captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshltr tonight, mule fatalities in a shooting at a south florida high school. also ahead, "serus derelictions"-- the u.s. veterans affairs secretary is t latest trump official t use taxpayer dollars for personal tral. plus, president trump pushes his own immigrion 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 korea's nuclear weapons program. >> they were going to show us a significant part of their nuclear complex, particularly the plutonium complex. and that, thatas just-- it was eye-opener, it was really surprising.

>> woodruff: and, the winter olympics heats up. u.s. snowboarder shaun white makes history while addressing questions of sexual harassment. all that and more on tonig's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. t a language at teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> supporting social en 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.

ported by the john d. an 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 broadcastin and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. uf >> woo 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.rm police swa the site, kearching for the gunman, even as emergency worrs treated and

transport the wounded to hospitals. hours later, frantic parents were still arriving on the the suspect was identified aswh nicholas cruonce attended the school. ve he is in custody and we' already begun to dissect his ngs, socialnd the th media he was on and someo things that come to mind are very, vey disturbing. he's 19 years old, born september 1998. he was a former student of douglas high school. he got expelled for disciplinary reasons, ion't know specifics. >> woodruff: for more we turn to terrence shepard, news director of wlrn, the public media station based in mmi. he's on the scene in parkland. terrence shepard, tewhat you're seeing there. >> the scene earlier was horrific. i was at the intersection that leads into the school, and, so, u had kids breing down crying because they didn't know where their friends were.

we had parents absolutely inan explosive de because they didn't know the status of their children. i later talked to a kid who was in a classroom next door where the shooting started and he tells me there was a fire alarm earl sr in the day and aecond fire alarm, so he was curious about what was the second fire alarm about, so he left. they were told to leave the classroom and take theckir cks, which he found unusual. leaving the classroom, he came across bodies, he said, an absolutely horrible scene here. >> woodruff: it sounds unimaginable. terrence shepard, tell us, are ehere still -- are they still investigating th? are there still parents standing around waiting for more information? >> no. so they' sent students to pickup locations nearby.

the main strt that's blocked still, there are mainly hangss-on, people seeing wha going on. but it's still a crime scene and i imagine it will be that way for a while. >> woodruff: tell us a little bit about this area, parkland. it's a suburban area? >> it's suburban, it's somewhat rural. parkland has large lots, a considerable equestrian community, people with tennis courts in their homes, multi movie theaters in the homes. upper middle class. i hate to say it, but thest place you think this type of thing would happen. it's really a nice area, a plce you want to live and raise your kids. >> woodruff: that's what i wa a going , is this a place that has seen shootings, violent crime a great deal in the past? >> not that i can recall, and i have been here three decades. no, it's a great place to live, this entire area.

it's not a place that's known for any type of crime. you may have minor breaking and enterings, a couple of car thefts, butouten than hat, no. >> woodruff: terrence shepard, wlrn, we thank you very much. >> thanks, judy. g woodruff: today's shoot at least the fourth at a middle or high school in the first two months of the year that led to deaths or injuries. there have also been shootingsro near or on theds of other schools this year where students and teachers were not injured. rona stephens is the executi director of the national school safety center ronald stephens, it's no longer shocking, now, when there's a school shooting, is it? >> it's happening far too o ten and far ny times, and every administrator who hasce this, they've always said 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 working on this issue with your organization for a long time. do you believe schools today are better prepared when something like this happens? >> my take is they are better prepared. our center worked with broward county schools more than a decade ago, and they were among one of the first school systems h the united states to really k ing together all the first responders and lw they would react when a problem le this occur so in terms of preparation, i would really descrone them as sobeing on the cutting edge. >> woodruff: so what would make them cutting edge? what would that meand do? >> well, they put school safety on t agenda ahead of many other school systems around the country, but basically in th training they've brought together all of the first responders, law enforcement, paramedics, s.w.a.t. team and really took some steps prepare.

but, you know, this situation is >> woodruff: my apologies. we lost the interview we were doing and we'll try to jresume that ist a few minutes. but right now we are joined on the phone by michael udinehe's a broward county florida commissioner. he's the former mayor of parkland where the shooting took place, and he's a parent of a student at marjory stoneman douglas high school. mr. udine, what a terrible day. >> it's a terrible day. i jutually saw some of the students and one of the teachers that were in the classroom. they were in a safe place now, and just a crazy, senseless tragedy. >> woodruff: what have you learned about what happened? have y been able to get any more information? >> well, 17 people are confirmed fatalities. i know they are operating on some others right now. u know, besides that, i don't

have really much more d.etails the scene is quite active rightf now ar as people. i know the governor is on his way, s.w.a.t. team is still out here and still securing th location over there, and just ay sad -- know, i saw one of the teachers whose room some children perished,i knew the teacher well, and she was hysterical. >> woodruff: oh, well, we are so sorry to hear this. is it fair to say, now, that parents of children chopper hurt -- parents of children who were hurt or worse now know what has happened? >> i think they are sarting to hear. i don't think it's been officially released, but with social media and kids an snapchat and the different social media platforms, parents are starting to getome pretty tragic news. >> woodruff: sounds like from what you're describing, and you said it yourself that this is just about the last place you would expect something like this to happen, we were just speaking with a reporter who described it

as a quiet subban area. >> absolutely. this is a quiet, suburban town. we havpoe a ce officer stationed in the school, we have sheriff's deputies il of our schools in parkland, and it's dst a complete utter tragedy. >> woodruff: we were saying that you're the parent of a student there. have you talk to your own, is it your son or daughter? >> i talketo my daughter. she's home. she's fine. my niece, i spoke to my sister iose daughter was in one of the classrooms hidia closet. thank god she's home and finmye. aughter and i just exchanged texts that we love each other because what more can you say ae a ike this? >> woodruff: michael udine, do you know if the school had l ocedures in place to dth something like this? >> yes, they did. broward county, our school board, our local police department, we actually have an officer in that school that's statned in that scool.

there was a quipock ree, and, you know, i'm at a loss for words on it. >> woodruff: yeah, because,ne you know, oants to ask is there some way to prevent something like this, and i ow others have said it, if someone is determined to get in, then therois very little to stp them, i guess. >> sadly, i guess so. >> woodruff: well, michael udine, we thank you vercy muh, and our heart goes out to you and all the others in your communit thank you. >> thank you, judy. bye. >> woodruff: our second major headline tonight, the u.s. secretary of veterans affairs is le for a pricey trip to europe at government expense. david shulkin's own spector general issued a blistering mpport today. it is the latest e of first-class travel problems to shake the trump cabinet. we'll have an exnded look at the issue, right after the news summary. in the day's other news, president trump public

condemned domestic abuse for the first time since a top whitefi house al resigned a week ago. rob porter's two ex-wives have accused him of physical assault during their marriages. up to now, 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 domestic violence of any kind, everyone knows that. it almost wouldn't eve to be said, so now you hear it, but you all know it. thank you all very much. >> woodruff: earlier, the chairg of the ove committee in the house of representatives, trey gowdy, said he's opening an investigation into how the white house handled the porter case -n his security clearance. but vice president pence defended the chief of staff, john kelly, saying he's, "done b rema job." meanwhile, a senior aide on the national economic council, george banks, said he has

resigned after failing to get a permanent security cle. he told "politico" that the white house counsel's office cited his past marijuana use. the president's long-time personal attorney, michael co00n, now says he paid $130 to a porn film star who allegedly had extramarital affair with mr. trump 2006. the payment was made shortly before the 2016 election. cohen told "the new york times that the money came out of histh own pocket, an 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 televisedad

ess, zuma disputed the accusations against him, then abruptly called an end to his nearly nine-year rule >> i have therefore come to the decision to resign as presidentt 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 syria. he spoke in jordan, and said iran is destabilizing the region. but tehran fired back that u.s. forces shoave 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 of massachusetts will make his announcement tomorrow. he'd be seeking to fill the seat held by republican orrin hatch, who's retiring. on wall street today, the dow jones industrial average gained 253 points to close at 24,893. the nasdaq rose 130 points, and the s&p 500 added 35.d, inally, highlights from day five at the winter olympics in south korea. american snowboarder shaun white won his third olympic gold in the men's halfpipe, then faced questions about sexual harassment allegations meanwhile, american luger emily sweenehad a scare, crashing on her fo

she said she's sore, but otherwise okay. still to come on the newshour: trump administration officialser using taxpay money for lavish personal travel. methods used to count north korea's nuclear weapons, and much more. >> woodruff: t of veterans affairs is in trouble for a pricey trip to europe at government expense. >> yang: department of veterans affairs secretary david shulkin and his stf came in for harsh criticism from the agency'sal inteatchdog over an 11-day trip last year, to denmark and the united kingdom. the cost to taxpayers: more than $122,000.

it included official business such as, meetings with danish officials who provide health care for veterans, a lunch withi health care executives, and a conference in london with wnior officials from u.s. allies who also deh veterans' issues. sot the report also detail of shulkins' leisure activity: attending the women's championship match ae "wimbledon" tennis tournament, a tour of westminster abbey in london, and a cruise down the thames river. the department's inspector genel said shulkin improperl accepted the wimbledon tickets, and direct department staff to plan a sightseeing schedule. he also said thashulkin's chief of staff misrepresented details about the trip, going so infar as to alter an email order to allow taxpayers to pay for shulkin's wife's expens. the inspector general said shkin should reimburse the treasury for the cost of his wife's travel. he also he shulkin should offerw to pay hbledon 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, slkin said the report "does not appear to be accurate or objective, and it contains the thread of bias." shulkin is not the first trump cabinet member to be questioned about travel practices. trterior secretary ryan zinke, and e.p.a. adminator scott pruitt are all under investigation by their department's internal watchdogs. last year, health and humanrv es secretary tom price quit after his use of privateas planeseported. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff: we explore these violations further now with: reporter lisa rein of the "washington post," and kathleen clark, a professor of law at u washingtversity in st. louis, who works on issues of government ethics. and weelcome both of you to the program. lisa rein, you're the reporter here. i'm going to start with you. so what secretary shulkin is

saying, he called it the "thread ofias" in this report. it doesn't appear to baccurate or objective? how do we know what the inspector general found is accurate? >> well, secretary shulkin has pushed back very, very hd against this report. he's hired a team of lawyers. he's hir a p.r. firm, which is pretty unusual. he -- some things he ds not deny. for example, his chief of staff, who the inspector general said doctored an email to ense that shulkin's wife would be able to travel to europe expense-free and on the government's dime was t denied. it's mostly the wimbledon tickets. the inspector general said this was an improper gift basically from a sports promoter who hadbe a c.e.o. of prince harry's "invictus" games and had reason to potentially influence the secrety because the "invictus"

games are for veterans. >> woodruff: right. >> and the laws are very clear that if you have a close friendship with the person giving you a gift, then you're fine. so it was really fascinating. the watchdog had to parse whetr the shulkins were clos friends with this promoter, this british woman. the inspector general said, no, didn't seem they had much contact aside from a few meetings at big ents. >> woodruff: which suggested there was something wrg here. so kathleen clark, how clear are the rules for these cabinet secretaries and other top officials in the administration about what's appropriate and what isn't? >> the rules on accepting gifts e actually quite clear a detailed, and they apply not just to cabinet secretaries bute just about official in the executive branch. so officials are encouraged to seek advice from designated ethics counselors if they have lequestions about how the

apply. so what we see here is that the chief of staff allegedly manipulated that advice process in order to get the answer she wanted. >> woodruff: and just to get back to the point that lisa made about the friendship, how much uld it matter whether he was already good friends with or not the someone who did hig favor, gave him these tickets? >> yeah, there's an exception ii the regus that allows an employee to accept a gift that would otherwise be prohibited it the s based on personal friendship. and, in fact, as lisa rein indicated, the secretary does push back on that, providing even an affidavit or declaration from this sports promoter attesting to her friendship not so much with the secretary but th his wife. >> woodruff: and i'm just being reminded by our producer that secretary shulkin has told the "army times" that he wl

pay back whatever money he owes even though he continues to dispute these allegations. lisa rein, how did tse -- do these allegations against the secretary fit in to what we've seen take place with other top cabinet officials in the trump administration? >> this became a big story last fall when former secretary of health and human services tom price did a story on this. you travel a lot as a cabinet secretary. i would say this is not as egregious in the public ice east mind as price was forced to resign. but then you have inspectors general in three other agencies who have looked into -- well, ie yan zinke, the interior secretary who is underst ination now for travel

that mostly involves mixing official interior events with political appearances. >> woodruff: right. >> you have e.p.a. secretary scott pruitt who on -- we just reported a few days ago pretty much always travels first class or business class wherever he's going, goes home to oklahoma a lot, that's under investigadion. then youteve mnuchin who -- a treasury secretary who the i.g. has alreadyeported in s case he took 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? anmpare this administratio 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 secretaries to disregard the f publk in the way that they have. i think it's part of a larger pattern in this administration

and i wonder whether they are taking their marching orders from the president in terms of how careless or free he has been in his travel, which has caused the secret service to incur >> woodruff: you mean because he travels many weekends to ones of his hither in florida or new jersey or -- >> precisely. s >> woodruff: aforth. i just want to come back to this s estion, kathleen clark, about how clear these rue, because we're hearing about a lot of pushback from secretary shkin. is tre room to argue about t kinds of allegations we're discussing here? >> thereppears to be a factual dispute in this case regarding the wimbledon tickets. >> woodruff: right. >> t inspector general has concluded that the secretary did 'st have a close friendship with this promoter and ointing out -- and he's provided facts suggesting that he did.

so, you know, what i would say is the 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 ben dispute as it is in this case. >> woodruff: but 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 argue mr. shulkin didn't think about. >> woodruff: he's made his way into the headlines today orth certainl story has. lisa rein with "the washington post," kathleen clark with the university of washington. thank you very much. thank you. dv >> woodruff: howced is north korea's nuclear weapons program? it is a question with heightened urgency given the escalating rhetoric between the u.s. and

the secretive regime. one y to get an answer: visi the nuclear facilities themselves. miles o'brien cently sat down with one american who did just that, part oour weekly look at the leading edge of science and technology. >> reporter: capricious and erratic as the nion and its leaders may seem, north korea's march toward nuclear w has 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 byi capabilities and their competence. >> reporter: nuclear scientist and metallurgist sig hecker was surprised that he was invited to north korea in the first place. after all, he spent most of hisa er 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

st trying to learn as mu as possible, and then also trying to figure out what are t they trying l me and why are they telling me that. >> reporter: his first of sevenn tsits cam004. >> they were goishow us a significant part of their rlnuclear complex, particu the plutonium complex. and that, that was just-- it w i an eye-openewas really surprising. >> reporter: plutonium is very rare in nature. the process of making it begins with uranium fission in a nuclear reactor. hecker visited the reactor the north koreans usfor this purpose. he says it looked likeos alamos in the '50s, but it was functional. the byproduct of a reactor like this is not weapons grade plutonium metal. that requires another step of separation from used reactor fuel called reprocessing. the north koreans took him to that facility is well. in a conference room, the

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, you don't take plutonium into a conference room but they did. and so, they brought out this red metal box and they slid the top off and i sort of looked in and there were two glass jars in there. i was still skeptical. so, i actually asked them,hocan ld 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 plutonind." but in thei didn't have any instrumentation, i didn't know. >> reporter: the plutoni picture in north korea is as clear as anything in this opaque world. when nuclear reactor is operating, it's obvious to anyone who's watching from the outside. and there is no more watched piece of real estate in the world than this nuclear reactor

near yongbyon. physicist and former arms control inspector davialbright has visited north korea twice. 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, but you still can know quite a bit about it and their nuclear reactors and then you piece that together withot r 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 plutonium production and mothball its actor. sig hecker saw some of the idlem eqt on one of his visits. but the bush administration and north korea abandoned the

agreement after each accused the other of not mng its terms. and u.s. intelligence sources indicated the north was trying to produce highly enriched uranium. it is a required ingredient in the most powerful, compact nuclr weapons. the north korean pursuit of that is a bigger mystery. >> the plutonium is known much more finely becae north korea has revealed much more about its plutonium program becae of earlier arms control agreements' thnever 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 gas and 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 when you look at the list of goods, you go, "oh, this is for a gas centrifuge plant and it's to make an addition to the program of a certain size." you can make estimates, and sofo with that ation, you can put a plot together of what they've procured and how many centrifuges they cou build. >> reporter: much of this was confirmed during sig hs last visit to north korea in 2010. hegesked to see their centri facility. he was tak to this building with the big blue roof in the north korean nuclear center of yongbyon. >> and they took us up to the second floor andad us look 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 just couldn't believe it. >> reporter: he saw 2000 centrifuges arrayed in so-called cascades like this. three years later that blue roof doubled in size. but unlike a nuclear 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 uncertaint all of which leads to this bottom line: >> we made an assessment. plutonium, 20 to 40 kilograms, highly enrichedm, urangain, great uncertainty, maybe 250 to 500 kilograms, something on that order. heu put that all together, that's enough ofissile materials the bomb fuel for perhaps 25 to 30 bombs

if you believe in the second centrifuge plant then d up with a range of about 20 to 40 nuclear weapons. >> reporter: reading the tea leaves to assess what kinds of weapons that the nor koreans have been able to craft from this raw material is also as much art as sciee. more on that in our next report. i'm miles o'brien for the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: republican senator david perdue of georgia on the immigration debate on catol hill. and snowboarder shaun white brings home the gold but faces renewed scrutiny over sexual harassment allegations. but first, capitol hill correspondent lisa desjardinsth tees uimmigration battle playing out on capitol hill.ja

>> drdins: the senate's day began where the last ended: no ear bill or direction for protecting "dreamers"-- immigrants, brought to the u.s. illegally as children.ti one po: the senate formally opened debate on the issue.r iljority leatch mcconnell stressed passing aisn't enough-- that the president must sign it: >> the president has made clear what principles must be addressed if we are going to make a law instead of merely making political points. >> desjardins: in a statement, president trp urged lawmakers to "oppose any legislation" that does not include his "four pillars" approach. but as the president met with supportive senators, it wasn't clear his plan could get enough votes. that sparked the real action o the day. a large group of bipartisan nators meeting in senator susan collins' office told newshour they had agreed on a

different approach. rather than try to navigate all four of the president's pillars, this bipartisan plan goes narrow, to the bottom-line two: it offers a path to citizenship for "dreamers" and at least 25 billion dollars for border security. it would limit family migration t only for dreamers. their parents would not be eligible for legal status through their children. in the senate chamber, no sign of the frenzy to write-up ideas behind the scenes, but plenty oh etorical line-drawing. texas republican ted cruz slammed any path to citizenship for dreamers. >> i think it is a real mistake for the senate amnesty and a path to tizenship for 1.8 millio people here illegally, or for two million, or three million. >> desjardins: and democratic leader chuck schumer id the president has blocked viable compromise. >>f, at the end of the wee we are unable to find a bill

and i sincerely the responsibility will fall entirely on the president's shoulders and those in this body who went along with him. >> desjardins: meanwhi in the house, republican leaders there ngnt a message to the right, whipping or counotes on a conservative option. >> the goodlatte-mccaul bill ia ll that we're going to be whipping today. >> desjardins: that bill would offer 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 i this issmarch. i'll just leave it at that. >> desjardins: the end on this issue is uncertain. as is an end date for the dacapr program ecting dreamers. president trump ordered it to close march 5th, but two federal judges have temporarily blocked that order.

woodruff: tyler paley o arizona pbs has the story of one dreamer currently protected under daca and his uncertain future. >> reporte inside the ring, tranquility, comfort, focus. buoutside, a world of uncertainty and a fear of what tomorrow could hold, not just for one,ut for many. >> i know that the consequences are not st for me. it's for my entire family. i feel like this is the place i can give 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 was one year old. the zazuetas were undocumented, just like 11 million other people currently in the united states.

>> i didn't even know much out, you know, being an illegal immigrant. i saw myself the same as all my classmates. >> reporter: in middle school, alexis got his first taste ofel what ultimwould become his life's passion. >> i remember one day when i was went to the swap-meet wi my dad. and i saw a pair of boxing oves. i asked him "dad, can i get some of those pairs of boxinges gl they were probably $10, and he bought me two pairs so i couldro fight myer. >>heeporter: and with that, instantly fell in love with the sport. >> ( translated ): when he first started boxing, i couldn't even look at him. i was so afraid for him. but his coach told me it was important for me to be there. >> i remember the first day walkinin, you know, seeing the rings inside and boxing bags here, all the fighters just hitting pads, sparring. i was like "wow, this is like

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 goldengl es state tournament with ease. then came the regional tournament in las vegas, where he represented arizona, new mexico, utah and nevada. another victory meant a bid to the national tournament. >> i remember training so hard for that fight. you know, waking up super early to go run and get my workout in, ing 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, bm, for like two months. >> reporter: his first m professionalch was in november 2013. and in the four years since, he's undefeated at 9 and 0 withi 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 for

family of his own. he has an eight-year-old step- a son named dani his girlfriend paola just had their baby boy in november. >> it's making him more responsible because he knows what he's chasing. >> i'm the head of my 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 my family. >> reporter: zazueta says he's never been in betterhape. his family is healthy and he has he renewed his daca enrollment for another two yes in september, but the president's epcision to roll back the program is what kezazueta up at night. for the pbs newshour, i'm tyler paley in phoix, arizona. e >> woodruff: for m the immigration debate taking place in washington this week, we are joined now by one of president trump's top allies in congress, republican senator david perdue of georgia. senator perdue, thank you for joining us on the program. my first question to you, how worried should daca recipients

like young alex, the young man we just heard from, how worried ould they be about their status? >> well, i'm hopeful that we're going to have a solution for them this weekth president wants the same thing that they are talking about.ar you in that clip, judy, that this individual -- and what eat story that is -- wan certainty for his future. how can you argue with that?en well, the preshas offered that. actually, going beyond what was originally being negotiated, but what he's also said is he wantse to eliminateituation that caused this problem in the first place. we don't want to be back here in fig years doing the same th again for a new wave of young people brought here illegally. so tt's what this 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 support 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 in time actually 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 and senator isakson tonight have enrsed this bill and i thi that's a great watershed of what's to come overnight and tomorrow. these are two well-thought-of viduals here and i respe both of them immensely and they were involved in a bipartisan effort trying to reach a lution to this thing and this they've come back and said this is the bland they think meth th. ne the d.h.s. and the president endorses the bill. we're hopeful when the other things are looked at in theay light ofwe'll see the plan the president laid out and we have in this bill actually mwhts the need o the democrats have been asking for, actually. >> woodruff: well, it's my understanding and what i have

been told, senator, in the last few days is where there is support, there is greater support now for two parts of what the president wants, and that is doing somethg for these daca recipients and doing something about border security. maybe doing something about the visa lottery. the greater difficulty is coming with the decision about how to handle the family migration question. >> yep. >> woodruff:s there give both on the president's side and as well as on the other sideth you think could bring the two sides together, but it would require give on both sides? >> judy, i think you've characterized this extremelyer well, behan most people that i've heard today, and i think what 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 hbring their young childre and created the daca situation

and closes loopholes that let immigrationse t system against us. i would love to see the immigration system that brings in 1.1 million immigrants today, up 400 or 500,000 in the last few years, but we only bring ind 71,000 related to the work programs. so there are qualified workers coming in. another 70,000 is their spouse and immediate children. 150,000,udy, are refugees and asylum seekersnd the other 800,000 are legacy derivative family immigration snsorees and that's what we want to look at. places like canada, austraa use more of a point obesed system and we would entertain potentially bringing more workers in under thaformat. >> 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 everythingde

that the pre wants to do right now with regard to these families but that would end up protecting tse daca recipients, or is the president so wed to getting all four, as he calls it, pillars of this plan, that even if that means the daca recipients get deported, that's the way it is? >> i think this president has been very clear for a long time about what his position is. he wants a solution to the prob situation.sed the daca he wants the daca situation solved. he's gone farther than any republican ever thought that he would. we support that, those of us sponsoring this bill, and we believe there is enough commonality in this senate that if tll look at these different prince tls that we'll -- principles that we'll be able to get to a common solution. o answer your question, i think we have some room on the serker part of the family- system, but not just for the daca -you can't do what some proposals are coming out with now, talkingbout, 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 ll continue to work on it for the next day or two and we will watch clely. senator david perdue, thank you. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: it was an amazing and historic night for shaun white at the winter games last night, but as william brangham explains, soon after white won his gold medal, many fans began learning of disturbing allegations for his past behavior off the snow. >> brangham: it was an epic final run. shaun white knew he had to gobi g to win a gold medal, and he did, executing deathying, back-to-back, near-perfect jumps

in the halfpipe snow competitwe these re tricks that white, the man who revolutit,ized this spaid he'd never before landed in succession. ewthe risk was worth the rard: securing white's place in nstory as the first ameri male to win gold at three wimeer olympic gas. it was ao redemption for finishing in 4th place at the 2014 games in sochi. but the celebration was short lived, because at a news conference afterwards, a reporter asked white aut a 2016 lawsuit alleging he committed sexual misconduc the suit was filed by a former drummer in his rock band who claimed white repeatedly harassed and verbally abus her for years, and then didn't pays her money she ed. among other allegations, she said white texted her "sexlly explicit and graphic images," "forced her to watch sexually disturbing videos," "made vulgar sexual remarks" to her, and he s demand "wear sexually revealing clothes."it

lso 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. h estly, i am here to talk about the olympics, not gossip. i am proud of 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,pr pting white to apologize this morning on nbc's "today haow." >> i'm truly sorryi chose the word "gossip." it was a poor choice of words to describe such a sensitive n bject in the world today. every experience life i feel like it's taught me a lesson. 'md i definitely feel like much more changed person than i was when i was younger and yeah, i'm just, i'proud of who i am today. >> brangham: white settled the lawsuiin may for an undisclosed amount. earlier today, i spoke withri ine brennan. she's a sports columnist for "usa today."sh

she was at than white press conference yesterday in south korea. i began by asking about her reaction to these accusations, which before now, had not been widely reported. >> ey're awful. i mean, it's jarring. it's -- they are lewd, they are, of course, harassing. again, allegation, although he did admit to sending the text messages, the pictures that are very troubling. you know, i think, for me -- and the reason i wrote about this ghs, one, i did not know this, and i know that sound strange. i never really covered shaun white. even though i covered all these olympic games, never been around him. you could be the biggest shaun white fan on the planet and still, i believe, think that it's important to find t what this is all about. >> brangham: christine, i give it there are enormous commercial interests that want shaun white to remain solely an heroic hlete, but given the #metoo moment the country i ihaving, how this lawsuit got no attention before this point? >> i don't know.

certainly, in sports, we know that there is adulation and there are fans, so are our people too interested in protecting the reputation of an athlet do we maybe not want to know? i think that something that happens with steroids in sports, when you go to the baseball game, do you want 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 i'm sure others will as well. this is the last thing they wanted is to hav conversation, but, again, shaun white in the press conference cod have dealt with it in much more mature manner and spent time answering the questions as opposed to being shielded and guarded from them. i think it was a missed opportunity for shaun white in terms of getting the story out therand telling the story. >> brangham: it's striking in the sense that yesterday shaun white is facing these questions publicly on a day that was thema pinnacle of anng successful career. >> i marvel at shaun white and

what he's been able to do and the longevity in a sport where one mistake and you're done. it can be so harrowing and the accidents can be awful when something goes wrong. you know, he's really a pioneern i he brought that whole x games kind of new-and i look to the olymmes. when you think about the the disapp muchy and to come back four years later to win that gold medal, that 's majestic. thhat the olympic games are really about. you can marvel at shaun white and be thrilled at what you saw and also be intrigued and a interest wondering about him and about the #metoo movement. i think you can have those two pontially conflicting thoughts, and i think that's where we are in our society. >> brangham: so how do we reconcile these conflictingou ts? people whose accomplishments are so striking yet they also stand accused of doing awful things. how do we reconcile that? >> it can be troubling and it's tough to from grace.eros fall

we've seen it over the years whether lance armstrong, marion jones, barry bonds was in a perpetual freefall in terms of the allegations of steroid use. as journalist, i say we cover it, it's news. i can still love the olympic games. you know, that moment when theyt bring olympic flag and hand plays, i think wow what would 14-year-old me have thought about being at my 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 aain. as i said, i think it's a very important conversation to have and shaun white is a part of it and now we're talking about him and i think that, to me, is the end result. to have the conversation. rs will decide where the story lands and the chips fall.

>> brangham: christine brennan, aalways, thank you. >> william, thank you very much. >> woodruff: and, a news update before we go. the sheriff of broward county, flora now says 17 people wer killed today in a shooting at a high school in parkland. up to a dozen others were wounded. the suspect is in custody. he's identified as 19-year-old nikolas cruz, a former student at the school. and that's the

mitt romney says he will delay and that's the newshour for tonight.oo i'm judyuff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening.s for all of the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a lauage app that teaches real-life conversations in a new langua, like spanish, french, gean, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or line. more 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, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the well-being of humanity around the world by building resilience and inclusive economies.

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