captioning sponsored by wnet >> sreenivasan: on this edition for saturday, january 6: donald trump fires back in response to a revealing book about his presidency. in our signature segment, women and their employers work to narrow the wage gap in massachusetts. and, the presidential commission on election integrity is disbanded, but is the controversy over? next, on pbs newshour weekend. >> "pbs newshour weekend" is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund. rosalind p. walter, in memory of abby m. o'neill.

barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and 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. >> additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. from the tisch wnet studios at lincoln center in new york, hari sreenivasan. d thank you for joining us.g, president trump continued defending himself against allegations that he is unfit for office. the president was at camp david, meeting with congressional leaders and cabinet members to map out their 2018 legislative

agenda. at an impromptu press conference, he called michael wolff, the author of a recent book about the inner workings of the west wing, a fraud. >> i consider it a work of fiction, and i think it's a disgrace that somebody is able to have something, do something like that. >> sreenivasan: early this morning, the president made his case on twitter, saying in par"" throughout my life, my two greatest assets have been mental stability and being, like, really smart." he added that his successful run for the presidency should" qualify as not smart, but genius, and a very stable genius at that." mr. trump also took some credit for the upcoming talks next week between north and south korea on participation in the winter olympics, and said he would be open to talking with the north korean leader, kim jong-un. >> without my rhetoric, and without my tough stance-- and it's not just a stance, i mean, this is, what has to be done, if it has to be done-- that they

wouldn't be talking about olympics, they wouldn't be talking right now. >> sreenivasan: the trump administration is asking congress for $18 billion to help fulfil the president's plan to build a wall along the border with mexico. the money would be used to pay for new and replacement barriers along the border. under the plan, by 2027, the barricades would line nearly 1,000 miles or nearly half the length of the u.s.-mexico border. this is part of $33 billion in proposed border spending, which the trump administration wants to negotiate in a deal with democrats. in exchange for the funds, the administration would include protections for so-called dreamers, the more than 750,000 undocumented people who were brought to this country as children. senate minority whip dick durbin expressed his frustration in a statement yesterday." it's outrageous that the white house would undercut months of bipartisan efforts again by trying to put its entire wish list of hard-line anti-immigrant bills, plus an additional $18 billion in wall funding, on the backs of these young people."

today, speaking at camp david, president trump clarified his campaign promise about funding the wall saying that mexico would pay, "in some form." the securities and exchange commission is investigating the real-estate company run by the family of president trump's son-in-law and senior advisor, jared kushner. the "wall street journal" reports that in may, the s.e.c. subpoenaed information about the company's use of the eb-5 visa program. that program allows immigrants to obtain a green card and become lawful permanent residents by investing at least $500,000 in certain u.s. businesses. the "journal" previously reported that the kushner company launched a marketing campaign seeking wealthy chinese donors who could invest $500,000 each in a development in new jersey, making them eligible for the eb-5 program. the kushner companies' general counsel said in a statement that the company "utilized the program, fully complied with its rules and regulations and did nothing improper."

>> sreenivasan: the new year is just six days old, but there is no shortage of drama, led by that controversial book suggesting that some presidential aides consider mr. trump unfit for the job. the department of justice is looking into the clinton foundation, a major policy decision opened up oil and gas drilling in federal waters, and marijuana prosecutions could take place in states that have legalized its use. to help us make sense of some of that, i am joined from santa barbara, california, by newshour weekend special correspondent jeff greenfield. jeff, even this morning, the president taking shots at michael wolff, the author "fire and fury," the book that's kind of a tell-all from the perspective of someone who was sitting around in the west wing of the white house. >> "fire and fury" is not a bad way to describe what the white house mood was. although at the press conference this morning, the president was at pains to be calm and kind of almost amused by it. but i think the key is fact that

the book puts forward a very uncomfortable notion, and that is the question of the president's fitness for office and stability. and i think it also helps explain why, for instance, the department of justice is looking at the clinton foundation, why the chair of the senate judiciary committee wants investigations into possible perjury by the author of the dossier that raised questions about trump. i think there's a big effort on the part of the white house and trump supporters to move the focus away from this question about whether this is a president who is in fact fit for office, which, if michael wolff's book is correct, a lot of his own top aides have questions about. >> sreenivasan: does this book do anything to, you know, ding the windshield of people who already support the the president? >> i don't think so. at least not publicly. look, the fact is this issue of presidential stability is not going to gain real significant traction unless republicans in power begin to raise this. and except for a couple of

voices, scattered voices in the senate, this republican party is trump's party. and for now, i think this book is just going to be consigned by trump's biggest supporters to the field of fake news. it's also why the inaccuracies in the book are already been highlighted so much by trump supporters. >> sreenivasan: is there a political consequence when it comes to the ability of the president to do his job, especially in terms of policy prescriptions or things that he wants to support and get behind and try to get the party and the political machine behind him? >> here here's where i think is a connection and the issues you mentioned at the outset. when jeff sessions told prosecutors, federal prosecutors, it didn't matter if the states have legalized pot, feels free to prosecute, you had a republican senator from colorado, where pot is legal, just go ballistic and say i'm holding up every justice department nominations. you have people in california, who for the idea of opening up

oil and gas drillings in the water is not a good political notion. and the link is this: iflet policy positions help cost republicans control of congress, then the investigative machinery of the house goes in democratic hands. the issue of presidential fitness, the issue of russian collusion now becomes issues that the majority party would be able to prosecute. and i think under those circumstances, the republican leaders would find it much more difficult to stand solidly behind the president. >> sreenivasan: all right, jeff greenfield joining us from santa barbara. thanks so much. >> okay. >> sreenivasan: just this week, female employees at google refiled a lawsuit alleging that men were paid more than women for the same work in roles from engineering to sales. in april of last year, the department of labor testified that pay inequities are systematic at the tech giant.

but the issue is not limited to one company. despite equal pay laws on the books in the united states since the 1960s, women still earn about 80 cents for every dollar that men earn. and while efforts to tighten equal pay rules have stalled at the federal level, states and cities are looking for ways to narrow the wage gap. megan thompson has this report on efforts by the city of boston and state of massachusetts. this story is part of our ongoing series on poverty and economic opportunity in america, called "chasing the dream." >> reporter: about a dozen years ago, stephanie goodell of somerville, massachusetts, was an assistant dean at a public university. she says she felt underpaid and tried twice to negotiate her salary but was only given about $2,000 more. and then, after she left, she looked up the school's published payroll data. >> i was replaced by my operations person. i'd had 12 years of experience in the field. he had had none, and he was given a salary that was $15,000 more than mine. >> reporter: what were you thinking when you found that

out? >> was my work not valued? did he have negotiating skills that i didn't have? did he feel like he could go in and ask for more, for whatever reason, because that's what men do? >> the overall data keeps showing that there's still this enormous bias. >> reporter: evelyn murphy is massachusetts.tenant governor she's also an economist and an expert on the wage gap. murphy says while women are sometimes paid less than men for the exact same job, they also just earn less overall. according to the u.s. census, women working full-time in the united states earn about 80 cents for every dollar that men earn. when compared to white men, african american women earn 63 cents. hispanic women earn just 54. women tend to work in lower- paying industries and hold fewer higher-paid management roles. time off after having a baby can affect a woman's earnings.

and, evelyn murphy says, bias can also play a role. >> the other way to look at the wage gap is that it is a proxy for power. the power of men in workplace over women. and so, as long as this wage gap exists, it is the signal and the measure of how unequal the power is within the workplace in america. >> thanks, anne. >> reporter: in 2013, the city of boston decided to tackle this inequity with programs for both employers and employees. >> by boston having equal pay for equal work, puts us on a competitive advantage. >> reporter: martin walsh is the mayor of boston. in 2015, his office launched an effort to train women to be better salary negotiators. >> we're actually challenging the status quo. >> reporter: the city teamed up with the american association of university women, a national advocacy group, to offer these free salary negotiation workshops. >> you know what you want. you know you're going to go for a higher number. >> reporter: they've trained

more than 6,000 women so far. the goal is to train 85,000 by 2021, half the working women in boston. >> the biggest reason, it's fairness. the biggest reason is that men and women who do the same jobs should be paid the same salary. >> and it really helps when it comes to promoting yourself. >> reporter: these women are learning about salary research, setting goals, and the importance of being confident. >> now you have an inventory or a listing of all of these things that you've accomplished. >> reporter: one survey showed that half the women who attended a workshop used the skills they learned to negotiate higher pay. before this workshop, did you negotiate when you were offered a new job? >> no. it took what... you take what you were offered. >> reporter: sabrina antoine attended a workshop a couple years ago. >> and that was one of the biggest things that i've learned from this workshop, is just owning my story and being strong in who i am and what i'm out to seek. >> reporter: after the workshop, antoine applied for a promotion she'd previously thought was out of reach. and when she got it, she

negotiated a 30% increase in her salary. >> women have to act to get employers to react, and employers have to also see the value of paying women fairly. >> reporter: and that's why the boston women's workforce council, which murphy chairs, is setting its sights on employers, too, getting them to sign on to something called the "100% talent compact." so far, 227 employers representing roughly a quarter of metro boston's workers are on board. >> we reviewed internally all of our employees. >> reporter: stephen denny oversees diversity and inclusion for putnam investments, a $170 billion asset management firm. it was one of the first companies to sign boston's compact. like most financial firms, putnam is majority male, especially in senior management. exactly the kind of place equal pay advocates see as ripe for change. compact signers like putnam volunteer to identify pay disparities between men and women doing the same jobs. you literally just... you created an excel spreadsheet

with every single employee? >> all of our u.s. employees. >> reporter: after taking a look at its payroll, putnam adjusted pay for about 3% of its workers, in some cases raising pay for men as well as women, and now reviews compensation every year. >> we look at it the same way, position by position. and we make sure that we don't come across any inequities. >> reporter: but equalizing pay for the same jobs is only part of it. employers must also think about women's overall earnings. putnam, which now recruits more women into the company, is offering leadership training for women and put in place a system to promote them into higher-paid senior positions. >> we've seen an improvement of about 33% of women moving into senior roles, which is remarkable for us here, but we know we can get better. >> reporter: robert reynolds is putnam's c.e.o. >> i think it's a right way to run a business, but it's also fair. >> reporter: it is true, though, that, you know, only about a quarter of your investment team are women. the senior management is still

majority male. so, there is still a wage gap here. >> oh, absolutely. to me, it's a...it's a process. but i think we're making great progress, and i'm excited about what the future holds for it. >> reporter: another innovative part of boston's work: data collection. employers like putnam anonymously submit their payroll data to the city. boston officials say their new statistics are more accurate than federal statistics, which are collected from workers. the second report, due out this month, shows boston's women earn 76 cents for every dollar men here earn. evelyn murphy says, while the program is voluntary, making the number public will help hold both the city and employers accountable. >> that is huge. it's powerful. there's no other place in the country that is making that kind of a bold step and saying, "i'm going to report publicly every two years." >> reporter: while all this work has gone on at the city level, the state of massachusetts has also taken aim at the wage gap. in 2016, it passed some of the

strongest equal pay legislation in the nation. the law, which goes into effect in july, will require equal pay for comparable work, bar employers from punishing employees who discuss salaries, and says maternity and family leave can't affect seniority. it was also the first law in the nation to ban employers from asking about salary history. >> eliminating a salary history from a question in interviewing for a job applicant is huge. we know that a woman's salary history can keep her wages and the discrimination that existed initially, keep it rolling forward to every other job. because an employer will ask, "what did you earn the last job?," and then hire at that lower or slightly increased level, but not really at the value of the job he's now asking her to take. >> reporter: boston is a liberal city, massachusetts is a liberal state. i mean, some people might look at this and say, "yes, of course this kind of work can happen here, but we've got to do it across the country."

>> i'm very optimistic right now. women are almost half the workforce, so our presence is now so powerful. what we have right now is a tight labor market and a need to compete internationally, so it's become good business to treat women fairly and equitably. >> reporter: but recently, republican governors vetoed equal pay bills in new jersey and illinois, and the trump administration reversed a federal equal pay rule requiring employers to report wage data. opposition has come mostly from the business community, which considers the regulations "government overreach" that could increase costs and red tape. james rooney leads the greater boston chamber of commerce, which represents some of the largest employers in massachusetts. he says some of his members bristled at the new regulations, too. >> the issues that people raised was fear of creating a litigious environment, that it would open the doors to lawsuits, people making claims

about whether they were treated fairly or not. the ability... a second one was the ability of the legislature to understand the reasons why people, man-woman, man-man, might make a different amount of money in a job category that is titled the same. >> reporter: to get the business community on board, the massachusetts legislature recognized justifications for paying people differently, like seniority, education and experience, or where the job is located; and it included provisions to protect employers from lawsuits if they can prove they are evaluating pay practices and have made progress eliminating differences. after the boston chamber of commerce announced its support, the bill passed the state legislature unanimously and was signed by the state's republican governor. it's all been welcome news to stephanie goodell, who left academia and now works in sales at a consulting firm that promotes diversity in the workplace.

she negotiated for more health care benefits and for better commission pay after picking up skills at one of boston's workshops. >> and that ultimately will net me up to six figures over the next two or three years, depending on how good i am at selling. >> reporter: and this is exactly what massachusetts is aiming for: closing the wage gap, one employer and one woman at a time. >> sreenivasan: this week, president trump dissolved the presidential advisory commission on election integrity, a body that was supposed to root out and prevent suspected voter fraud. the commission's creation stemmed from president trump's unverified claim that "millions of people who voted illegally" cost him the popular vote in 2016. in its short tenure, the commission had no effect on campaign laws, and was dogged by controversy. that it no longer exists may not mean the end of the voter fraud issue, however.

propublica reporter jessica huseman has been following the story, and joins me now. so, is this all settled now? is the commission dissolved because there wasn't any voter fraud? >> the commission at the time it was resolved was facing eight federal lawsuits and those were going pretty well for the people who were sieg the commission. commissioner matt dunn lap, sued the commission accusing of it unlawfully excluding it from the deliberations of the commission, and the judge ruled in his favor saying the commission had to include him and give him several documents he asked for. only days later, the commission was resolved. >> sreenivasan: so he was a commissioner and he didn't have access to the information that the commission was working on, and that was his lawsuit. >> yes. it also came out later that a all right that mr. kobach sent before the commission met, which became very controversial, asking all states for a lot of voter information was done with collaboration by two members who were not even on the commission

at the time that the letter was drafted. and sent. and the the rest of the commission wasn't given access to that letter. so the commission was very unhappy that they weren't able to see the all right before it went out, even though two people who weren't on the commission were able to. >> sreenivasan: not necessarily to fact check kris kobach, but in a recent interview, one of the things he said was the voter information requested from the states was public information. and, two, the information is now going to be used by the department of homeland security to try to crosscheck it with social security numbers and the legal status of everyone. >> so those are both incorrect. on the first point, the letter requested, from the beginning it said we want publicly available voter roll information. but then in the same letter it went on to request things that are never public in any state, including the social security numbers of voters and their military status. solet letter was confusing. and then on the second point, the point that d.h.s. was going to take control of these rolls has since been debunked. in a letter to matt dunn lap's

attorneys, they admit the voter rolls were not going to be used or distributed. he's been claiming in the last two days, including on npr on thursday morning, that the commission was going to give them the voter rolls. that appears to not be the case. >> sreenivasan: what happens to the work of the commission if it is turned over to the d.h.s.? >> it is unclear to me what would be turned over to dhs. since d.o.j. said the voter rolls wouldn't be turned over at all, there is not much left to turn over. there were no reports made by the commission. the commission didn't agree on any points of view. mr. kobach, even in a brietbart article a couple of days ago said, "oh, well look at all this voter fraud that the commission has found." that's not true at all. there are instances of voter fraud submitted into the record but they were never considered by the commission they were never fact checked. so at this point the commission hasn't made any findings and it's not clear to me what would be turned turned over to dhs, if

something should be. >> sreenivasan: jessica huseman of propublica. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> this is "pbs newshour weekend," saturday. >> sreenivasan: the east coast is still gripped by a record cold snap, with temperatures dipping into the single digits and driving winds that make it feel even colder. wind chill advisories and warnings were in effect up and down the eastern seaboard, from maine to virginia. wind chills of minus-100 degrees at the summit of new hampshire's mount washington made it the coldest spot in the lower 48. much of new england is still much of the ntion is dealing with one of the worst flu seasons in years. the centers for disease control and prevention report more than 40,000 cases of the flu. that's nearly three times the number reported at this time last year. last winter, 12 states reported widespread flu activity. that number jumped to 46 states this year. researchers are still investigating the efficacy of this year's flu vaccine. u.s. customs and border protection searched the cell

phones and laptops of some 30,000 travelers in 2017. that's 60% more than the year before. the agency says that number is 0.007% of the 397 million who arrived in the u.s. the agency says that the increase is due to electronic devices being a critical sources of information on possible security threats. most of the passengers searched were foreign travelers, but roughly 20% were u.s. citizens. there is growing concern in iran over the arrests and detention of dozens of students since the start of anti-government protests more than a week ago. the university of tehran says it is working to secure their release. an iranian lawmaker claims that many of those students were not even involved in the protests. u.n. human rights experts are urging iran to respect protester's rights. the iranian government says that 450 demonstrators have been arrested since the protests began, but the u.s. state department places the number closer to 1,000. for more about the ongoing

protests in iran, visit www.pbs.org/newshour. >> sreenivasan: finally tonight, nasa's longest serving astronaut, john young, has died at the age of 87, following complications from pneumonia. young walked on the moon and commanded the first space shuttle flight and spent 42 years with the space agency. that's all for this edition of pbs newshour weekend. i'm hari sreenivasan. have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: bernard and irene schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. sue and edgar wachenheim, iii. dr. p. roy vagelos and diana t. vagelos. the j.p.b. foundation. the anderson family fund.

rosalind p. walter. barbara hope zuckerberg. corporate funding is provided by mutual of america-- designing customized individual and group retirement products. that's why we're your retirement company. and 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. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. thank you. be more-- pbs.

thank you. be more-- pbs. ♪ thank you. be more-- pbs. >> lidia: and the bees are down that way... >> wonderful job, bees. yes! >> lidia: this holiday season, i celebrate our homegrown heroes. veterans who return from war to cultivate the land they fought for. >> and there's really nothing more powerful than growing food. >> for me, farming, gardening, growing, made me a better person. >> lidia: their stories inspired me to travel the country, to find out who is this new breed of farmer? and can farming help them heal? >> there's no better way to be in touch with, just life in general as to be part of caring for it. ♪ >> hurt, i can deal with the hurt.