captioning snensored by hour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> the defendants allegedly conducted what thecalled information warfare against the united states. >> woodruff: depicting anel orate conspiracy, the justice department indicts more than a dozen russian operatives 6 r trying to influence the outcome of the 2esidential election. then, in an unusual move, the f.b.i. apologizes for failing to llow 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 hae here to talk about why mass shootings keeening, the washington standoff over immigration, and russia's icinterference in u.s. pols. plus, the new film, "bla t panther," hiaters with

fanfare. wh the success of the firs mainstream black superhero movie means for hollywood and viewers alike. >> we're finly getting to see the diversity 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's pbs 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,n details a highly orchestrated campaign of interference in the 2016on elec deputy attornesegeneral rod tein laid out the particulars this afternoon. william brangham begins our coverage. >> the indictment charges hr13 russian nationals and russian companies for committing federal crimes while seeking to interfere in the united states political system, including the

2016 presidential ection. >> brangham: the deputy attorney genel laid out a detailed indictment from the office of special counsel robert mueller, alleging a complex campaign by russians to interfere in the 2016 election. it was designed, he said, to soe chaos in thecan political system, and specifically, to tarnish hillary clinton an promote donald trump. among the raft of charges: violating u.s. election laws; wire and bank fraud; and visa violations. rosenstein, who is overseeing the special counsel probe, said the effort was run from this building in st. petersburg, russia. it's called the "internet 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'srt efwere. by hiding their true identities, russian activists createdco "social media ts that appeared to be operated by u.s. persons."

they created "thematic giaup pages onl media sites"ac likeook and instagram. they routinely deployed hashtags like "#trump 2016" and "#hillaryforprisonll the indictmentes the group thalindictment cites an inte memo from the group urging its staffers to "use any opportunity to critize hillary and the rest-- except sanders and trump, we like them." last spring, the newr's nick schifrin spoke with a former staffer from this same russian agency. he told schifrin about their simple, blunt-force approa to sowing discord online in american politics. >> every day, you see a lot of comment at night, and they're all the same, yes. and it's exactly the people doing their job. they have their topic. h the a time to do it. they write it, and you see it. >> brangham: the man who allegedly funded this group wa named in the indictment today. he is yevgeny prigozhin, dubbe "putin's chef" for providing catering services to the russian esident. 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 democratic national committee anhillary clinton's campai chairman. today, rosenstein said the ians contacted "unwittin individuals associated with the trump campaign and with other political activists to coordinate their activities." but, he added: there's no allegation in this indictment that any american had any knowledge. and the nature of the scme was, the defendants took extraordinary steps to make it appear that they were ordinary tsamerican political activ >> it's a democrat hoax that was brought up as an excuse foron losing an elec >> brangham: president trump has made no secret of his disdain for the entire russian investigation, which he claims is driven by democratslepset with hision. the president has repeedly attacked the special counsel's office; his own f.b.i. director and attorney gener, and deputy

a.g. rosenstein; as well as the congressional committees probing ling ineged russian me the election. after the indictment dropped today, the president tweeted, "russistarted their anti-u.s. campaign in 2014, long before i announced that i would run for prident. the results of the election were not impacted. ng dthcaume otp gnhimpai n no collusion!" as for the president's labeling the enre russia-election narrative a "hoax," his director of national intelligence, dan coats, appearing on tuesday along with counterparts from the c.i.a., n.s.a., f.b.i. and other agencies, was emphatic aboutss 's past actions, and their future plans. >> there should be no doubt that russia perceives its past efforts as successful, and views the 2018 u.s. midterm elections as a potential target forn russfluence ops. he brangham: there was no word from rosenstein on 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. >> woodruff: russian officials said today that the charges are "absurd." with us now to discuss the ayrrent threat, and what t indictment tells us about the special counsel investigation, is john rlin. he served as assistant attorney general for national surity from 2014 until late 2016. while in office, he ersaw terrorism and cyber-security investigations. he is now a lawyer in private practice. c jolin, welcome back to the program. so we know this is an indictment. it is not a finding ofuilt, but how strong a case is the special counsel making thatns russystematically tried to interfere in the elections? >> these ar extraordinarily detailed allegations in an indictment and under justice guidelines you can't bring an

indiment unless you believe you can convince a jury beyaon reasonable doubt of each of these defendants. they are not in the united states so the idea they will be brought to justice is pretty slim. >> it's unlikely putin's russia will turn them over i the united states makes a request. but dating back to when we indicted liberation army in china, this is a strategy for the justice department to mke when you can incredibly clear with detail so the aerican people and the world can see what the foreign actors tried to do to undmine the united states and others. >> woodruff: john carlin, we have been hearing a lot about this investigation for months and mths. what do we learn here about the depths that they went to to try to change the outcome of the election? >>nd that's why this is so extraordinarily important that people review this document, not just because what it shows about what they did in the past, which

is it ranged from having an 80-person individual wibu a et of over a million dollars a month doing things ranging from organing actual bringing operatives to the united states to organize political rallies to paid advertisements that were paid for peoe sing false u identities termine our election. it not only shows what they did in the 26 election but consistent with what we heard from all of this administration's top intelligence officials earlier this week when thestified before the senate, it also shows th're going to do it again in 2018 unless we urgently takeve action to p it. >> woodruff: and we also heard them say that there's no u.s. person who knowingly was participating in this, and, ofur , the white house and the president are pointing to that and saying the president said no prooitof any collusion h 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 indictment. but let's focus on thisct innt for a day. i would hope that our commander-in-chime and that ers of both parties would look at this and say, it is up unacceptable for 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 take action as the united states and with our allies. number two, we are going to immediately take steps to prevent this from occurring atain, and i hope to hear in the future. >> woodruff: is there anything ls here, john carlin, that tel you whether we are halfway through the rusian interference investigation, all the way through? can you tell from reading this document? >> it's an extraordinarily broad campaign that was conducted to undermine our election,so its range, when you look at the other charges, judy, we'ad

alhad individuals who worked on the campaign 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 facintrial for having hidden the fact he was taking millions of dollars from putin's interests. now you have this vast apparatus that was set up t do things ranging from propaganda to human erators inside the united states to organize fake political campaigns. so i d't 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 law as they're required to donned to protectin us ultimatom this type of foreign interference. >> woodruff: quickly, we heard the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein say there is no t statement het this changed the outcome of the election, but it seems that is still to be determined, isn't it? >> and one thing i don't ihink

u will see unless it involves a change in the ballot, career intel alysts, prosecutors, if it's a propaganda type campaignk with fpolitical rallies and the like, they'll leave that to other experts to make the miss toricljudgment whether to change the outcome to have the national election. what they've dones 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 involves a failure by the f.b.i. before the florida school shooting, and thnctragic conseq. 19-year-old nikolas cruz is accused of murdering 17 people on wednesday. now, the bureau says it got a tip about cruz in januut it never investigated. tement, the f.b.i. said a caller to a tip line warned of "cruz's gun ownership, desire to kill people, erratic behavior, and disturbing social media

posts." this afternoon, the head of the f.b.i.'s miami office spoke in parkland, and voiced his regret. >> the potential of the f.b.i. to miss something is a there. we do our best. we have numerous protocols to prevent 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 20 calls about nikolas cruz in recent years. now, we turn once agaiohn carlin. for four years, he served in leadership roles at the f.b.i. and, to matt zapotosky, justice reporter for the "washington post." and, matt zapotosky, i'm going to start with you. how did this information get to the f.b.i.? e reported it was a tyan. what doethat mean? >> well, somebody who knew cruz called the.b.i.'s general tip line, 1-800-call-f.b.i., and

there's a call center where they take in this information. what is supposed to happen a call taker takes down the information.si if it'ificant to warrant a further look, they pass it to agts in the fild. we understand a call taker passed it to some supervisor in whatmounted to a cl center but it never got to agents in the field, so it was never really investigated at all. >> woodrf: do we know why it didn't get passed on to the righto peple? >> we don't know specifically. we know it wasn't a mechanical failure, like there wasn't an email that got lost inio transl and we're also being told tonight it wasn't a product of overwork. you knot it wascause like they get thousands of calls, this one just fell through the cracks. that seems to canted to m there may have been some bad decision-making process. we know twa assessment here s bad. the f.b.i. said that publicly. but why, specifically, 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 caswer on that. >> woodruff: johlin, as somebody who is at the f.b.i., how do you understand wh happened here? >> this is a tragedy. thrents are grieving, and i know the folks ae f.b.i. that are looking to handle this, i's their worst nightmare to think there may be something they could do to prevent the ross of innocent lives. remember a few instances like this when i was there 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 that maybe if we had done one extra stepnn a investigation we could have prevented a tragedy from occurring. what's important now i think, and it sounds like the director has done this toda is, as soon as he found that there were mistakes that looked like had been made, that he delivered statement on it, and secondly, these take time that there

should be a thorough loosek te not only what happened here but, most importantly, what can we learn about what happened here to make sure it never happens again. >> woouff: we heard matt say it wasn't believed to be a case of too mucwork an overwhelmed by tips. so it's not a matter of not having enough staff, enough budget? >> we just don't know yet until you do a thorough look at what happenedere and why they weren't able to convert this information and to being able to take action. there's a sys ttem foraking in tips or t leads, uscall it a guardian, and a process to where it's a thre eat to lifor a terrorism case that you're required to take certain investigatcle steps before ing out that tip or lead. so i imagine what they're looking at now is was that process followed, ande 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 aork with others, what steps could they have taken to prevent it? u may learn lessons there where there may need to bes chande so they can take effective steps when they follow up in the investigation. >> woodruff: back to you, matt zapotosky, is there any sense from the f.b.i. about specifian s they will make as a result of this? >> i think it's a little too early toay that, but i would say the f.b.i. does seem very humbled here. yosknow, yeterday, 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 even though it would later turn out to be cruz. in this situation they do seem very humbled and apologetic and they're going to try to get to the bottom o wit. as far aat steps in the future they will take to prevent th 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.o >>druff: matt zapotosky of "the washington post." john carlin. no question, tragedy all the way around. thank you both >> thank you. he woodruff: in the day's news, white house chief of staff john kelly ordered an overhaul in clearance process.ity he has taken a barrage ofis criticism overosures that former aide rob porter had access to classified material, despite allegations ofestic abuse and a failure to gain security clearance approval. the "washington post" reports that kelly sent a five-page memo to top aides today, saying that the white hous"must do better." the blame game raged today over the senate's failure to advance an immigration bill. president trump started, on the issue of young people who had been protected from deportation under daca, a program he wants 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 me a break. you killed daca." former republican party presidential nomineeitt romney announced today that he is attempting a political comeback. the 70-year-old romney said that hi will run for a u.s. senate seat in utah, inyear's mid-term elections. he took washington to task in an online video.lc >> utah weomes legal immigrants from around therl 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 theed untates senate because i believe i can help bring utah'su values ah's lessons to washington's. >> woodruff: romney is also a former governor of massachusetts and organizer of the 2002 winter olympics in salt lak. he is running for the seat nowic held by repu senator orrin hatch, who is retiring. there is new fallout from a reavel scandal involving veterans affairs sry

david shulkin. it's widely reported that his chief of staff is retiring. the v.a.'s inspectoreneral accused her of alterg 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 .lict turkey has demanded that the u.s. drop its support for kurdish fightersnside syria. today, secretary of state rex tillerson met with his turkishun rpart in ankara, and insisted that the nato allies share the same goals. >> there is no daylight between 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 wole, independent democratic

syria. druff: turkey has lately attacked kurdish fighters inside northwest syria, arguing that they are linked to kurdish rebels inside turkey. hurricane-ravaged puerto rico is facing a new setback to its recovery.ro the federal coboard for the u.s. territory asked today nr an emergency $300 mill loan. otherwise, it warned the island ll have to cut electrica power after tuesday. some 4,000 customers still haven't gotten theirlectricity back since hurricane maria hit last september. on wall street, stocks have now regained more than half thees lohey suffered earlier this month. the dow jones industrial average rose 19 points to close at 25,219. the nasdaq fell nearly 17 points, but the s&p 500 added a point. and this was 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

medal in her signature event, the women's slalom. she won it four years ago. and, u.s. champion figure skater than chen had a rocky short program. he fell on all his jumps and barely qlified for the free skate. and finally, millions around the world marked the lunar new year today. celebrations across asia featured parades, festivals ands feas.t, all ofo officially welcome the "year of the dog." still to come on the newshour: how parents can talk to their children about mass shootings. a reports ofaffair and a cover-up involving psident trump. davicorn and ramesh ponnuru weigh in on the week's news. and, a blockbuster supeero movie with a nearly all-black cast.

>> woodruff: the florida school shooting, and othersike it, create a difficult challenge for parents and teacherslike-- how to talk to children so they're both prepared and reassured. john yansat down with parents and school administrators in the washington, d.c. area to see how they handle this responsibility. >> yang: for seven-year-old lily gregorian, first grade is all about new experiences. yesterday's first: an active bshooter drill, scheduledher 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 be undergoing this drill today. >> yang: did you have any idea what to say? >> no. >> yang: lily had questions. >> she was asking, "whatha ened to his brain? why did he come into a school and want to start shooting people? what did he want?" >> yang: it was a conversationth likely echoed in homes around the country.ir

in alexandria,nia, it was rebecca tiffany's 14-year-old, daughter, sopho brought it up. >> i could see the distress on her face. she said, "we need to talk about what ian do if this happens in my school." >> yan gun violence had already encroached on sophie's life. her middle school is just blocks from the baseball field where republican lmakers were shot last year. >> with each news incident like this, she's brought it up, but it seems like this time it's much more impactful, because she's headed to high school and it seems very real. >> yang: was it a qution and a conversation you were prepared for? >> no one is ever prepared for this, because it's outside what. we can imagi >> yang: rebecca has tried to shield her 11-year-old son, grant, but has already thought about how she would answer if 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. at we will solve this because we love our children. >> yang: for the gregorians, it s a loss of innocence for both parents and child. >> when you have a child that crofls into your lap and kin holds onto your arm and starts almost whi ert just concern or not being able to really undstand, you know, as a parent, it breaks ur heart. >> we know we've dropped her off. we see her when we pick her up. it's what goes on during the day that's outside of our control, and that why i think a shooting is a little bit scarier to a parent than, you know, any other potential danger. >> yang: at someet prep in washgton, the responsibility of keeping nearly 400 chilo en safe fallsincipal lauren pptalano and donald parker, director of student. wednesday's shooting hit close to home r catalano. she once taught near the school where it occurred and knows

students and teachers there. >> when i 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, and that made me feel horrible because we want this to be the place that they feel safest. >> yang: to reassure students, they've scheduled an active shooter drill for next week. >> kids are concerned because, you know, schools have been a safe haven, and today, we have to come to the reality that there may be a day where we're faced with an acti shooter. >> yang: they tried to make yesterday as normal as possibled ing going ahead with a previously planned valentine's day dance. catalano and parker listened to students' concerns. >> so it is just as much our responsibility to teach them toe , to know math, to apply scientific concepts, as it is to help them process their, feelinocess 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. >> i've coachemy children many mes about befriending the children who are sitting alone and making se that they have someone to talk to. if we all sat our kids down and talked about how those tipping-point monts happen, i think we might be able to prevent at least some of thoseeo times when s's mind goes from just being an angry person to becoming an active shooter. >> yang: and prevent some difficult conversations between parents and their 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 yorkgazine published this morning.ay

it details a "y" model's allegation that she and mr. trump had an affair more than aa ago.ls ithighlights the lengths to which mr. trump and some of his allies go, to keep stories about his affairs out of the press. the author of today's "new yorker" story is ronan farrow, and joins me now from new york. ronan, welcome back to the program. >> good to be here, judy. >> woodruff: thave you. there een 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, judy, and between them commonalities, shared locations, shared tactics. karen mcdougall, the individual described in this story, in her ronicle of this affair talks about being offered money,me ing that appears in numerous stories, that after sex she was offered payment and declined that. she talks about the the ons a lot of these affai

took place and, in fact, some of that sexual activity taking place at shared events between hestory and the account of stormy daniels, for instance. this provides corroboration for a number of the stories but mor import the fact you mentioned earlier which is this is about a system that was in place, jud oy, a wayf silencing women through trusted intermediaries in the tabloidec world, thet payouts, secret meetings enforced by body guards, this was aell-oiled machine. >> woodruff: explain how that works. it stems, in part, between the close friendship the president has with a man naed davhe peckeread of a media organization that owns the aational enquirer," right? >> there is term called "catch and kill" which is where a company like the tabloid media company you just referred to acquires a story wih th

intention to bury it, not to run it. important to note a.m.i. had ample opportunity to comment on the story and said we didn't rn the story because we didn't find it credible. but the acc nounts ewmous a.m.i. former employees contradict that did. they say it was a method used by david packer to the benefit of his iend donald trump. >> woodruff: it's clear they didn't want th accomplishe i assume they were contacting you doing whatever they could t prevu from writing about it? >> you know, i'll refer you to pwhat we reort in the piece, you know, which certainly does suggest that they take a differt view ofvents from the one that we report. >> so why is karen mcdougall th woman you talked about, why is she talking now? >> you know, she remains terrified of legal retaliation. she was very wareful aboat 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 affair. she said don't know exactly what i can and can't say. there is a clause in this contract that could force her into a secre arbitration process which 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 inspired to come forward and toperhaps inspire other speak. >> woodruff: where do you think this goes from here? >> i have been asked often do a story like this have any chance of moving the needle since we seem to be inundated of stories of is this kind, ofda sc 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 of movi nthngeeebudle sage

from karen mcdougall, that signing up for silence in thisis way and asng in hiding a story like this before anan electioneigh heavily after the fact and i certainly hope that other women faced with that 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. nan farrow, we thank you very much for talking with us. >> thank you, judy. t brings us to the analysis of david corn washington bureau chief for mother jones and ramesh ponnuru, senior editor at the national review and columnist for ar m gshmbiebllds anerd david brooks are away this week and we thank you boerh for beinge. so i am going to ask you in a moment, ramesh, about ronan farrow's reporting, but i want to start with our lead tonight and that is this extraordinary set of documents that have come out from the special counsel

robert mueller indicting 13 individual russian operatives 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 the thingshat gets igored is just how much a surprise this was. this did not leak before hand whicis impressive since so many things do leak in washington, d.c. it shows you that rort mueer is running a very tight ship and he knows things that the press doesn't know, he knows things that the people that he's investigating don't know that he knows. that's something that we all have to keep in mind as we follow the twists and turns of this story. >> woodruff: do you think, david corn, that we are now -- that there is any dou in people's mind that the russians were doing everything they could to affect the outcome? >> i think in donald trump's mind and in his die-hard

champions'. peopleorgot robert mueller's task is not just to investigate associations between trump ople and ropingst to find out -- and russians but to find out exactlyhat happened during the campaign in terms of what the russians did. they had three aspects it, one we learned about today the social mediain th the other was the hacking and dumping, the e-mails between the dnc and john potesta and the third isr pobing election systems. and all these things are crimes. so wn 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 saying again as we reported, ramesh, nosi col. you know, more evidence, no collusion. and yet, is the white housen payingugh attention to the facts on the ground about russian interference the esnreks. >> well, these indictments may

not ove collusion but they're also not evidence against collusion. they're just about a different aspect of these russian operations. one theme that we have not seen from president trump is any degree of urgency or concern expressed about these russian 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? >>drell, no. >> wf: for the sake of argument. >> his number one job is to protect e country, that's wha he is as commander-in-chief. this week the intelligencefs chppeared before congress and said yet again that the russian effort which was to help him succeeded in 2016 and they expect the russians to do it again in the midterm elections. so thiis a essing national security threat that donald trump, as ramesh says, doesn't seem to even acknowledge let alone do anything about it. >> woodruff: le's turn to the other huge story this week, of course, ramesh, and that is the school shooting, second worst

school shooting in the country since what happened at sandy hook in 2012. do we come awa do you thiugh an, determination to try to do something to put an end to these school shootings? i mean, what do you see comingi out of t >> the problem is that there's not a consensus on what that "something" should be, and i think to the extent that we end up with one, it's going to be pretty limited. so senator chris murphy of connfticut, a democrat, one the leading supporters of gun regulation and seator john john cornyn, the number two senator for the republicans, they've got legislation to threnten background checks. it's not going to make massacres go away. >> w tdruff: i'm told byhe producer that president trump and mrs. trump arright now visiting survivors of the shooting in the hospital in

parkland, florida. but come back. >> there is a consensus, if you take polling data, on -- 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 to be the mass killing weapon of choice here -- you get more than 50%, sometimes up to 70, 80% where there is not consensus -- and people like to say washington is broken -- is t republicans have steadfastly locked arms with theto n.r.a block almost anything. goes back to when they were preventing theale of cop-killing bullets in the '90s. it's great john carlin is working with chris murphy on this one thing but there have been a fe bipartisan efforts in the past, and the republicans again and again say no and trbep han with them, that's what he campaigned on. completes just a few months

after the -- >> just a few months after the sandy hook massacre there was an effortn the democratic-controlled senate to ban assault weapons. it only got 40 votes. that wasn't just the republicans. there is not enough suprt among democrats for that, relationshen though they pan assault weapons well, there are democrats in montana and colorado that won't support the legislation. >> woodruff: when you ask about background checks, a lot of people, for exame, mos americans say they favor some common-senseeasures t impose gun controls on the use of gunst >> aey also favor restrictions on people with mental health issues. i don't want to stigmatize them, but that's something trump came in and eased right away. south problematic, but the thinl i say is if you turn to donald trump or the republican leadership or the n.r.a., whatfo do you havus? year after year they have thoughts and prayers which are

kind and nic bt they have no other progrmatic poly proposals to deal with. so if they don'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 somethi thas worth looking at are regulations on guns. the one thing we've seen is a t failure onhe part of law enforcement. the government has been telling us quite some time now, if you see something say something. but that doesn't make sense if the gornment doesn't then do something with the information people are giving. i'm glad the f. l ib.sookingo investigate how the f.b.i.h dropped ball. >> woodruff: pointing to the failure to follow through on the tip that came in last month. i want to turn to another area where there doesn't seem to be any progress, david, andat's immigration reform. we saw votes but no consensus this week. >> well, there was a consensus that go 54 votes, a majority in the senate, not enough to break

e filibuster the replicans 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 democrats who e t with him a cou weeks ago. very simple, you know, take care of contacta, give trump some money for the wall and border security and move on. but his own, you know, staff and people working with him have sorttf cut the legs ou from under that deal so we're left with a situation where a reasonable compromise 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 of sanctuary ties, craing down on them, but of course not enough to overcome al fiibuster. so there are areas where there is a consensus. i think tis white house saw this as a great opportunity to get its entire revisioof immigration reform enacted and that's holding up the deal. >> woodruff: b are they willing to let the daca

recipients be deported to stick to their four pillars as the white hoe puts it? >> i do not believe president trump will accept what he would regard as aoss to avoid that. i think he would like to do it but only if the democrats give him a set demands that they don't seem inclined to give him. >> by did agree to give him some things. >> but not enough. so it dos go back to him holding these people hostage. he created th ae situatid said we're going to get rid of daca unless you do something about it, and now he claims to want to do somhing about it, but he is holding them hostage until he gets more than wha 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 amnldesty that wouover people who are coming in here after the legislation was passed. they pushed that back to january. there are some elements in here that are going to be hard for republicans to sllow. >> last thing i want to do is come back to the conversation i just had with ronan farrow of

the "new yorker" magazine, detailing, david, more information about the president's extra marital affairs before he ran forut president,n elaborate system of payoffs by a friend of the president's in order to, in essence, buy the sience, if this is to be believed. >> yeah. people can behavior on moral grounds. you know, we have his comments on the record about boasting ofs sexual asault and whether he was involved in extra marital affairs. what's serious in te stormy daniels case is the payoff. it may violate campaign finance laws but it puts the presidente and the candid a position of being blackmailed. they're paying off, either in the ca of stoy daniels someone directly, or in this case, allegedly, a very important media organization that now has songetn the president, he at least owes them

a big favor. i can't imagine how much a deal this would have been in congress, there would have been 60, 70 investigations if thisha ened under the obama administration. >> woodruff: how damaging is this, ramesh? >> the we know the details in this story match some of the 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 thina lot ofople already basically knew this about president trump, so i don't think it's going to chang the politics of it, but it is a problem. >> woodruff: even thepa financiaments? that is a new -- >> i don't think anybody is going to see the story ande shocked. i can't believe that donaldum did that. >> there may be some criminal legal issues her played out yet. we will have to see. >> woodruff: we will leave it there. david corn, ramesh ponnuru, thank you both. >> thank youuf >> woo appreciate it.

>> woodruff: and now, a major moment for comic book movie fans, and diversity in holl aood. the highicipated film, "black panther," is opening to eager moviegoers all over the country this weend. yes, it is a mega-blockbuster ffsuperhero flick, but as y brown explains, the interest around it goes well beyond that. >> brown: it's a film that arrives as a full-fledged cultural phenomenon. "black panther" takes viewers to a futuristic african nation called wakanda. as with other movies in the mael 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 by an african american director: 31-year-old ryan coogler. >> the fact that he is african,a that's a thingmakes him unique. so, when you start talking about performance and things that are important to him, things thato you wantghlight-- things that you want to make sure are coming across clear to the audience. you know, that was kind of like our groundeme. >> brown: social media has exploded with anticipation. chdren are in costume, and fans are ready to go. jesse holland is author of "who is the black panther," released in conjunction with the film. he's a long-time comics junkie who writes about race and ethnicity for the a.p. >> this movie puts people of color inhe forefront. the main character is a person of color. the majority of the cast a

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 go 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 pantheror came bthe black panther party. so, there was no real connection between the two, but as years ve gone by, the black panther and the other african american comic book characters, they've become symbols. >> you get tdecide what kind of king you are going to be. >> brown: in the story, t'challa, played by chadwick boseman, returns to the technologically-advanced and secret nation of wakanda after the assassination of his father. t'alla's quest to protect

rare min al from falling into the wrong hands ignites a battle for contl 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 coc book fans. >> we have here a marvel universe that is unapologetically black. >> brown: oscar-winner lupita nyong'o plays nakia, a wakandan spy and warrior. >> to see us occupy an african country with kings and queens and warriors, it's so inspiring. >> brown: numerous campaigns to allow students to see the film have popped up on fundraising sites, and church groups, girls and boys clubs, and many other organizations are renting out whole theaters. ♪ ♪ the film's soundtrack, too, has generated excitement. produced by rapper kendrick lamar, "black panther: the

album" is set to debut atop the billboard 200 chart and currently stands as the secondop mostar album on itunes. "black panther" may be a milestone in the $13 billion f marvelm universe, but t'kalla is not the first bl character.we >> you havey snipes in "blade." you have robert townsend in "meteor man." but this movie ingreally resonaith people because the black panther was the first mainream black superhero. and he's ce 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 clearly going to do well. what are the stakes? >> well, the great thi about "black panther" is that before now, hollywood was never quite sure that movieshat feature a black lead, that were helmed by a black director, that was

written by a black writer-- then weer sure how those films would play around the world. with the success of "black panther," with the success of jordan peele's "get out," that myth has been shattered rever. >> brown: "black panther" is now in theaters nationwide. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown. >> woodruff: on the newshour online right now, we meet a-y r-old activist and newly published author who has beenng collechildrens' books with black girls as main characters. ite shares some of her fav books on our website, www.pbs.org/towshour. lateght on "washington week" with robert costa, the political paralysis in washington over gun contron.and immigrat plus, why president trump feels vindicated now that 13 russians have been charged with meddling in the 2016 president election.

tomorrow on pbs newshour weekend, whyiring ex-convicts might be good for business. but before we go tonight, funeral services began for the ctims of the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in florida. there were two of them today. let's take some time tremember each of the 17 people killed 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 athletic director at marjory stoneman douglas. the 49-year-old father of two stepped in wherever he wascl needed, ing as a security monitor for the campus. and 35-year-old geography teacher scott beigel was tryingo ock a classroom door when he was killed.ti his s saved multiple lives

and his students broke down int thars as toke of him. >> i've become skful that bohe was there to help eve who did live in that classroom, because he was in the doorway d the door was still opee and shooter probably didn't know we were in there because mr. beigel had us laying on the floor. >> woodruff: alyssa alhadeff was r sth-yolccer player. was a "loved and well-respected member of our cl and community." 15-year-old luke hoyer loved basketball and "smiled all the time," his aunt recalled. "he was very loving and just enjoyed life." freshman jaime guttenberg "always looked out for the underdog and the bullied," her aunt said. she was a talented dancer with a great sense of humor. and, during a vigil on thursday, her dad called her "the life of the party."

nicholas dworet had already committed to swim for the university of indianapolis.th 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."le ramsey was a "smart, kind-hearted, and thoughtful person," a relate wrote on facebook. she had "a relentless motivatiom towards her ac studies," he added. g wednesday, meadow pollack's parents tried callr repeatedly, but the phone just keptk inging. polls looking forward to her senior prom, and to tending lynn university the fall. a friend said 14-yr-old martin duque was one of the nicest people he knew. his brother wrote on itagram, "words cannot describe my pain. i love broth martin.

you'll be missed, buddy." 14-year-old cara loughran was an excellent student, who loved the beach. her aunt hado tell her daughters their cousin was killed. "we are absolutely gutted," she said. peter wang was last earing his r.o.t.c. uniform, holding a door open so others couldes pe. 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 rebuild afterst ear. 14-year-old alex schachter played trombone and baritone. his mily is starting a scholarship fund in his name "ts help othdents 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 by the ckname "guac," recently became a u.s. citizen. one friendemembered the 17-year-old as "just a goofball" and lamented, hel "literally never get to say, 'i graduated high school.'" and our hearts go out to all. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems--

skollfoundation.org. >> the william and fra 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 supportu of these insons and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access growgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

tonight on "kqed newsroom," the florida school shooting raises fresh questions about how edge k educators keep students safe. berkeley declares itself a sanctuary city for marijuana. and the mayor of richmond on the opportunities channels facing hiscity, from the economy t air pollution. plus, at 96, she's the oldest active national park ranger. she refles on her remarkable life from world war ii to the civil rights struggle. hello, and welcome to "kqed newsroom." we begin with school safety. in the wake of the deadly shooting at a school in florida, president trump pledged to hold a summit on school safety. 17 children were killed and dozens morein