own family,