captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> the defendants allegedlyhe conducted whatcalled information warfare against the united states. >> woodruff: depting an elaborate conspiracy, the justice department indicts more than a dozen russian operatives for trying to influence the outcome of the 2016 presidential election. then, in an unusual move, the f.b.i. apologizes for failing to follow up on a tip about the florida school shooter, while florida's governor calls on the bureau's head to resign. and, it's friday. david corn and ramesh ponnuru are here to talk about why mass shootings keep happening, the washington standoff over immigration, and russia's "bterference in u.s. politics.

plus, the new filmck panther," hits theaters with fanfare. at the success of the first mainstream black superhero movie means for hollywood and viewers alike. >> we're finally getting to see the versity of america reflected back to us on screen. and, you know, people and children of color can go see a superhero film now, where the hero looks just like them. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight'sbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪

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>> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: a major addition tonight to the russia file. it is a sweeping federal indictment that names individual russians and several companies, orchestrated cghamanpailign lyo interference in the election.ne deputy attgeneral rod rosenstein laid out the particulars this afternoon. william brangham begins our coverage. >> the indictment charges 13 russian nationals and three russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to

interfere in the united states political system, including the 2016 presidentection. >> brangham: the deputy attornee l laid out a detailed indictment from the fice of special counsel robert mueller, alleging a complex campaign by russians to interfere in the 2016 election. toit was designed, he saidow chaos in the american political system, and spifically, to tarnish hillary clintod promote donald tmp. among the raft of chges: violating u.s. election laws; wire a bank fraud; and visa violations. rosenstein, who is oveeeing the special counsel probe, said the effort was run from this building in st. petersbu russia. it's called the "intrgernet, research agency," and it houses a battalion of computer specialists and provocateurs. today's indictment included numerous examples of just how micro-targeted the group's ueforts were. by hiding their dentities, russian activists created "social media accounts that

appeared to be operated by.s. persons." they created "thematic group pages on social media sites" like facebook and instagram. they routinely deployed hashtags the indictment alleges the grouh indictment cites an internal memo from the group urging its staffers to "use any opportunity to criticize hillary and thet rest-- excepnders and trump,." we like them last spring, the newshour's nick schifrin sp se with a formffer from this same russian agency. he told schifrin about their simple, blunt-force ch to sowing discord online in american politics. t >> every day, you see a comment at night, and they're all the same, yes. and it's exactly the people doing thr job. they have their topic. they have a time to do it. they writet, and you see it. >> brangham: the man who allegedly funded this group was named in the indtment today. he is yevgeny prigozhin, dubbed "putin's chef" for providing catering services to the russian

president. and it is vladimir putin whom u.s. intelligence agencies last year alleged directed the overall election interference effort, which also included hacking the email servers of the ai.ocratic national committeeinn d anarhill today, rosenstein said the russians contacted "unwitting individuals associated with the trump campaign and with other political activists to coordinate their activities." but, he added: e re tleo 'sonal and the nature of heme was, the defendants took extraordinary steps to make it appear that they were ordinary american political activists. >>ast's a democrat hoax that brought up as an excuse for losing an election. >> brangham: presidemp has made no secret of his disdain for the entire russianve igation, which he claims is driven by democrats upset with his election. the president has repeatedlype attacked theal counsel's

office; his own f.b.i. director and attorney general, and deputy thg. rosenstein; as well a congressional committees probing the alleged russian meddling in the election.te the indictment dropped today, the president tweeted, "russia started their anti-u.s. campaign in 2014, long before i announced that i would run for president. the results of the ection were not impacted. the trump campaign did nothing wrong. no collusion!" as for the president's labing the entire russia-election narrative a "hoax," his rector of national intelligence, dan coats, appearing on tuesday alheg with counterparts from c.i.a., n.s.a., f.b.i. and other agencies, was emphatic about russia's past actions, and their future plans. >> there should be no doubt that russia perceives its past efforts as successful, and views the 1820.smim . dterelections russian influence ops. >> brangham: there was no word from rosenstein on when, or even

whether, the indicted russians will be brought to the united states for trial. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in washington.: >> woodrussian officials said today that the charges are "absurd." with us now to discuss the rrent threat, and what today's indictment tells us about the special counsel investigation, is john carlin. he served assistant attorney general for national securityfr 2014 until late 2016. while in office, he oversaw teorism and cyber-security investigations. he is now a lawyer in private prac.tiknowhis is an indictment. it is not a finding of guilt, but how strong a case is the special counsel making that russians systematically tried to interfere in the elections? >> these are extraordinarily detailed allegations in an indictment and under justice

guidelines you can't bring an indictment unless you believe you can convince a jury beyond a reasonable dubt of each these defendants. they are not in the united states so the idea they wilbe brought to justice is pretty slim. >> it's unlikely putin's russia will turn them over if the unit r states makes aequest. but dating back to when we indicted liberation army in china, this is a strategy for the justice departmentake when you can incredibly clear with detail so a themerican people and the world can see what the forei actors tried to do to undermine the united states and others. >> woodruff: john carlin, we have been hearing a lot abo this investigation for months and months. what do we learn here about t depths that they went to to try to change the outcome of the election? and that's why this is so extrao people review this document, not

just because what it shows aboud what they in the past, which w it ranged from having an 80-person individuth a budget of over a million dollars a month doing things ranging from organizing actual bringing stoperatives to the unitetes to organize political rallies to paid advertisements that were paid for peple using false identities to undermine our election. it not only shows what they dide in t016 election but consistent with what we heard from all of this administration's top intelligence officials earlier this week when they testified before the snate, it also shows they're going to do it again i 2018 unless we u wufnengrtatllsy o heakrd them say that there'so u.s. person who knowingly was participating in this, and, of course, the white house and the president are pointing to that and saying the president said no proof of any collusion with my campaign. >> well, two things.

one is, as they should as prosecutors and career professionals, they're limited to what are the allegations in this particular indt. but let's focus on this indictment for a day. i would hope at our commander-in-chief and that members of both parties would look at this and say, it is up f unacceptab putin's russia who hates democracy to try to undermine our elections in this manner and, number one, there will be consequences that are paid, and we are going to with our allies. number two, we are going to immediately take steps tt previs from occurring again, and i hope to hear that in the future. >> woodruff: is the anything in here, john carlin, that tells you whether we are halfway through the russian interference investigation, all the wa can you tell from reading this document? >> it's an extraordinarily broaa campaign thaconducted to undermine our election, so its range, when you looat the

other charges, judy, we've already had individuals who worked on the capaign as national security advisors plead guilty to contacts -- to lying about contacts with russian agents you have a former campaign manager, and these are allegations he's facing trial for having hidden the fact heon was taking milof dollars from putin's interests. now you have this vast apparatus that was set up to do things ranging fro propaganda to human operators inside the united states toiz orgfak ticapa. de know that we can say -- we need to take it one step at a time. i'm sure one thing we've learned is these investigators are dedicated to finding the fact, to showing what they can show under the laws they're required to donned to protecting us ultimately from this type of foreign interference. >> woodruff: quickly, we heard the deuty attorney general rod rosenstein say there is no statement here that this changed the outcome of th election, but it seems that is still to be

determined, isn't o? >> ae thing i don't i think you will see unless it involves a chan in the ballot, career intel analysts, prosecutors, if it's a propaganda type campaign with fake politicalll ras and the like, they'll leave that to other experts to mae th miss toricle judgment whether to change the outcome to have e national election. what they've done is given the facts so others can make the assessment. >> woodruff: john carlin, we're going to ask you to stay with us. the day's other major story involves a failure by the f.b.i. before the florida school shooting, and the tragic consequences. 19-year-old nikolas cruz is accused of murdering 17 people on wednesday. now, the bureau says it got a tip about cruz in january, but n er investigated. in a statement, the f.b.i. said a caller to a tip line warned of "cruz's gun ownership, desire to

kill people, erratic behavurr, and ding social media posts." ernoon, the head of the f.b.i.'s miami office spoke in egparkland, and voiced hist. >> the potential of the f.b.i. to miss something is always there. we do our best. we have numerous protocols to prevt these things. we will be looking into where and how the protocol broke down and we will come back stronger than we ever were before >> woodruff: in addition, the broward county sheriff said that his office received about 20ll about nikolas cruz in recent years. now, we turn once again to john carlin. for four years, he served in leadership roles at the f.b.i. and, to matt zapotosky, justice reporter for the "washington post."po and, matt sky, i'm going to start with you. how did this information get to the f.b.i.? we reported it was a type lean. what does that mean? >> well, somebody who knew cruze called.b.i.'s general tip

line, 1-800-call.b.i., and there's a call center where they take in this information. n at is supposed to hap a call taker takes down then. informat if it's significant to warrant a further look, they pass it to agents in the field. we understand a call taker passed it to some supervisor in what amounted to a call center but it never got agents in the field, so it was never really investigatedrat all. >> wf: do we know why it didn't get passed on to the right people? >> we don't know specifically. we know it wasn't a mechanical failure, like there wasn't an email that got lost in translation, and we're also beintold tonight it wasn't product of overwork. you know, it wasn't because liky et thousands of calls, this one just fell through the cracks. that seems to cante me there may have been some bad decision-making process. twe kn assessment here was bad. the f.b.i. said that publicly. bupewhy,cifically, a supervisor or this person who took this call cided not to

pass it on, i think the f.b.i. still has tough questions to answer on that. a woodruff: john carlin, as somebody who isthe f.b.i., how do you understand what happened here? >> this is a tragedy. parents are grieving, and i know the folks at theb f.i. that are looking to handle this, it's think worst nightmare to there may be something they could do to prevent the ross of innocent lives. i remember a few instances like this when i was ere and the way in which people feel it -- >> woodruff: you mean tips that weren't followed up? >> tips that weren't successfully followed up or the feeling th maybe if we had done one extra step in an investigatiowe could have prevented a tragedy from occurring. what's important now i think, and it sounds like the director has done this today, is, as soon as he found that there were mistakes that looked like had be made, that he delivered a statement on it, and secondly,

ese take time hat there should be a thorough look to see no only what happened here but, most importantly, what can we learn about what happened here to make surit never hapnsrdpe my it wasn't believed to be a cas m of th work and overwhelmed by tips. so it's not a matter of notn havingough staff, enough budget? >> we just don't know yet until you do a thorough look at what happened here and why they weren't able to convert this information and to being able to take action. there's a sytem for taking in tips or leads, used to call it a guardian, and a process to where it's a threat to life or a terrorism case that you're required to take cerigtain inveive steps before closing out that tip or lead. so i imagine what the looking at now is was that process followed, and the other question, judy, asked in some of

these is if we were able to follow up, if the f.b.i. was able to follow up and work with others, what steps could they have taken to prevent it? you may learn lessons there where there may need to be changes made so they can take effective steps when they follow up in the inestigation. >> woodruff: back to you, matt zapotosky, is there any sense from the f.b.i. about specific changes they will make as a result of this? >> i think it's a little tooy ea say that, but i would say the f.b.i. does seem very humbled here. u know, yesterday, there was reporting on a vague tip that came about a comment on a youtube video and, in that situation, their posture was somewhat defensive, they couldn't identify this comment or evethough it would ler turn out to be cruz. in this situation they do sem very humbled and apologetic and they're going to try to get toom the bof it. as far as what steps in the future they will take to prevent is type of thing, people at

the f.b.i. say it's too early to say. they're going to figure out what happened in this case. >> woodruff: matt zapotosky of "the washington post." john carlin. q estion, tragedy all the way around. thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, white house chief of staff john kelly ordered an overhaul the personnel security clearance process. he has taken a barrage of criticism over disclosures that former aide rob porter had access to classified material, despite allegations of domestic abuse and a failure to gain security clearance approval. the "washington post" reports that kelly sent a fie memo to top aides today, saying that the white house "must do better the blame game raged today over l.e senate's failure to advance an immigration b president trump started, on the issue of young people who had been protected from deportation tsder daca, a program he w to end. in a morning tweet, he said, "cannot believe how badly daca recipients have been treated by

the democrats." democratic senator dick durbin of illinois shot back, saying, "give a break. you killed daca." former republican partyin presidential n mitt romney announced today that he attempting a political comeback. the 70-year-old romney said that he will run for a u.s. senate seat in utah, in this year's mid-term elections. he took washington to task in an online video. >> utah welcomes legal immigrants from around the world. washington sends immigrants a message of exclusion. and on utah's capitol hill, people treat one another with respect. i have decided to run for the united states senate because i believe i can help bring utah's values and utah's lessons to washington's. >> woodruff: romney is also a former governor of massachusetts and organizer of the 2002 winter olympics in salt lake city. he is running for the seat now held by republican senator orria h, who is retiring. there is new fallout from a

travel scandal involving veterans affairs secretary david shulkin. it's widely reported that his orief of staff is retiring. ere v.a.'s inspeeneral accused her of ag documents so that shulkin's wife could join him on a trip to europe. shulkin has said that he will repay her airfare. the u.s. and turkey agreed today to work on mending relations, after recent tensions over the syria conflict. turkey has demanded that the u.s. drop its support forrs kurdish fightenside syria. today, secretary of state rex tillerson met with his turkish counterpart in ankara, and insisted that the nato allies share the same goals. >> there is no daylight betwn turkey and the u.s. objectives. defeat isis, stabilize the country, create stabilization areas so eventually the refugees and internally displaced persons can begin to return home, and support the political solution

for syria that will result in a whole, independent democratic syria. >> woodruff: turkey has lately attacked kurdish fighters inside nortest syria, arguing that they are linked to kurdish rebels inside turkey hurricane-ravaged puerto rico is facing a new setback to its recovery. the federal control board for the u.s. territory asked today r an emergency $300 million loan. otherwise, it warn the island ll have to cut electrical power after tuesday. 4 so,000 customers still haven't gotten their electricity back since hurcane maria hit last september. on wall street, stoce now regained more than half the losses they suffered earlier this mons . the dow jodustrial average rose 19 points to close at 25,219. the nasdaq fell nearly 17 points, b the s&p 500 added a point.is and as day seven at the winter olympics in south korea, but it wasn't a good one for

some big-name american athletes. skier mikaela shiffrin failed to medal in her signature event, the women's slalom. e won it four years ago. and, u.s. champion figure skater nathan chen had a rocky short program. he fell on all his jumps and relyuaed f tree sk and finally, millions around the world marked the lunar new year today. celebrations across asia featured parades, festivals and feasts. all of it, to officially welcome hee "year of the dog." still to come on tewshour: how parents can talk to their children about mass shootings. reports of an affair and a cover-up involving president trump. david corn and ramesh ponnuru igh in on the week's news. and, a blockbuster superhero movie with a nearly all-black cast.

>> woodruff: the flochool shooting, and others like it, create a difficult challenge for parents and teachers alike-- how to talk to children so they're both prepared an yreassured. jog sat down with parents and school administrators in the washingt, d.c. area to see how they handle this resnsibility. >> yang: for seven-year-old lily gregorian, first grade is all about new experiences. yesterday's first: an active shooter drill, scheduled by her washington, d.c. school, in response to the florida shooting. that morning, her parents, stephanie and jamie, had a chat with her. >> we needed her to know why she was going to have to berg unng this drill today. >> yang: did you have any idea what to say? >> no. >> yang: lily had questions. >> she was asking, "what happened to his brain? why did he come into a school and want to start shooting people?wa what did he ?" >> yang: it was a conversation that likely echoed in homes

around the country. in alexandria, virginia, it was rebecca tiffany's 14-year-old daughter, sophie, who brought it up. >> i could see the distress on her face. she said, "we need to talk about can do if this happens in my school." y >>g: gun violence had already encroached on sophie's life. her middle school is just blocks from the baseball fielanwhere republawmakers were shot inst year. >> with each newdent like this, she's brought it up, but eems like this time it's much more impactful, because she's headed to high school and it seems very real.a >> yang: was iestion and a conversation you were prepared for? >> no one is ever prepared for this, because it's outside what we can imagine. >> yang: rebecca has tried to shield her 11-year-old son grant, but has already thought about how she would answerf he asks why this happened.

>> we, as humans, always eventually rise above these things. we've had many horrific things in our history. but we eventually work our way through it. i believe that we will solve this because we love our children. >> yang: for the gregorians, it was a loss of innocence for both pants and child. >> when you have a child that crawls into your lap and kind of holds onto your arm and starts almost whimpering in, not fear, but just concern or not being able to really understand, you know, as a parent, it breaks your heart. >> we know we've dropped herf. we see her when we pick her up. d's what goes on during t that's outside of our control, and that's why i think a shooting is a lile bit scarier a parent than, you know, any other potential danger.t >> yang:merset prep in washington, the responsibility of keeping nearly 400 children safe falls to principal lauren catalano and donald parker, director of student support. wednesday's shooting hit close to home for catalano.

she once taught near the school where it occurred and knows students and teachers there. >> whei came to school this morning, every child that walked through the door, i couldn't help but think, "this could have been one of those kids." and i think just from reading their faces, they felt uneasy, anthat made me feel horrib because we want this to be the place that they feel safest. >> yang:o reassure students, they've scheduled an active shooter drill for next week. >> kids are concerned because, you know, schools have been a safe hav, and today, we have to come to the reality that there may be a day where we're faced with an active shooter. >> yang: they tried to make yesterday as normal as possible, including going ahead with a previously planned valentine's day dance. catalano and parker listened to students' concerns. >> so it is just as much our responsibili to teach them to read, to know math, to apply scientific concepts, as it is to help them process their feelings, process their emotions

and understand that it's okay to talk about those things. yang: as a parent, rebecca tiffany wants her children to reach out to kids who don't seem to fit in.ac >> i've d my children many times about befriending the children who are sitting aloneng and maure that they have someone to talk to. if we all sat our kids dowut and talked aow those tipping-point moments happen, i think we might be able to prevent at least somhose times when someone's mind goes from just being an angry person to becoming an active shooter. >> yang: and prevent difficult conversations between parents and thr children in the future. for the pbs newshour, i'm john yang in alexandria, virginia. >> woodruff: now, to president trump, and a new story "the new

yorker" magazine published this morning. it details a "playboy" model's allegation that she and mr. trump had an affair more than a decade ago. it also highlights the lengths to which mr. trump and some of his allies go, to keep stories about his affairs out of the press.th author of today's "new yorker" story is ronan farrow, and he joins me now from new york. ronan, welcome back to the program. >> good to be here, ju t. >> woodrufnk you. there have been allegations out there about the president. he has denied all of them. how is your reporting different? >> you know, i think that this is important on two levels. one is that there is now a proliferation of stories, jud and between them commonalities, shared locations, shared tactics. karen mcdougall, the individual described in this story, in her chronicle of this affair talks about being offered money, something that appears in numerous stories, that after sex she was offered payment and

declined that. she talks about the thelo tions a lot of these affairs took place and, in fact, some of that sexual activity tae ng pl shared events between her story and the accountf stormy daniels, for instance. this provides corroboration for a number of the stories but meor important is the fact you mentioned earlier which is this is about a system that was in place, judy, a way of silencing women though trusted intermediaries in the tabloid world, the secret payouts, secret meetings enforced by by oileds, this was a wel machine. >> woodruff: explain how that works. it stems, in part, between the close friendship thesident has with a man named david pecker the head of a media organization that owns the ?"national enquirer," rig >> there is a term called "catch and kill" which is where a company like the tabloid media company you just re to

acquires a story with the intentn to bury it, not to ru it. important to note a.m.i. had ample opportunity to comment on the story andwe sai didn't run the story because we didn't find it credible. but th accounts of niewmous a.m.i. former employees contradict that did. they say it was a method used by david packer to the benefit of his friend donald trump. >> woodruff: it's clear they t didn't wais accomplished. i assume they were contacting you doing whatever they coulto prevent you from writing about it? >> you know, i'll refer you to what we report in the piece, you know, which certainly does suggest that they tffe a ent view of events from the one that we report. >> so why is karen mcdougall the woman you talked about, why is she talking now? >> you know, she remains terrified ofaleg lut what

she said. her present day on-the-record comments are largely about the business relationship with a.m.i. because she is still afraid to talk about the underlying affsaair. sh i don't know exactly what i can and can't say. there is a clause in ts contract that could force her into a secret arbitration process whch she was very frightened of. but she said over the past year she's witnessed woman after woman come forward to describe powerful ways in which men silence women's stories about them. while she was inspired by a consensual afairks she was inspir to come forward and perhaps inspire others to speak. >> woodruff: think this goes from here? >> i have been asked often does a story like this have anyce chf moving the needle since we seem to be inundated of stories of is this kind, of scandal, you know, that have shaken, i think, people's confidence in a lot of institutions. it's not my job to say whether a story like this is capable ofe

moving thedle but i can certainly say that last message from karen mcdougall, that signing up for silence in this way and assisting in hiding a story likthis before an election can weigh heavily after the fact and i certainly hope that other women faced witah tht decision, and we know now there were others after the stormy daniel revelations, you know, weigh that lesson carefully >> woodruff: a lot of detail here. ronan farrow, we thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you, juy. t brings us to the analysis of david corn washington bureau chief for mother jones and resh ponnuru, senior editor at the national review and columnist forbl mberg review. both mark shields and david brooks are away this week and wo thank yoh for being here. so i am going to ask you in a, mome ramesh, about ronan farrow's reporting, but i want to startith our lead tonight and that is this extraordinary

set of documentsehat have com out from the specialounsel robert mueller indicting 13 raindividual russian opeves in a systematic effort to overturn or affect the outcome of the election in 2016. what do you make of it? >> well, i think that one of ths thhat gets ignored is just how much a surprise this was. this did not leak before hand which is impressive since so many things do lak in washington, d.c. it shows you that robert mueller is running a very tight ship ad he knows things that the press doesn't know, he knows things that the people eat's investigating don't know that he knows. that's something that we all have to ke in mind as we follow the twists and turns of uhis story. >> woodruff: do think, david corn, that we are now -- that theres any dou in people's mind that the russians were doing everything they could to affect the outcome? >> i tnk in donald trump's mind and in his die-hard

leampions'. peorgot robert mueller's task is not just to investigate associations beten trump ople and ropings but to find out -- and russians but to find out exacthat happened during the campaign in terms of what the russians did. they had three aspects to it, one we learned about today the social media thing, the other was the hacking and dumping, the e-mails beween the dnc and john potesta and the third is probing election systems. and all these things are crime w n donald trump for the last year and a half says there is nothing to this, he's helping putin actually cover up criminal activity. >> woodruff: well, and he's esaying again as reported, ramesh, no collusion. you know, more evidence, no collusion. and yet, is the white hse paying enough attention to the e cts on the ground about russian interfere the

esnreks. >> well, these indictments mayt ove collusion but they're also not evidence against collusion. they're just about aspect of these russian operations. one theme that we have not seen from presidentrump is any degree of urgency or concern expressed about theseussian efforts. he seems to regard all of the talk of that as an attempt to delegitimize his election and reject all of it as a result. >> woodruff: and that's understandable, isn't it>> ell, no. >> woodruff: for the sake of argument. >> his number one job is tot prote country, that's what he is as commander-in-chief. this week the intelligence chiefs appeared before congress and sad yet again that the russian effort which was to help him sucndceeded in 2016hey expect the russians to do it again in the midterm elehiions. sois a pressing national security threat that donald trump, as ramesh says, doesn't seem to even acknowledge let alone do anything about it.e >> woodruff:'s turn to the other huge story this week, of course, ramesh, and that is the

scol shooting, second worst school shooting in the country since whatpened at sandy hook in 2012. do we come away, do you think, finally with enoauger, determination to try to do something to put an end to theso shootings? i mean, what do you see coming out of this? ere'se problem is that not a consensus on what that "something" should be, and i think to the extent that we end up wh one, it's going to be pretty limited. so senator chris murphy ofco ecticut, a democrat, one of the leading supporters of gun gulation and senator joh john cornyn, the number two senator for the republicans, they've got legislation to threnten background checks. it's not going to make the massacres go awa>>y. oodruff: i'm told by the producer that president trump anp mrs. tre right now

visiting survivors of the shooting in the hospital i parkland, florida. but come back. >> there is a consensus, if you take polling data,n -- and they're not always far reaching gun safety measures proposed whether background checks or limiting high capacity magazines or even ar-15s which seem be the mass killing weapon of choice here -- you get more than 50%, sometimes up to 70, 80% agreement. where there is not consensus -- and people like to say washington is broken -- is the republicans have steadfastly locked arms with the n.r.a. to block almost anything. goes back to when they were t preventi sale of cop-killing bullets in the '90s. 's great john carlin is working with chris murphy on this one thing but there have been a w bipartisan efforts in the past, and the republicans again and again say n and ump has been with them, that's what he campaigned on.te

compjust a few months after the -- >> just a few months after the sandy hook massacre there was an effort in the democratic-controlled senate to ban assault weapons. itnly got 40 votes. that wasn't just the republicans. there is not enou support among democrats for that relationship, even though they pan assault weapons well, there are democts in montana and colorado that won't support the legislation. >> woodruff: when you ask about background checks, a lot of people, for exple, most americans say they favor some common-sense measures to impose gun controls on the use of guns. >> and they also favor restrictions on people with mental health issues. i don't want to stiatize them, but that's something trump came in and eased right away. sout problematic, t the thing i would say is if you turn toru donald or the republican leadership or the n.r.a., what

do you have for us? year after year they hats thound prayers which are kind and nice, but they have no other programmatic policy proposals to deal with.n so if they 't have anything better to off, blocking something is just not the right way to go. >> i do think it's a mistake to assume the only sometng that's worth looking at are regulations on guns. the one thing we've seen is a failure on the part of law enforcement. the govern us quite some time now, if you see something say something. but that doesn't make sense ifgo thrnment doesn't then do something with the information people areadiving. i'm he f.b.i. is looking at this. i think congress needs to also investigate how the f.b.i. ball.d the >> woodruff: pointing to the failure to follow through on the tip that came in last month.to i want to tur another area where there doesn't seem to be any progress, david, an that's immigration reform. we saw votes but no connsus this week. >> well, there was a consensuso that 54 votes, a majority in

the senate, not enough to break e filibuster the republicans would lead. we've seen a year or two back, there was an immigration consensus, and even donald trump agreed to this according to republicans and democts who t with him a couple of weeks ago. very simple, you know, take care of contacta, give trump some money for the wall and border security and me on. but his own, you know, staff and people working with him havert f cut the legs out from under that deal so we're left with a situation where ale reasonompromise can't move forward. >> woodruff: where do you see this? >> a majority of the senate was also able to come to an agreement on getting rid ofy sanctuties, cracking down on them, but of course not enough to overcome a filibuster. so there are areas where there is a consensus. i thnkis white house saw this as a great opportunity to get its entioire revof immigration reform enacted and that's holding up the deal. >> woodruff: but are they willing to let the daca

recipients be deported to stick to their four pillars as theho white puts it? >> i do not believe aesident trump will accept what he would regard oss to avoid that. i think he would like to do it but only if the democrats gie him a set of demands that they don't seem inclined to give him. >> but they did agree to give him some things. >> but not enough. so it does go back to him holding these peple hostage. he created the situation and said we're going to getid of daca unless you do something about it, and now he claims to want t do somhing about it, but he is holding them hostage until he gets more than what i think looks like to be a general, reasonable compromise that gets over 50 votes in the senate. >> the main legislation they were considering, they wanted to have an amnesty that would cover erople who are coming ine after the legislation was passed. they pushed that back to january. there are some elements in here that a going to be hard for republicans to swallow. >> last thing i nt to do is

come back to the conversation i just had wi oth ronan farr the "new yorker" magazine, detailing, david, more information about the president's extra marital affairs before he ran for president, but an elaborate system of payoffs by a friend of the president's in der to, in essence, buy the silence, if this is to be believed. >> yeah. people can judge the president's behavior on moral grounds you know, we have his comments on the record about boasting of sexual assault and whether he was involved in extra marital affairs. rmyt's serious in the sto daniels case is the payoff. it may violate cmpaign finance laws but it puts the president and the candidate in a position of being blackmailed. they're paying off, either in the case of stormy daniels meone directly, or in this case, allegedly, a ver important media organization that now has something on the

president, he at least owes them a big favor. i can't imagine how much a deal this would have been ie congress, thuld have been 60, 70 investigations if this happened under the obama adminidrration. >> wf: how damaging is this, ramesh? >> the we know the details in this story match some ofhe other details that have already been corroborated and other allegations that have been made against trump, so i'm inclined to believe it. but i think a lot of people ialready basically knew s about president trump, so i don't think it's going to change the politics of it, but it is problem. >> woodruff: even the financial payments? that is a w -- >> i don't think anybody is going to see the story and be shocked. i can't believe that donald trump did that. >> there may be some criminal legal issues here that haven't played out yet. we will have to se. >> woodruff: we will leave it there. david corn, ramesh ponnuru, thank you both.ou >> thank >> woodruff: appreciate it.

>> woodruff: and now, a major moment for comic book movie fans, and diversity inho ywood. the highly anticipated film, "black panther," is opening to eager moviegoers all over the country this weekend. yes, it is a mega-blockbuster superhero flick, but as jeffrey brown explains, the interest tound it goes well beyondt. >> brown: 's a film that arrives a full-fledged cultural phenomen. "black panther" takes viewerto a futuristic african nation called wakanda. as with other movies in the

marvel comics universe, the superhero here, a king named t'challa and known as "black panther," holds the fate of the world. but unlike the others, this big-budget action movie has an african superhero, a majority black cast, and is helmed byn african american director: 31-year-old ryan coogler. >> the fact that he is african, that's a thing that makes him unique. so, when you start talking about performance and things that are impoant to him, things that you want to highlight-- things that you want to make sure are coming across clear to the audience. you know, that was kind of like our grounding theme. >> brown: social media has exploded with anticipation.ch dren are in costume, and fans are ready to go. jesse holland is author of "whok is the banther," released in conjunction with the filmme he's a long-omics junkie who writes about race and ethnicity for the a.p. >> this movie putsineople of colohe forefront. the main character is a person

of color. the majority of the ca people of color. so, we're finally getting to see the diversity of america reflected back to us on screen. and, you know, people and children of color can see a superhero film now, where the hero looks just like them. >> brown: the original "black panther," created by stan lee and jack kirby, two white men, dates to 1966, amid the civil rights era. >> amazingly enough, the character of the black panther came before the black panther party. so, there was no real connection between the two, but as years have gone by, the black panther and the other african american comic book chacters, they've become symbols. >> you get to decide what kind of king you are going to be. >> brown: in the story, t'chla, played by chadwick boseman, returns to the technologically-advanced and secret natn of wakanda after

the assassination of his father' challa's quest to protect ain rareeral from falling into the wrong hands ignites a battle for control of the kingdom. >> he's a king, he's a scientist, he's a billionaire, he's someone who can get the job done all by himself, and i think that resonates with comic book rvns. >> we have here a universe that is unapologetically black. >> brown: oscar-winner lupita nyong'o plays nakia, a wakandan spy and warri >> to see usccupy an african country with kingsnd queens and warriors, it's so iniring. >> brown: numerous campaigns to allow students to see the lm have popped up on fundraising sites, and church groups, girls and boys clubs, and many oer organizations are renting out whole theaters. ♪ ♪ the film's soundtrack, too, has generated excitement.

produc by rapper kendrick lamar, "black panther: the album" is set to debut atop the billboard 200 chart andrr tly stands as the second most popular album on itunes. "black panther" may be a milestone in the $13 billion marvel film universe, butt' challa is not the first black character. >> you have wesley snipes in "blade." you have robert townsend in "meteor man." but this movie is really resonating with people because the black panther was the first mainstream black superhero.'s and ome to mean a lot to a lot of people because his story is so strong his story is one of hope, one of power, one of family. >> brown: it's clearng to do well. hi are the stakes? >> well, the great about "black panther" is that before now, hollywood was never quitees

sure that mohat feature a black lead, that were helmed by a black director, that was written by a black writer-- they were never sure how those films would play around the rld. with the success of "black panther," with the success of d rdan peele's "get out," that myth has been shatforever. >> brown: "black panther" is now theaters nationwide. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, we meet a 13-year-old activist and newly published author who has been collecting childrens' books with black girls as main characters. she shares some of her favorite books on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. later tonight on "washington week" with robert costa, t political paralysis in washington over gun control and immigration. plus, why president trump feels vindicated now that sians have been charged with meddlingr

ws the 201ident election. tomorrow on pbs ur weekend, why hiring ex-convicts might be good for busi but before we go tonight, funeral servic began for the ctims of the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida. there were twof them today. let's take some time to remember each of the 17 peoplkilled on wednesday, including staff who helped save students' lives. aaron feis was the beloved football coach who used his body to shield students from the shooter. the football program tweeted, "he died a hero." chris hixon was the athletict directorrjory stoneman douglas. the 49-year-old fatherf two stepped in wherever he was needed, including as a security monitor for the campus. and 35-year-old geography teacher scott beigel was trying to lock a classroom door when he

was killed. his actions saved multiple lives and his students broke down into tears as they spoke of him. >> i've become so thankful that he was there to help everybody who did live in that classroom, because he w in the doorway d the door was still open. and the shooter probably didn't know we were in there because mr. beigel had us laying on the floor. >> woodruff: alyssa alhasoff was an avier player. her team said the 14-year-old was a "loved and well-respectecl member of ou and community." 15-year-old luke hoyer loved basketball and "smiled all the time," his aunt recalled. st"he was very loving and enjoyed life." freshman jaime guttenberg "always lookedut for the underdog and the bullied," her aunt said. she was a talented danr with a great sense of humor. and, during a vigil on thursday, her dad called her "e life of

the party." nicholas dworet had already committed to swim for the university of indianapolis. the team's coach called the 17-year-old an "energetic and very vibrant kid." freshman gina montalto was on the school's winter color guard squad. her mother said she "was a smart, loving, caring, and strong girl" who "brightened any room she entered." helena ramsey was a "smart, kind-hearted, and thoughtfulat person," a re wrote on facebook. she had "a relentless motivation towards her academic studies," he added. on wednesday, meadow pollack's parents tried calling her repeatedly, but the phone justpt inging. pollack was looking forward to her seor prom, and to tending lynn university in the fall.-y a friend said r-old martin duque was one of the nicest iople he knew. his brother wrote tagram,

"words cannot describe my pain. i love brother martin. you'll be missed, bu 14-year-old cara loughran was an excellent student, who loved the beach.ad her aunto tell her daughters their cousin was killed. "we are absotely gutted," she said. peter wang was last seen wearing his r.o.t.c. uniform, holding a door open so others could escape. his cousin told local news outlets that the 15-year-old was "like the big brother everyone wished they had." alaina petty's family said she "loved to serve." the 14-year-old helped people clean up and rebui after hurricane irma struck florida last year. 14-year-old alex schachter played trombone and baritone. his family is starting a scholarship fund in his name "to help other students experience the joys of music." carmen schentrup was named as a national merit scholarship program semifinalist last

september. a classmate tweeted, "we all praised her for her intelligence." and, joaquin oliver, who went b ckname "guac," recently became a u.s. citizen.nd one fremembered the 17-year-old as "just a goofball" and lamented, he'll "literally never get to say'i graduated high school.'" and ouhearts go out to all. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. thank you,nd good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teacs real-life conversations in a new language. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social

entrepreurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problem- skollfoundation.org.nd >> the williamlora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. this program was made captioning sponsored bro newshourctions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbhgb accessorg ch ch >> you're wg pbs. man over radio: calling d dick tracy!

eduardo: tonight on history detectives: tukufu: os what drew me to this pter was the shocking imagery. t it's always goo undo errors of the past. wo man: did washington hold it and look at it? valley forge river, wow! is it the oldest transistor radio in existence? lo elvis costel ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ it's just likect watchin' the ives ♪ funding for tonightis presen of history detectives was provided by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributions to your pbs station