captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, multiple fatalities in a shooting at a south florida high school. so ahead, "serious derelictions"-- the u.s. veterans affairs secretary is the latest trump official to use taxpayer dollars for personal travel. plus, presidentrump pushes his n immigration agenda just as the senate's debate gets off the ground. the latest on chances for a bipartisan deal. then, miles o'brien explores how to track advances in north kores nuclear weapons progra >> they we going to show us a significant partr f their nuclmplex, particularly the plutonium complex. and that, that was just-- it was an eye-opener, it was really surprising.

and, the winter ympics heats up. u.s. snowboarder shaun whitema s history while addressing questions of sexual harassment. all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> 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, >> supported by the rockefeller >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's mblt pressing ps-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention.

in the u.s. and des.loping countr on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the . 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. ank you. >> woodruff: it's been a day of high-speed headlines, topped by chaos and carnage in south florida. a shooting erupted at a high school in parkland this afternoon. the broward county sheriff reported multiple deaths and at least 14 wounded. police swarmed the site,

searching for the gunman, even emergency workers treated and transport the wounded to hospitals. hours later, frantic parents were still arriving on the scene, while students tried to cope. >> you hear about this all the time but you never expect it to happen right here in your neighborhood. everybody knows its a safe place, you don't expect it to happen here, when it happens you're just taken aback. >> woodruff: the suspected w gunm arrested later, off campus. the sheriff identified him as a former old. t, about 18 years for more, n to james laporta of "the daily beast," who's in parkland. and you are joining us by phone. tell us what you are seeing right now a uh come on, the scene is still very active, even tho the majority of students have

been evacuated, but it's been a pretty emtional day hre, as you can imagine many, many parents have been trying to reunite wittheir children at the high school, an becausso many parents have been trying to get through, that has,ou know, clogged up phone lines and data to be able to reach their loved ones. so a verney emotional scown here. >> woodruff: we can only neagine. has anbeen able to share information about what happened? we are told this is a former student involved? >> correct, a former student around 18 to 19 years old. i spoke to one student who was outside when the shooting occurred. he said that heheard aroundot five shs, five diffegunt hots, but also he characterized it as it sounded like an ak-47. now, i have not been able to confirm that but that's what it sounded like to him. on the inside of the building, what's interesting about this is

we're getting to see the horror of the day in terms ofids being posted to social media, you know, in terms of, you know, s.w.a.t. teams clearing out classrooms. but in terms of what's going on down here,hooter appears to be 18, 19 years old. asinou said, 1ividuals have been taken to area hospitals. i've heard reports of approximately seven people are dead, but i've also heard as highs 20 people are dead. but, again, so much information is coming in right now, it'spi hard t down exactly what is truth at this point. >> woodruff: well, james laporta, we know it is a fast-moving story and we know the information we e right now is in -- incomplete but thank you very much for sharing what you.ave right now we appreciate it. >> thank you. >> woodruff: today's shooting is at least the fourth at a middle

or high school in the first two months of the year that led to deaths or injurils. there havebeen shootings near or on the grounds of other schools this year where students and teachers wernanot injured. stephens is the executive director of the national schoolr safety cen ronald stephens, it's no longeki sh, now, when there's a school shooting, is it? >> it's happening far too often r too many times, and every administrator who has faced ths, they've always d they never thought it would happen here, an yet these events are coming to so many unexpected communities at so many unexpected times. >> woodruff: do you believe -- you have been rking on this issue with your organization for a long time. do you believe schools tdayre better prepared when something like this happens? > my take is they are better prepared. our center worked with browardco ty schools more than a decade ago, and they were among one of the first school systems h the united states to really bring together all the firstde

resp and look how they would react when a problem like this occurs. so in terms of preparation, i would reallyescribe them as someone being on the cutting edge. >> woodruff: so what would make them cutting edge? whn would that meathey'd do? y> well, they put school saf on the agenda ahead of many other school sysms around the country, but basically in the training they've brought together all of the first responders, law enforcement, paramedics, s.w.a.t. team and really took some steps to prepare. but, you know, this situation is a reminder to us that schools really need to continue to keep school safety at the forefront, have some great crisis plans and really focus on some of these access control issues toe kep troublemakers like this off the campus. >> woodruff: and, as you're faying that, i'm wondering i this is a school and as other schools around the country,

other parents, educators are watching this, are they able to learn somethi from each one of these episodes? >> well, i think the reminder is how precious life is.f school oials and parents, if i were a parent, i would want to know wther or not my school had a safe school plan, what the access control was, what procedures would be in place, d, yet, these incidents are so difficult to controlecause school officials need to do everything they can, knowing they can't do eerything, because when you have a determined shooter, as in this case, they have quite a degree of latitude to get ind a cause incredible disruption. >> woodruff: and that's a pretty discouraging message, isn't it, both ford educators a parents as well as for the children. >> well, it is discouraging, but, at the same time, it also suggests there are some things we can do to enhance our

preparation and to work on focusing on prevention. and many of the schl administrators after they face these major crises, they said, you know what, we want to get to know our students better, we're going to pt together better threat assessment teams to try to get at least some perspective on these events before they happen. but, once again, you can only do what is humanly possible. so therein lies the challenge for y hool officials as th back and revisit their safe school plans andtrategies, and for parents, let your chiowldren ow much you love them and care for them. >> woodruff: for sure. and i did hear you sayfor many of these schools, it's only after something has happenedey ry to take some of these new measures. but we hope with every one of these terrible incidents that lessons can be learned. ronald stephens with theon na school safety center,

we thank you very much. >> you're welcome. we are now joined on the phone by michael udine, a broward county commissioner. he is the former mayor of a parkla a parent of a student at marjory stoneman douglas high.th 's the school where this happened. mr. udine, tell me, you must be besi yourself. >> yeah, it's a very tough day for our city andu or neighbors in parkland and northst broward. tragedy, i know many of the students, my daughter was in school today, my niece was in school during the incident, they're bo safe, luckily. but it's just been a chaotic scene. law enforcement from all over the areas. it's a senseless tragedy. >> woodruff: do you have any better understanding now of what owhappened? i t's still early. the facts are still being gathered. >> all i know is that there was

an active shooter incident that students were, you know, hiding where they needed to hide. there will be multiple fatalities, injuries a, you know, just issues that are -- such a senseless tragedy to eappen in this community. i know so many of tudents here. i can walk to the school from my house, all of my kidhave gone here. it's just a tragic and sad day for our community. >> woodruff: can you tell us something about parkland, the school, the neighborhood? >> it's an a-rated school. it's a high-achieving students. u know, we excel in sports, drama, leadership,eca, in business. these are good kids, and this is a senseless tragedy, and we'll have victims advocateshere tonight and we'll do whatever as

community to rally around this school to make sure we get back to some sense of normalcy as quickly as possible. n> woodruff: well, we can only imagine what you other parents and certainly thepa nts whose children have been hurt or worse tonig, and our hearts go out to all of you, an as i said to the -- and as i said to the gentleman i just spoke, with one can only hope there will be lessons learned. we appreciate it michael udine, brow thank you very much.r. >> thank you, bye-bye. >> woodruff: our second major headline tonight, the u.s. secretary of veterans affairs is in trouble for a priip to europe at government expense. david shulkin's own inspector general issued a blistering report today. it is the latest example of first-class travel problems to shake the trump cabinet. we'll have an extended look at the issue, right after the news summary. in the day's other news, president trump publicly condemned domestic abuse for the

nerst time since a top white house official resa week ago. rob porter accused him of physical assault during their marriages.o upw, mr. trump has praised porter, and appeared to cast doubt on the accusations. today, amid rising criticism, he fielded a question on the issue at a white house meeting. >> i am totally opposed to v domestlence of any kind, everyone knows that. it almost wouldn't even have to be said, so now you hear it, but you all know it. thank you all very much. >> woodruff: earlier, the chair of the oversight committee in the house of representatives, trey gowdy, said he's opening an investigation into how the white house handled the porter case -y and his seculearance. but vice president pence defended the chief of staff, john kelly, saying he's, "done a remarkable job." meanwhile, a senior aide on the national economic council, george banks, said he has

resigned after failing to get a permanent security clearance. he tol"politico" that the white house counsel's office cited his past marijuana use. the president's long-time personal attorney, michael cohen, now says he paid $130,000 to a porn film star who allegedly had an extramarital affair with mr. trump in 2006. the payment was made shortly before the 2016 election. cohen told "the new york times," that the money came out of his, own pockd that he was not reimbursed by the trump campaign or company. he did not say why he paid stephanie clifford, whose film name is stormy daniels. mr. trump has denied any affair. in south africa, embattled president jacob zuma announced tonight that he'll resign from office, effective immediately. it came after the ruling african congress ordered him to step down in the face of corruption scandals. in a 30-minute televised

address, zuma sputed the accusations against him, then abruptly called an end to his nearly nine-year ruleer >> i have ore come to the decision to resign as president of the republic of with immediate effect. even though i disagree with the decision of the leadership of my organization. >> woodruff: deputy president cyril ramaphosa is expected to succeed zuma. secretary of state rex tillerson called today for iran to withdraw its military forces in anria. he spoke in jordansaid iran is destabilizing the region. but tehran fired back that u.s. forces should leave syria. over the weekend, israel shot down an iranian drone over the golan heights, and syrian forces shot down an israeli warplane. there's word that former

republican presidential candidate mitt romney will run for the u.s. senate seat from utah. it's widely reported that the one-time governor ss husetts will make his announcement tomorrow. he'd be seeking to fill the seat held by republican orrin hatch, who's retiring. w wall street today, the jones industrial average g tned 253 poinclose at 24,893. the nasdaq rose 130 points, and the s&p 500 added 35. and, finally, highlights from day five at the winter olympics in south korea. wamerican snowboarder shate won his third olympic gold in the men's halfpipe, then faced questions about sexual harassment allegations. meanwhile, american luger emily sweeney had a scar crashing on her fourth run of the day.

she said she's sore, but otherwise okay. still to come on the newshour: trump administration officials using taxpayer money for lavish personal travel. methods used to count north korea's nuclear weapons, and much more. >> woodruff: the u.s. secretary of veterans affairs is in trouble for a pricey trip to europe at government expense. >> yang: department of veterans ifairs secretary david shulkin and his staff cafor harsh criticism from the agency's internal watchdog over an 11-day trip last year, to denmark and the united kingdom. the cost to taxpayers: more than $122,000. it included official biness

such as, meetings with danish officials who provide healths, care for veter lunch with danish health care executives, and a conference in london with senior officials from u.s. allies who also deal with veterans' issues. but the rert also details some of shulkins' leisure activity: attending the women's championship mat at the "wimbledon" tennis tournament, a tour of westminster abbey in , and a cruise down the thames river. the department's inspector general said shulkin improperly accepted the wimbledon tickets,d and directartment staff to plan a sightseeing schedule. he also said that shulkin's chief of staff misrepresented details about the trip, going so far as to alter an email, in allow taxpayers to pay for shulkin's wife's expenses. the inspector general said shulkin should reimburse the treasury for the cost of his wife's travel. he also he shulkin suld offer to pay his wimbledon host for the cost of the tickets, and if she declines pay that money to the u.s. government. in a letter to the inspector

general, shulkin said the report atoes not appear to be acc or objective, and it contains the thread of bias." shulkin is not the first trump cabinet membero be questioned about travel practices. interior secretary ryan zinke, and epa administrator scott pruitt are all under investigation by their department's internal watchdogs. st year, health and human services secretary tom price quit after his use of private planes was reported. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: we explore these viations further now with: reporter lisa rein of the "washington post," ak, kathleen cl professor of law at washington university in st. louis, who works on issues of government ethics. and we welcome both of you to the program. lisa rein, you're the reporter here. i'm going to start with you. what secretary shulkin is

saying, he called it the "thread of bias" in ths report. it doesn't appear to be accurate or objective? how do we know what the inspector general fond is accurate? >> well, secretary shulkin has pushed back very, very hard against this report. he's hired a team of lawyers. he's hired a p.r. firm, which is pretty unusual. he -- some things he does not deny. for example, his chief of staff, who the inspector general sai doctored an email to ensure that shulkin's wife would be able to travel t europe expense-free and on the government's dime was not denied.'s mostly the wimbledon tickets. the inspector general said this was an inproper gift basically from a spor rts promoo had been a c.e.o. of prince harry'sa "invictus" gam had reason to potentially influence the

secretary because the "invictus" games are for veterans. >> woodruff: right. and the laws are very clear that if you have a cose friendship with the person giving you a gift, then you're rene. so it wally fascinating. the watchdog had to parse whether the shulkins were close friends with this promoter, this british wom the inspector general said, no, didn't seem they had much contact aside from a few meetings at big events. >> woodruff: which suggested there was something wrong here. so kathleen clark, how clear are the rules for these cabinet secretaries and other top officials in the administration out what's appropriate and what isn't? >> the rules on accepting giftsa are acy quite clear and detailed, and they apply not just to cabinet secretaries but just about every official in the executive branch. so officials are encouraged to seek advice from designated ethics counselors if they have

quesons about how the rules apply. so what we see here is that the chief of staff allegedly manipulated that advice process h order to get te answer she wanted. >> woodruff: and just to get back to the point that lisa made about the fridship, how much uld it matter whether he was h already good friends witor not the someone who did him a big favor, gave him theiseckets? >> yeah, there's an exception in the regulations thatllows an employee to accept a gift that would otherwise berohibited if the gift is based on personal friendship. and, in fact, as lisa rein indicated, the secretary does push back on that, providing even an affidavitar declaration from this sports promoter attesting to her iendship not so much with the secretary but with his wife. >> woodruff: and i'm being reminded by our producer that secretary shulkin has told the "army times" that he will

pay back whatever money he owes tien though he cones to dispute these allegations. lisa rein, how did these -- do these allegations against the vecretary fit in to what we' seen take place with other top cabinet officials in the trump administration? >> this became a big story last fall wheformer secretary of health and human services tom price dd a story on this. you travel a lot as a cabinet secretary. i would say this is not as egregious in the publicce east mind as price was forced to resign. e t then you havspectors general in three other agencies who have looked into -- well, i have ryan zinke, the intseerior etary who is under investigation now for travel that most will you opinionvolves mixing official interior events witholitical appearances. >> woodruff:ight. you have e.p.a. secretary scott pruitt who on -- we just

reported a few days ago pretty much always travels first class orusiness class wherever he's going, goes home to oklahoma a unt, that'r investigation. then you had steve mnuchin who -- a treasury secretary who the i.g. has already reported in his case heook about $800,000 worth of military flights. >> woodruff: and that was cleared as we -- >> it was cleared, although the inspector general had some questions about it. >> woodruff: so, kathleen clark, how unusual is it?in compare this atration and these investigations to previous administrations, how do they compare? >> this is not normal. it's not in any way normal to have four or five cabinet secretaries under investigation for their travel habits. it's also not normal for cabinet secretars to disregard the publica fisk in the wy that they have. i think it's part of a larger pattern in this administration

and i wonder whether they are king their marching orders from the president in terms of how careless or free he has ben in his travel, which has caused the secret service to incur extra expenses. >> woodruff: you mean because he travels many weekends to one of his homes either in florida or new jersey or -- precisely. >> woodruff: and so forth. i just want to come back to this question, kathleen clark, about how clear these rules are, because we're hearing about a lot of pushback from secretary shulkin. is there room to argue about the kinds of allegations we're discussing here?re >> tppears to be a factual dispute in this case regarding the wimbledon tickets. >> woodruff: right. the inspector general has concluded that the secretary did not have a close friendship with this promoter and he's pointing out -- and he's provided facts suggesting that he did, u know, what i would say

is t rules are clear, with you but the rules also have exceptions, so when you combine a strict rule with an exception how they meet can be in dispute as it is in this case. >> woodruft as you said, lisa rein, several investigations underway. >> that's also a question of optics. high-level officials who are in a presidential cabinet need to be thinking about optics, and that's, you know, what some people might arg mr. shulkin didn't think about. >> woodruff: he's made his way into the headlinesoday or certainly this story has. lisa rein with "the washington post," kathleen clarth the university of washington. thank you very much. >> thank you. dr

>> wf: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: republican senator david perdue of georgia on the immigration aubate on capitol hill. and snowboarder white brings home the gold but faces renewed scrutiny over sexual harassment allegations. but first, capitol hill >> woodruff: one of ung people whose fate -- apologies. our apologies. it's a night full of news. we're going to get straight now. the story we turn to now, how advanced is north korea's nuclear weapons program? i >> woodruff: how advanced is north korea's nuclear weapons program? w it is a questih heightened urgency given the escalating rhetoric between the u.s. and the secretive ree me. y to get an answer: visit the nuclear facilities themselves. miles o'brien recently sat down with one american who did just that, part of our weook at

the leading edge of science and technology. >> reporter: capricious and erratic as the nation and its leaders may seem, north korea's maash toward nuclear weapons been steady, and successful. just ask the few western experts who have seen glimpses of the program, and its evolution. >> i was very much surprised by their capabilities and their competence. >> reporter: nuclear scientist and metallurgist sig hecr was surprised that he was invited to north korea in the first place. after all, he spent most of his career at the birthplace of the atomic bomb, the los alamos national laboratory. he served as its director from 1986 through 1997. >> my most important thing was i was just trying to learn as much as possible, and then also trying to figure out what are they trying to tell me and why are they telling me that. >> reporter: his first of seven visits came in 2004.

>> they were going to show us a significant part of nuclear complex, particularly e plutonium complex. and that, that was just-- it wan ye-opener, it was really surprising. >> reporter: pratonium is very in nature. the process of making it begins with uranium fission nuclear reactor. hecker visited the reactor the north koreans use for this rpose. he says it looked like los alamos in the '50s, but it was functional. the byproduct of a reactno like this iweapons grade plutonium metal.at equires another step of separation from used reactord fuel calprocessing. the north koreans took him to that facility is well. in a conference room, director of the program asked hecker if he'd like to see their product. >> i said, "sure, bring it out"" and lo and behold, they've got this plutonium. usually,ou don't take plutonium into a conference room but they did. and so, they brought out this

red metal box and they slid the tonoff and i sort of looked and there were two glass jars in there. i was still skeptical. so, i actually asked them, "can "hold the plutonium jar?" plutonium is very, very dense, almost three times as dense as iron. and then second, it is warm, because it is radioactive. it was both. but i still told them, "yeah, it looks like plutonium. it felt like plutonium." but in the end, i didn't have any instrumentation, i didn't know. >> reporter: the plutoniumur piin north korea is as clear as anything in this opaque world.en nuclear reactor is operating, it's obvious to anyone who's watching from the outside. and there is no more watched piece of reawoestate in the d than this nuclear reactor near yongbyon. physicist and former arms control inspector david albright has visited north korea twice. he now spends a great deal of his time poring over open source satellite imagery of north korea.

>> you don't know what's going on inside,ut you still can know quite a bit about it and their nuclear reactors and then you piece that together with other information, you can get a much better picture of how much plutonium they could make. >> i am pleased that the united states and north korea yesterday reached agreement on the text of a framework document on north korea's nuclear program. >> reporter: in 1994, the u.s. and north korea signed the so- called agreed framework. it forced pyongyang to share details of its plunium production and mothball its reactor. sig hecker saw some of the idle equipment on one of his visits. but the bush administration and north korea abandoned the ngreement after each accused the other of not meets terms. and u.s. intelligence sources endicated the north was trying to produce highlched uranium. it is a required ingredient in the most powerful, compact

nuclear weapons. the nort is a bigger mystery.at >> the plutoum is known much more finely because north korea has revealed much mo about its plutonium program because of earlier arms control agreents. there's never been a declaration at all by north korea on its uranium enrichment program. >> reporter: uranium, mined from rock, must be enriched to be potent enough to make a bomb. a chemical process transforms it into a gasnd it is pumped into a centrifuge. as it spins, the heavier isotope uranium 238 separates from the lighter weapons grade uranium 235. the shopping list for uranium centrifuges includes high- strength aluminum and specialty steel, very specific, telltale if you know what you're looking for. albright is always on the prowl for these purchases.

>> they don't say this is for a gas centrifuge plant, but whyo look at the list of goods, you go, "oh, this is for a gasfu cent plant and it's to make an addition to the program of a certain size." you can make estimates, and so with that information, you can put a plot together of what they've procured and how many centrifuges they could build. >> reporter: much ofhis was confirmed during sig hecker's last visit to north korea in 2010. he asked to see their centrifuge facility. he was taken to this building with the big blue roof in the north korean nuclear center ofby yo. >> and they took us up to the second floor and had ulook down through these big glass observation windows at these two centrifuge halls below and it was just-- my jaw must have dropped far because i juve couldn't belt. >> reporter: he saw 2000 centrifuges arrayed in so-called cascades like this.

three years later that blue roof doubled in size. n but unlikelear reactor creating plutonium, the secrets of centrifuge facilities stay under the roof. and hecker and many other experts are convinced there is another centrifuge facility somewhere else in north korea. so when it comes to bomb grade uranium, there is great uncertainty all of which leads to this bottom line: >> we made an assessment. so plutonium, 20 to 40 kilograms, highly enriched uranium, again, great uncertainty, maybe 250 to 500 kilograms, something on that order. you put that all together, that's enough of the fissile materials the bomb fuel for perhaps 25 to 30 bombs. if you believe in the second centrifuge plant then you end up with a range of about 20 to 40 nuclear apons. >> reporter: reading the tea leaves to assess what kinds of weapons that theorth koreans

have been able to craft from this raw materchl is also as rt as science. more on that in our next rept. i'm miles o'brien for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: republican senator david perdueo of geon the immigration debate on capitol hill. and snowboarder shaun whit brings home the gold but faces renewed scrutiny over sexual harassment allegations. but first, capitol hill correspondent lisa desjardins tees up the immigration battle playing out on capitol hill. >> desjardins: the senate's day began where the last ended: noea clbill or direction for protecting "dreamers"-- immigrants, brought to the u.s. illega children.

one positive: the senate formally opened debate on the issue. nnmajority leader mitch mcl stressed passing a bill isn't enough-- that the president must asgn it: >> the presidentade clear what principles must be addressed if we are going to l make instead of merely making political points. >> desjardins: in a statement, president trump urged lawmakers to "oppose any legislation" that does not include hi"four pillars" approach. but as the president met with supportive senators, it wasn't clear his plan could get enough votes. that sparked the al action of the day. a large group of bipartisan senators meeting in senator susan collins' office told newshour they had agreed on a different approach. rather than try to navigate all four of thpresident's pillars, this bipartisan plan goes narrow, to the bottom-line two: itpffers a path to citizens

for "dreamers" and at least 25 billion dollars for border security. it would limit family migration but only for dreamers. their parents would not be eligible for legal status through their children. in the senate chambesign of the frenzy to write-up ideas behind the scenes, but plenty of rhetorical line-drawing. texas republican ted cruz slammed any path to citizenship rr dreamers. >> i think it isl mistake for the senate to be considerinh amnesty and a o citizenship for 1.8 million people here illegallfor million, or three millio >> desjardins: and democratic leader chuck schumer insisted the president has blocked viable compromise. >> if, athe end of the week, we are unable to find a bill that can pass and i sincerely hope that's t the case due to the good efforts of so many people on both sides of the aisle.re the onsibility will fall entirely on the president's shoulders and those ins body who went along with him. >> desjardins: meanwhile in the house, republican leaders there sent a message to the right, whipping or counting votes on a conservative option.

>> the goodlatte-mccaul bill is a bill that we're going to be whipping tay. >> desjardins: that bill would ofr legal status, but not citizenship, for dreamers. and it would sharply cut the amount of legal immigration overall. but that plan also seems short on votes for now. speaker paul ryan indicated next steps are unclear. >> we clearly need to address this issue in march. j i't leave it at that. >> desjardins: the end on this issue is uncertain. as is an end date for the daca program protecting dreamers. president trump ordered it to close march 5th, but two federal judges have temporary blocked that order.oo >>uff: at the center ofat the immin debate is the tyler paley of arizona pbs has the story of one dreamer currently protected under dacan and his uncertture. >> reporter: inside ng,

anquility, comfort, focu art outside, a world of uncertainty and a f what tomorrow could hold, not just for one, but for many. >> i know that the consequences are not just for me. it's for my entire family. i feel like this in the place i ve my children the best future just like my parents were able to give me the best opportunities i could ever ask for. >> reporter: alexis zazueta arrived in the united states in 1996, brought to arizona by his parents from sinaloa, mexico when he waone year old. the zazuetas were undocumented, just like 11 million other people currently in the united states. >> i didn't even know much about, you know, being an illegal immigrant. i saw myself the same as all my classmates. >> reporter: in middle school, alexis got his first taste o what ultimately would become his

life's passion. >> i remember one day when i was 12, i went to the swap-meet with my dad. and i saw a pair of boxing gloves.as d him "dad, can i get someai of those of boxing gloves?" they were probably $10, and he bought me two pairs so i coulder fight my broth >> reporter: and with that, he instantly fell in love with the sport. >> ( translated ): when he first started boxing, i uldn't even look at him. i was so afraid for him. but his coach told me it was importanfor me to be there. >> i remember e first day walking in, you know, seeing the rings inside and boxg bags here, all the fighters just hitting pads, sparring. i was like "wow, this is le something out of a movie." i used to believe that only rich kids used to box. >> reporter: at 17, zazueta's amateur career was taking off. he made it past the golden gloves state tournament with ease.

then came the gional tournament in las vegas, where he represented arizona, new mexico, utah and nevada. another victory meant a bid to the national touament. >> i remember training so hardr that fight. you know, waking up super early to io run and get my workout going home, getting ready for school. right after school, go to the gym. right after the gym, go to my strength and conditioning. every day, it was like a routine, boom, boom, boom, for like two months.ep >> rter: his first professional match was in november 2013.d an the four years since, he's undefeated at 9 and 0 with five knockouts. for zazueta, it's his family that keeps him going. the 22-year-old not only has his parents and four siblings, but he's the breadwinner fs a family of n. he has an eight-year-old step- son named daniel and h girlfriend paola just had their baby boy in november. >> it's making him moreus responsible behe knows mat he's chasing.

>> i'm the head family. you know, i've got to always find a way to, just like my dad did, find a way to succeed. i've got to do that now to my family.te >> rep zazueta says he's never been in better shape. his family is healthy and he has he renewed his daca enrollment for another two years in september, but the president's decision to roll back the program is what keeps zazueta up night. for the pbs newshour, i'm tyler paley in phoenix, arizona. >> woodruff: for more immigration debate taking place in washington this week, we are joined now by president trump's top allies in congress, repuican senator david perdu of georgia. senator perdue, thank you for joining us on the program. my first question to you, how worried should da recipients like young alex, the young man we just heard from, how worried eshould they be about tir status? >> well, i'm hopeful that we're going to have a solution for

em this week. the president wants the same thing that they are talking about. you heard in that clip, judy, that this individual -- and what a great story that is -- wan certainty for his future. how can you argue with that? well, the president has offered that. actually, going beyond what was origbually being negotiatedt what he's also said is he wants to eliminate the situation that caused this problem in the first place. we don't want to be back here in five years doing the same thing again for a new wave of young people brought here illegally. so that's what is is about, and i think this president's plan, the bill we have, the succeed and secure act, actually does that. >> woodruff: as i understand it, though, senator, there are not the votes to su the president's plan. what do you see the prospects for it now? >> we've had 30 years of debate on this thing. we've had democrats and republicans at various points ie ctually support the principles laid out by the president in this bill.

we've had actually tonight, even, late-coming support for this bill, and i have to tell you, senator alexander a senatorsakson tonight have endorsed this bill and i think that's a great watershed of what's to come overnight and tomorrow. these are two well-thought-of individuals here and i respect both of them immensely and they were involved in a bipartisan effort trying to reach solution to this thing and this they've come back and said this is the blnd they think meth the need. the d.h.s. and the president endorses the bill. we're hopeful when the other things are looked atin the light of day, we'll see the plan the president laid out and we have in this bill actually meets the need of what thera dem have been asking for, actually. >> woodruff: well, it's my understandg and what i have been told, senator, in the last few days is where there is t supporre is greater support now for two parts of what the president wants, and that is do fing somethingor these daca recipients and doing

something about border securit maybe doing something about the visa lottery. the greater difficu coming with the decision about how to handle the family migration question. >> yep. >> woodruff: is there give both on the president's side ans as well aon the other side that you think could bring the two sides toogether, but it uld require give on both sides? >> judy, i think you've aracterized this extremely well, better than most people that i've heard today, and i think at you're showing is that three or four principles the president is talking about have general agreement. the one on the family base, i think, has room in there on both sides where we can actually get the solution that we're all looking for and that is the create an end to the environment that incentivized people to bring their young children here and cread the da situation and closes loopholes that let terrorists use the immigration system against us. i would love to see the immigration system that brings

in 1.1 million immigrants today, up 400 o0,000 in the last few years, but we only bring in 71,000 today related to the work programs. so there are qualified wngrkers con. another 70,000 is their spouse and immediate chin.ld t0,000, judy, are refugees and asylum seekers ae other 800,000 are legacy derivativeig family ition sponsorees and that's what we want to look at. places like caadn australia use more of a point obesed system and we would entertain potentially bringing more workers in under that format. >> woodruff: i guess one of my bottom line questions is, is there give, do you believe, in the president's position, your position that would mean you might not fully do everythin that the president wants to do right now with regard to these families but that would end up protecting these daca recipients, or is the president so wed tong getll four, as he calls it, pillars of this

plan, that evn if that mens the daca recipients get deported, that's the way it is? >> i think this president has been very clear for a long timeb t what his position is. he wants a solution to the problem that caused the daca situation. he wants the daca situation solved. he's gone farther than anybl rean ever thought that he would. we support that, those of us sponsoring this bill, ande believe there is enough commonality in this senate that if they will look at thesei different e tls that we'll -- principles that we'll be able to get to a cnom solution. to answer your question, i do think we have some room on the work part of the family-based system, but not just for the daca -- you can't do what some proposals are coming out with now, talking about, well, we'll just protect -- we won't let the daca kids go, i think there is room in there. the president is clear he wants the four pillars in the solution. >> woodruff: we know there is

not agreement yet but you will continue to work on it for the next day or two and we will watch closely. senator david perdue, thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: it was an amazing and historic night for shaun white at the winter mes last night, but as william brangham explains, soon after won his gold medal, many fans began learning of disturbing allegations for his past behavior off the snow. >> brangham: it was an epicfi nal run. shaun white knew he had to go w biin a gold medal, and he did, executing death-defying,ba back-to-, near-perfect jumps in the halfpipe snowboard compweition. these tricks that white, the man who revolutionized this sport, said he'd never before landed in succession. the risk was worth the reward:

securing white's place in history as the first american male to olympic games.e winter it was also demption for finishing in 4th place at the 2014 games in sochi. but the celebratn was short lived, because at a news conference afterwards, a reporter asked white about a 2016 lawsuit alleging he committed sexual misconduct. the suit was filed by a former drummer in his rock bandho claimed white repeatedly harassed and verbally abused he ars, and then didn't pay her money she was owed. among other allegations, she said white texted her "sexually explicit and graphic images," "forced her to watch sexually disturbing videos," "me vulgar sexual remarks" to her, and he demanded she "wear sexually revealing clothes." it also said white became "increasingly hostile and threatening" to her after losing in sochi. white has admitted sending the explicit images, but denied the other allegations. and at yesterday's news

conference, he played down the charges. >> honestly, i am here to talk about the olympics, not gossip.d i am pf who i am and my friends love me and vouch for me. and i think that stands on its own. >> brangham: that incited a backlash on social media, prompting white to apologize this morni on nbc's "today show." >> i'm truly sorry that i chose the word "gossip." it was a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive subject in the world today. evy experience in my life feel like it's taught me a lesson. and i denitely feel like i'm a much more changed person than i was when i was younger and yeah, i'm just, i'm proud of who i am today. >> brangham: white settled the lawsuit in may for an undisclosed amount. earlier today, i spoke with christine brennan. she's a spor"u columnist for today." she was at that shaun white press conference yterday in south korea. i began by asking about her reaction to these accusations, which before now, had not been wide reported.

ey're awful. i mean, it's jarring. it's -- they are lewd, they are, of cour, harassing. again, allegation, although he did admit to sending the tt messages, the pictures that are very troubling. you know, i think, for me -- and the reason i wrte about this was, one, i did not know this, and i know that mightund strange. i never really covered shaun white. lleven though i covered these olympic games, never been around him. you coult be the biggaun white fan on the planet and still, i believe, think thatit important to find out what this is all about. >> brangham: christine, igive it there are enormous commercial interests that want shaun white to remain solely an heroic athlete, but given the #metoo moment the country is having, hois it this lawsuit got no attention before this point? >> i don't know. certainly, irtspo we know that there is adulation and there are fans, so are ouro people tnterested in protecting the reputation of an

athlete? do we maybe not want to know? i think thas something that happens with steroids in sports, when you go to the baseball game, do you want to know or just enjoy the game with your family for a few hours. that's what sports is dealing with. i'm going to try to talk to some of the sponsors and'm sure others will as well. this is the last thing they wanted is to have this conversation, but, again, shaun white in the press conference could have dealt wh it in a much more mature manner and spent time answering thequ tions as opposed to being shielded and guarded from them. so i think it was a mised opportunity for shaun white in terms of getting the story out there and telling the story. >> brangham: it's strikine in nse that yesterday shaun white is facing these questions publicly on a dayhat was the pinnacle of an amazing successful career. >> i marvel at shaun white and what he's been able to do and the longevity in a sport whemire onstake and you're done. it can be so harrowing and the accidents can awful when something goes wrong. you know, he's really a pioneer.

i mean, he brought that whe x games kind of new-and i look to the olympicames. when you think about the the disappointment he had in some muchy and to ack four years later to win that gold medal, that majestic. that's what the olympic games are really about. you cave marat shaun white and be thrilled at what you saw and also be intrigued an interested and wondering about him and about the #metoo movement. i think you can have those two potentially conflicting thoughts, and i think that's where we are in our society. >> woodruff: so how do we reconcile these conflicting thoughts? people whose accomplishments are s striking alt theso stand accused of doing awful things. how do w reconcile that? >> it can be troubling and it's tough to watch yourr heos fall from grace. we've seen it over the years whether lance armstrong, marion, joarry bonds was in a perpetual freefall in terms of the alegations of steroid use.

as journalist, i say we cover it, itn news. i ill love the olympic games. you know, that moment when they bring in te olympic flag and hand plys, i think wow what would 14-year-old me have thought about beng at my 18th 18th olympics. but also also pursue the stories. i'm a journalist and this is news and i'm here to cover it, and i do believe sports takes us to important national conversations. so here we are, again. as i said, i think it's a very important conversion to have and shaun white is a part of it and now we're talking about him and i think tt, to me, is the end result. to have the con others will decide where the story lands and the chil.ps fa >> brangham: christine brennan, as always, thank you. >> william, thank you very much.

>> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thk you and 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, ge babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or re information on babbel.com. >> consumer cellular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more,othing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the weni-being of hu around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org

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