captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc f: >> woodrood evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, students speak up: how the survivors of the florida school shooting are trying to become a mobilizing force. then, president trump lashes out at the russia investigation indictments, but what do the charges in the probe actually reveal? and, we continue our series on modern day redlining-- how differences in home loan approvals are reshaping neighborhoods. >> it is forcing african americans out of their homes. african americans aren't able to move in at the same ra as whites. and you know it's unfair. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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language. s: and with the ongoing support of these instituti and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woouff: from parkland to protest.

last week's school shooting f rida is giving rise to a campaign for action on guns. the pressure ratcheted up again today. new calls for gun safety laws sounded from florida to los angeles to washington d.c., as students protested gun violenceu ide the white house, they read the names of the 17 people killed in last week's mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. >> we're not the ones in office, but we are the ones inhe classrooms >> they say now is not the time. marcrubio, when is it the time? >> woodruff: over the weekend, stents who survived the shooting called for stricter gun laws and criminal background checks. >> if the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy d how it should never have happened and maintain telling us how nothing is going to be done abo it, i'm going

to happily ask him how much money he received fromalhe natiifle association. to every politician who is taking donations from the n.r.a., shame on you. >> shame on you! shame on you! >> i am going to come through for you. >> woodruff: the n.r.a. contributed more than $30- million to support candidate trump's bid. as president, mr. trump has largely opposeany gun restrictions. a white house statement today said the president is "supportive of efforts to improvthe federal background check system," and that he now san bill a bipar on criminal background checks. the n.r.a. also says it backs that bill, introduced after 58 people died in the las vegas shooting massacre last october. it aims to ensure federal agencies enter information into databases.

iothe president made no meof gun laws friday night, as he visited with first responders in herkland. instead, on saturd cited the f.b.i.'s failure to p investigate a january tioutac the sed gunman, 19-year-old nikolas cruz. he wrote on twitter that the was "spending too much time trying to prove russian collusion with the trump campaign." meanwhile, cruz was backy n court todafor a preliminary hearing. he's been charged with 17 count of premeditarder. this morning, jameand kimberly snead, who took him into their home last november after his mother died, said they had no inkling of what he planned. still can't process it, what he's done because this wasn't the person that we knew. not at all. >> woodruf the sneads say cruz kept the a-r-15 he allegedly used, locked in a gun safe in the house.

but they say, unbeknownst to them, he had his own key. for more on the outcry that has grown out of last week's violence, we turn to two students from the florida high school where the attack occurred, both of whom are now active in the calls for change. suzanna barna is a 17-year-old senior, who writesor the hool paper. lewis mizen is also 17 and a. seni he took shelter in a closettt , ring thek. suzanna and lewank you both for talking with us. suzanna, i'm going to turn to you first. how are you doing is? how are you friends doing in the aftermath of this? >> um, the whole community is nity right're com no it's so unfortunate what we're .oing through right now it's a work in progress, but we ll get through it and hopefully make a change in theo end of allf this. >> woodruff: lewis, we should

point out you're a legal edent resident of the un states. you have been here for four years. how are you doing? how are your friends doing? >> i'm okay.n, agt's completely different from neg i could have experienced in england, but the community has been phenomenal, not just the commuty here, the community in the world as a whole, especially my friends back in england have been sending all their love and support, and it's helpful because, you know, we really do appreciate the support because we're going through a lot right ww. >> woodruff: susant would you like to see happen? u personally, um, national change, i would love.r but for now, ommunity is really focused on getting change in our own state in llahassee. we would like to see -- i mean, specifically what we would like to see is just some sort of policy change. so an example would be to cange the age to purchase a gun to 21

for all typ of guns opposed to just handguns, which it is now. so 21 would be the age for that. and the restricted background checks and just making sure they're thorough enough because the shooter for the shooter who came to our school, he had a history of being expelled fromsc ol, and he had multiple problems and, like, violent outbreaks during his time as a studen which i think needs to be looked into especially when someone is so young where they're 18 and, like, early 20s. because they're still getting out of sch that's an important record to have and to look at for a background check. itays a lot abut their behavior. >> woodruff: lewis, what about you? what would you add to that? what do you want to have happen? >> well, i think, obviously,

it's come out in se newne of president trump's aides said he would be for a bipartisannen agreement on asking backgrochd ks and i think that's phenomenal, i think it's a great step in the rit direction. obviously, gun culture is part of american culture, and that't okay, there is a line between owning a gun to defend yourself and giving mentally tstable people access he same sort of weapons that we send our soldiers to fight foreign wars with. >> woodruff: in other words, that weapon that the gunmeused at your school, suzanna, our understanding of what president trump is calling for is making it a little bidet har to get a gun, making sure that if someone has a criminalh history,t that history goes into a federalatabase i hear you saying that's a step in the right direction, but you want more than that. t >> ut is a step in the right direction.

i mean, we do want -- we do wat more than that, but, i mean aso of we're looking for change. we'll take -- um, we'llke what we can get almost at this point. we really just want to see something happen and, from there, we plan to do more and a mo keep this political activism going for the students and by the students to keep us involved. >> woodruff: lewis, do you think thetudents are committed to stick with this? is this something is that going to last a long time, do you think? >> i think that this is our home, this is our high school, and, obviouslyfor everyone around the world who sees us on the news, they get to go homet theyo go to bed at the end of the day and wake up and move on with their lice and forget about it. we're goingack to schl in a week or so and we have to walk the hallways where it's going to happen and it's going to stay in our minds for the rest of our i think i'm so lucky to have

classmates who are willing to ep up and kind of demand change because, they're right, we do have a right to be able to o school and not fear for our lives, and teachers have a right to go to work and not have to worry that, in their job requirements, they're going to have to stand in front of kids and take bullets for them. there is something to be said for chang we need to make change. >> woodruff: suzanna, some people have said what we ned, what this country needs is for there to be pople who are armed at every school. what do you think about that? >> um,na pery, that is not my political belief. i think that -- i think that a good guy with a gun wouldn't be able to stop ad guy with a gun just because of the -- well, just from m experience in the situation we were in, i think that we do hve armed sheriff on our campus at all times, and but the problem with that is that one good guy cannot stop

meone with a higher -- with a better gun and, like, with -- just with a motive to kill because it would just create more panic within the hallways tha the students were running for their lives, they don't know if the bullets are coming from a good guy or a bad guy. i man, i do't personally agree with it, but, like, right now, i'm really focused on just getting sun a gift in general and, like, how he was able to get a gun, the shooter.uf >> woo have you ever thought about that, lewis? >> i -- i come from a country where the most dangerous thing that can happen at a school isna cu set something on fire. that's the worst case scenario, really, for an english school, and it's on a complete different level here. and if we're thinking aboutse ing elementary school kids into a place withd fences men

armed with machine guns, it's not going to feel like a place where you can get educated, it's going to feel like a prison, and that's not very, you know, conducive to an educational vironment. and i understand -- and people do have a point when they say, you onnow, okay, guy with an assault rifle can take down another guy with an assault rifle, buca kids get caught in that crossfire. >> woodruff: well, i know everyone watching is just heart broken that the two of you and your classmates have to even think about some ofthese things. but it is what we are dealing with right now as a country, and i justanant to thboth of you so much for talking with us. susasuzanna rda and lewis mizen, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, president trump chargedag n that president obama should have done more to stop russia's election meddling in 2016.

it was his latest tweet since federaindictments on friday that named 13 russians. we'll look at the fallout from those charges made by the special counsel, robert mueller, and mr. trump's response, after the news summary. islamic state attackers in iraq have ambushed and killed 27 shiite-led militiamen. it happened in a town southwest of kirkuk, while the militiamen were conducting nighttime raids. families mourned the victims as their bodies arrived at a military airfield in baghdad. iraqi officials had deared victory over isis just two months ago. turkey and syria may be headed toward a confrontation. syrian state tv reported today that pro-government forces will go to the aid of kurdish fighters near the turkish border. turkey says the kurdare terrorists, and it's attacking them around afrin. in jordan's capital, amman, the vising turkish foreign minister warned that syria is risking an armed clash.

>> ( translated ): i have also seen the reports this morning. the aim of our afrin operation, is obvious: to eliminate the terrorists that carry out attacks against us and pose a threat against turkey. however, if the syrian regime comes in to defend them, then nothing and nobody can stop us or the turkish soldiers. >> woodruff: by nightfall, no syrian-backed troops had entered afrin. turkey has also demanded that the united states stop supporting the syrian kurdish fighters.at the parole board in louisiana has denied parole an inmate whose case led to a landmark court decision. henry montgomery was just 17 years old when he killed a sheriff's deputy. he's now 71. in 2016, the u.s. supreme court ruled that sentencing juvenile murder defendants to life without parole is unconstitutional. and, at the winter olympics in south korea, the day highlights included a win for

american women. the u.s. women's hockey team beat finland and will play canada for the gold medal later this week. and officials confirmed a russian curler faile test.ing russia is trying to recover froi ings that it ran a systematic doping scheme for years. still to come on the newshour: what the indictment of 13 russians means for the broader investigation. the struggle to get home loans in gentrifying neighborhoods. the u.s. aid cut pthat could huestinians, and much more. >> woodruff: now, to the continued fallout over the sprawling indiment of 13 russian nationals for intervening in the016 presidential election. in a moment, william brangha will take an in-depth look at the charges, but first white house correspondent

yamiche alcindor has the backstory, beginning with the president's reaction. >> reporter: president trump did not speak publicly about the bombshell indictment, duayng his weeken from washington. his venting, insteh , came througme 20-odd tweets since saturday. more than half were related to the indictment, or the russia investigation in geral. in several tweets, including one today, mr. trump blamed former president obama for not doing enough about russia's meddling. mr. trump also claimed he "never said rsia did not meddle in the election." but last july, in an interview with reuters, mr. trump would not say if he believed russia actually meddled in the 2016 election. . trump said then that h raised the issue with putin twice, and that putin denied any meddling. mr. trump then told reuters, "so something happened, and we have to find out what it is." special counsel robert mueller's indictment, against ternet

research agency, other russian asciates and companies, alleges that russian entities did havea strategic goal to sow discord in the u.s. political system, including the 2016 u.s. presidential election," and acted toward that goal. on saturday, the president's e tional security adviser, h.r. mcmaster, left litubt about where he stood. >> and ayou can see with the f.b.i. indictment, the evidencen is now reallntrovertible and available in the public domain. ac>> reporter: mr. trump ad that as well over the weekend. et"general mcmaster," he t, "forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were not impacted or changed by the russians." the indictmentoes claim that the russian defendants aimed to hurt some of the 2016 presidential candidates, like democrat hillary clinton, and republican senators ted cruz and marco rubio, and to support

democratic candidate,ell as one independent senator bernie sanders.sa ers, over the weekend, said that lined up with some of what he knew from 2016. >> and it turns out that one ofd our social guys in san diego actually went to tgn clinton campn september and said, something weird is going on. oprnie's not in the campaign, hundreds of these are now coming on to his facebook site. so i think we already knew that it was an effort to undermine american democracy and to really say horrible things about secretary clinton. >> reporter: the indictment alleges that, as parof the russian operation, some of the defendants, "traveled to the united states under falsse pretfor the purpose of collecting intelligence to inform defendants' operations." that's in direct conflict to presidt trump's remarks in west virginia this past august.

>> have you seen any russians in west virginia or ohio or pennsylvania? are there any russians here tonight? any russians? >> reporter: and when depu attorney general rod rosenstein announced the indictment last week, he went into detail about the rallies that the russian defendants allegedly helped arrange, using social dia. >> the russians also recruited and paid real americans to engage in political activities, omote political campaigns, and stage political rallies. the defendants and their co-pi cotors pretended to be grassroots activists. according to the indictment, thc ams did not know that they were communicating with russians. after the election, the defendants allegedly staged rallies to support t president-elect while simultaneously staging rallies to protest his election. >> reporter: the indictment says that rallies, allegedly boosted by the russian defendants, b

happenore and after the election: in florida, new york, north carolina, and washington, d.c. at a senate hearing last week, the administration's intelligence chiefs fielded questions about whether president trump specifically asked them to take actions toss curb future n election operations. >> has the president directed you and your agency to take specific actions to confront and blunt russian influence activities that are ongoing? >> not-- not as spifically directed by the president, no. >> for us, i can't say that i've been explicitly directed to, "blunt" or actively stop. on the other hand, it's very clear-- generate knowledge and insight, help us understand this so we can generate better policy. that clearly-- that direction has been very explicit, in fairness. >> reporter: the intelligence the panel they had no reason to believe russia's efforts would subside mr. trump claims last week's indictment proves his campaignd t collude with russia.

but mueller's investigation inti that plity continues. for the pbs newshour, i'mor yamiche alci >> brangham: this indictment of over a dozen russians for committing "information warfare" on the united states is, without a doubt, a major development in the special counsel's investigation into russian meddling in our last election. matthew olsen ran the al counter terrorism center during the obama administration, andfe was a long-timral prosecutor who worked at one point with robert mueller. so give me your initial spressions of this indictment. >> i think the moriking thing about the indictment when you read it is the extraordinary detail it includes about this information warfare campaign the russians carried out. this is a speaking indictment. prosecutors could just lay out the bare elements of the crime, but in this cae the special counsel went to great pains to establish each of the factsh necessary tow this systematic effort to conspire against the united states, an it's important to bear in mind

that, for every overt ac in this indictment, that means the special counsel believes he has provable evidence, he has facts he thinks he can demonstrate in court to back up these facts as your opening showed of infiltration of the united states by russian operatives to do all marion -- manner of things including set up phony rallies and establish fakeo personas americans. >> brangham: we're not anytime soon going to see an of these russians put on a plen and extradited to the u.s. so is this laying out in specific detail that's the purpose in and of it wasself? >> i think it sends that message. like you say, it's unlikely these individuals will be in the united states in a courtroom soon, but this is a foundational indictment. it establishes the bedrock foundation of this conspiracych charge on whhe special counsel can now build a broader case, and i think there's every reason to expect, given the extraordinary detail in this indictment as well as the fact seat there are a number of

cooperating witnwho pled guilty now and are assisting the special counsel, including, for example, mike flynn, to expect that there will bed aditional charges on top of this hiundational charging document. >> brangham: in s indictment, there's no specific mention that these operators, these actors were being told to do what they did by the kremlin. that is the assumption that everyone makes do you believe beyond a shadow of a doubt this is a putiner ion? >> i believe what the intelligence community said about this from the early days of it first being exposed by our intelligence leaders and officials and that is that this type ttype of operation would nt occur witxplicit direction of the kremlin includidi ction of putin himself. that's consistent with what we've seen. >> brangham: you say thi -- does this oive you a greater sen

where the probe is going irrward? >> this is a cony charge that charged the russian side of this. i think that in my vy w is potentia strategic decision for special counsel to make this a very apolitical charging development because it's focused on the russians, but if you look at the documents itself, it talks about the grand jury charged individuals known and unknown whore cons that there are others who are known and unknown to the grand juryof who are parhis. so, again, there are other charges. for exame, the hacking to have the democratic national committee, we know that's a crime. that's not charged here. obstruction of justice is within the purview of this investigation.rs this is the fmajor salvo in what is likely to be additional charges in oer crimes and other individuals charged. >> brangham: all of te intel chiefs say russia meddled and will do it again. the white house gave us a sident trumpying pr

does take this seriously and will do everything he can to defend the next election. they pointed out they held a hearing last week with state and local election officials to talk abou meddling. do you think, looking at the landscape now, we are doing enough to defend the next election from this kind of attack? >> you know, there have been some signs of additional efforts being done, but i think the answer to your question is definitively no. we lack from the very top, from the commander-in-chie a definitive statement saying this was the russians and that he is not going to blame others, for examee president obama, but is going to blame the people tsponsible and that ishe russians including the russian government. there's lots more the e esident and vernment can do to make russia pay a price including sanctions and including other activities that the government -- our government can undertak at of this point, the president really hasn't stepped up to his constituonal obligation to defend our democracy. he's actually failed to do that, and i think that's what we will be looking for in the future

fromehe prsident. >> brangham: matthew olsen, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: tonight we continu- a rt series investigating why blacks and latinos seem to have a harder time getting home- related loans. since banks constricted credit avmediately after the 2008 housing bust, theybeen slowly increasing the amount they're lending. but this economic prosperity has not reached everyone. from "reveal" at the center for inveigative reporting, aaron glantz returns to philadelphia. >> reporter: point breeze isrg unng a transformation. named by zillow as tor hottest neigod in philadelphia in mu17, it is one of the only majority black cties where banks are doing a lot of lending. banks are even making l loans on generous terms to people here, thanks to the 1977

community reinvestment act, a landmarkaw designed to get banks to extend all types of loans to low-income borrowers and in low-income neighborhoods. but some long-time residents here say they're being left behind. >> it's not balanced. it should be equal. you know what i'm saying? and just for me this is discrimination. it's not right. >> reporter: adrienne stokes has owned her point breeze home for decades. she lives here with her pit bull, bootz. there is a lot of new investment in the area and property values have skyrocketed. but normal wear and tear has taken a toll on her house. f- see how this window is track? they're off track. >> reporter: so she went to a local bank, firstrust, the only one with a brah in the neighborhood. >> i went there to get a home equity loan because i want to fix up my home. >> reporter: she was looking for $0,000 and, because of rising property values, h0,000 of equity in her house. she was current on her mortgage, and she has a steady income.

>>ever, you know, did no refinance of the home. i just wanted a loan to fix up my house a i couldn't believe they denied me. >> reporter: she was told her credit score wasn't goodt nough. withouthe loan, she's afraid the condition of her house will. only get wor >> look. all these wires drive me crazy. doit's like, oh my god, i t know what's going on. i'm just scared. >> reporter: under the community reinvestment act, banko are requiredke loans to qualified buyers in low-income neighborhoods, like point breeze, providedhe bank has a branch that takes deposits anywhere in that city. but banks don't have to give them to the people who alrdy live there. the 40-year-old law didn't anticipate that historically black neighborhoods would be sought out by young, white home buyers. while its hard for longtime residents, who are overwhelmingly african american, to get loans, it's much easier for white newcomers like beth warshaw.

>> i was definitely aware that i was a white person moving into this neighborhood that is historically not white and, what is that going to loo? >> reporter: warshaw realized that she had some financial challenges.ng since moviack to philadelphia, she'd been unemployed for nine months and ly just found a job. so she couldn't show a stable work history. >> i needed someone whoim understood theations of my bank account. even the amount that i had is ill, like, a very small amount when it comes to buying a house in this town or in any town. >> reporter: banks can passth r community reinvestment act test by lending to anyone in a low-income neighborhood, regardless of ra. here in point breeze, federalho lending datathat financial 12stitutions granted 806 loans to whites between nd 2016 and rejected them 152 times. on the other hand, african amerans got 275 loans and we rejected 471 times. >> it's a bit disheartening to hear that the very people who were probably the ones that were

excluded or redlined, are the ones that are not benefiting from the banks corrective actions. >> reporter: angela mcivereads the fair housing association of southeastern pennsylvania. she says the way these banks meet their community lending obligations feeds gentrification and leads to displacement. >> it is forcing african t of their homes. african americans aren't able to move in at the same rate as whes. and you know it's unfair. r orter: and that's not the only gap in the law. here in philadelph s, an increasire of the home loan market is controlled by mortgage brokers who are not t gulated by the community reinvestment actl. warshaw got her loan from one: trident mortgage. >> a trident mortgage consultant. >> reporter: people buy homes in philadelphia than anye else. they made nearly a thousand conventional home purchase loan2 6 and only 28 of them were to african-americans.s

>> it ma angry. somebody is not asking themselves the right questions, including me. i was not king those right questions either. >> reporter: and rather than getting their business through a local bank branch, they get most of their clients through referrals, which can lead to a lack of diversity and ultimately, racial imbalances. so you're white, your real estate agent was? >> white. >> and your broker at trident? >> definitely whit >> so everyone in the whole chain? >> yep. >> reporter: here in philadelphia, there's been a dramatic growth of lending from unregulated mortgage companies, and an overwhelming majority of those loans are gog to white home buyers in a city that is 40% black. >> it struck me how white everything was.t i doink i realized i had any other alternatives. >> reporter: we asked trident,is whicart of berkshire hathaway, why a lender with offices all around the city icgrants so few loans to a americans. but they declined an interview.n

the coy reinvestment act applies to only banks with branches, so mortgage companies like trident donre have the same irements to lend in low income communities. tom curry was in charge of enforcing that act for five years under president obama as comptroller of the currency. >> i think aer 40 years, it's shown its age. a lot has changed in the banking industry. >> reporter: this month, the newly-appointed comptroller, joseph otting, said he would be seeking formal input to update the law. we requested an interview with otting. he declined to comment but said in a statement hinwas interested odernizing the 40-year-old act so that it would encourage" munks to invest in and meet the needs of their cties." otting is no stranger to the banking industry. from 2010 to 2015, he served as c.e.o. of one west bank. when he was in charge, government lending records show only 1% of home purchase loans went to african americans and 3% to latinos.

this month, the comptroller's t office met wi american bankers association at the treasury department to get their recommendations on how the act should be changed. in a report the association submitted in december, theymp ined of "overly restrictive concepts of community and economic development" under c.r.a. and said t rules should be loosened. all that lobbying is likely do a little to helpienne stokes in point breeze. while you can see construction on just about every block, very little lending has been going to longtime residents of the ighborhood.oo the home two d down, where a black family lived for three decades, has been demo ashed and is nole in the ground, sold to a local developer who plans to build a three-story house with a roof deck and a cellar. if the trends of recent years hold, this house will likely go to a white newcomer. >> but for me, i'm not going anywhere, i'll be right here. maybe they might change theirnd mind might get this loan. and that would be a blessing. >> reporter: skes says, like r neighbor's, her house gets offers from developers, but she won't sell the home she's fought so hard to keep.

for the pbs newshour, i'm aaron glantz in philadelphia. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshr: the chances congress could take up gun control legislation. and "tell them we are rising"-- a documentary about the influence of historically black colleges. but first, to the middle east. for decades, a united nations agency has helped palestinian refugees with various forms of assistance, and has relied on international aid to run its programs. john yang recently sat down with one of the agency's top officials, as the trump administration seeks to cut its funding. >> yang: the united states is the largest donor to the united nations relief and works agency i don't know by it's initis

unrwa. the trump administration announced it was wthholding more than half a scheduled payment to the actsy saying it want unspecified performance. joining us is scott anderson, director of relief and works agency. before he was a company commander in afghanisn. scott, thanks for being with us. what's going to be the effect of withhoarding this money from una's operations? >> at risk of unwra being unfunded. we have millions of patiesi in our healthcare centers and provide food assistance to more than a million refrugees in the ion. so all of that is at risk and i think the part that's very important with our educationm prog addition to math and

science and the normal type things, we teach human rights, conflict resolution and tolerance and also have a very strong genderponent to try to bring gender parity and gender equity to thegion. >> yang: the administration says it wants reforms. it hasn't said publicly what the reforms are. ha they told unrwa what they do want? >> yoantd what they do want. we are constantly reforming what we do. we have reformed our education program. we have reformed our health program. ae've moved from food to cash in the west bnk. this is just indicative of the very srious obligation we feel we have to be the west that we can be. >> yang: in january the president said that -- he said we pay the palestinians hundreds of millions of dollars a year and get no appreciation or respect. is there in i sense or suspicion that there's some st of -- this is punitive, that this is somehow a payback from thepr ident of the administration?

>> i mean, i can't speak to what the motivations were. all i can say is that if we get more funding from the u.s. this year it would be a reduction of 83% of what they ga us in 2017, and i would like to add we're very grateful to the u.s. pey have been a strong partner frsident trump all the way back to president truman, as we primarily in the west ban which is where i am. >> yang: israel has had a contentious relationship with unrwa. they have praised the president's move. they've long said unrwa contributes to the palestini mill the answery that they let militants use the facilities and the unrwa staff is often itants.etic to the mil >> we teach conflict resolution and tolerance which is oppositei fromitancy.

we do not support violence iny orm, that is completely opposed to the values of the united nations. i work clsely with the israelii security and defense forces and army on a daily basis and there is a mutual respect and appreciation for the services we provide on the ground and they do understand how important it is that unrwa is there and we contribute to stability, in the national interest of israel d the united states and all the states of the u.n.e >> yang: tsay unrwa cooperates with hamas. >> when hamas came to power in 2008, the u.s. had a strict no contact policy. i was in gaza from 2008 to 2015 and we adhered to the no-contact policy, but it did allow for existing technical rel cionships tinue. if there was a mumps outbreak in a camp, you can't treat that in a vacuum. you have to work with the ministry of health to contain it so it doesn't become a public health phenomenon that impacts

people on a broader scale. so we stro ictly adherethe no contact policy but there are times you cann't fuction in the public good if you don't have some sort of inte >> yang: your career path, how does a farm boy from iowa, a careerupilitary officer en at a u.n. relief agency in gaza on the west ban >> i have to say it was purely accident. after i refer to the army i went to saudi arabia and worked for the u.s. government on a foreign military sales psaogram. for a job in gaza with the u.n. and applied because i thought it looked interesting.u when y get to israel, gaza, the west bank, it's a veryce compelling po work, the history that's there but also the people. the palestinians are wonderful people. i've enjoyed very much the time i've had there and been very ateful for that opportunity. >> yang: scott anderson of the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees.ve thank yo much. >> thank you very much, john.

pleasure to be >> woodruff: turning back now to the ongoing russia investigation, the school shooting in florida and oresident trump's response to both, it's timepolitics monday" with tamara keith of npr and shawna thomas, wthe washington, d.c. bureau chief for vice news. we welcome both of you to the program, "politics monday." so, tam,he president hasw had several days to, i guess you would say, soak in what happened at parkland, the high school in parkland last week. how do you size up hisn? react there have been tweets, he did visit paranover the weekend. what do you make of it? >> there hen't been that many tweets, actually, and one of them tied the f.b.i.'s error in the shooting to the russia investigatioo most of hisus this weekend has been on russia.

as for the gun issue, there is th interesting developme where, with the past two mass shootings that have happened during the trusi prency, the white house has said the president wants to be part of the conve well, this week they are actually trying to drive a conversation, and that's a little different. typically, they've sort of hung back and waited for the conversation to fade away. but this week, they are bringing some students to th as well as state and local leaders, trying to do that thing that presidents can do, which is convene and guide a conversation. who knows if thatsill reult in anything different, but it is slightly different on the ront end thme of the other past mass shootings during the trump >>ministration. oodruff: yeah, shawna, we're trying to look at it and fferently.ey act di >> two things. one, president trump has spoken with senator joh john cornyn of texas about a backckground che

bill he and chris murphy had written. the fact they conrmed it, p it out as a press release was one step toward an actual thing that exists on paper right now. i think the other thing that can'be denieds the power of those students in that it's really hard not to say something or at least put out a prele e or do the student thing you were talking about, when you are faced with the kids on the sunday shows yesterday, playing on a repeat on cable, they clearly know they are losing a little bit of at p.r. batle here and he needs to get on top of it to a certain extent. >> woodruff: on the other hand, tam, they are still dealing with the same retionship they have wih the gun lobby, with the n.r.a. so the same -- it seems to me it's the same landscape out ere of political support, or is it changing? >> i don't think that the landscape has necessarily changed, there's a lot of wiggle room in the language that sarah sanders used in her statement about how the president feels

about poibly considering this background check legislation.ha president trumbeen tweeting all weekend. he hasn't tweeted andormant of e legislation nor spoken publicly about it. he has a spokesperson out there but he hasn't put himself out there. the other thing i would say, rlier, this leislation came about as a result of the last major shooting, the texas church shooting. and the the n.r.a. at least on some level backed the legislation. it doesn't expand background checks. this is a far cry from what advocates, gun control or gun safety ad advocates are arguing for. >> woodruff: the cornyn-murphy legislation is about making sure that information goes into that database, right? >> it is about that and making sure the data bails are talking to each other properly and giving money to thtes to do

that. maybe this is a small thing people could get done. there are so many p background check systems and so few people in the various agencies to actually do the work that needo to b here that if you don't see any movement on at least money or trying to confirm certain things, then it is going bi be a littl toothless. the other problem being that the house legislation, that version of it had a concealed carry provision within it which the n.r.a. did like, and even senator cornyn said that neetods e separated from the background stuff if it is evr ing to get through the students. >> woodruff: meanwhile, we heard the students a few minutes ago beng very passionate about >>is but how long will that last. eporter: i don't know. i do want to turn to russia. tam, that is what you said the president did tweet a lot about over the weekend. he's still pretty unhappy with what came out from the special day.sel fri

>> it sure seems that way. he has been tweeting and those are the public statements we have from him this weekend, largely trying to separate himself, trying to really say,s you know, i great candidate, you know, basically the president is doi what he's been doing all along as relates to thein russistigation which is trying to say this doesn't threaten theim legy of my presidency, here look at all the other wawys ho. he didn't go after russia, and he also didn't offer any prescriptions for how he a the president of the united states will lead the nation in deali with what as laid out in the indictment is a very serious problem. >> he kind of went after his own national security advisor a little bet on twittdr. >> wf: he sure did. i think one of the things is the indictment doesn't ind him, and it doesn't indict the trump campaign and the sort of overreaction on twitter makes you wonder a little bit why are you overreacting so much.

woodruff: and, as you say, because, tam, if you look at it, i mean, thsians started in 2014, they were clearly trying to hurt hillary clinton's chances. donald trump points out, well, i -- you know, they're not w saying that s the main beneficiary of this because this happened long before was a candidate. >> it started long before he was a candidate. ultimately the indictmt makes ear that they did favor both donald trump and bernie sande and were trying to disadvantage hector as part of that campaign. >>droof: yeah. well, it is -- we heard the conversation earlier in the show, shaw shawna, people look t this indictment,et's dadly serious. you have to believe there's more coming out, and yet the white house reaction is no. >> no, b one of ththings -- the white house doesn't need to push back, necessarily, in the hey did. they have an opportunity here to shift the conversation to ou election process in 2018, to

shift the conversation to what are the states doing, how is tho federarnment going to act with what the states are doing to protect the election sysfote, ansome reason they aren't doing that. >> woodruff: and not going after russia,s both of are pointing out. shawna thomas, tamera keith, thank you both. "politics >> you're welcome. thanks. >> woodruff: tonight at 9:00 p.m. right here on most pbs stations, "independent lens" tells the story of this country's historically black colleges. jeffrey brown is here with a preview. >> brown: "tell then we are rising" is the story of the nation's historically black colleges and universities commonly known as h.b.c.u.s. the film charged thedir rise an pivotal role as generationing of professional and middle class

african-americans and looks at thats to their continued prominence and even in some stence.xi stanley nelson is the film's director. welcome. >> thank you so much. >> brown: why take is on? i godfathe -- i gather it's at t partly personal. >> my parents went to hbcus. there's no way they would have gone to college if it wasn't for hbcus.ed hbcus chahe trajectory of their lives, my life and will change my kids lives down trough the generations. so it's importa me. >> brown: in the film it says the question for african-americans has always been what is the purpose of education, who controls it, what is the relationshipucation to the broader aspirations of our people. you are presenting in the film these colleges as te answers to that. >> yeah, and i think one of the things that the film does is kind of ask thaestion and then answer it.

you see, as hbcus have gone through their hitory, how that's changed, who controls out edn has changed and what it's for hasng cha. so many times at hbcus it's been the students who have changed what education is for. >> brown: a short clip that shows some of the impact it had. >> if a teacher saw you kind of slipping or faltering and there was a, "what's going on?" or "what's the matter?" or "can i he ap"? there w watching over you to see you did the best you could. >> they were educating future doors, lawyers teachers, nurses, judges, and they were responsible for lifting african-americans out of poverty, and they started to create thedd black class as we know it. >> for a black child, every

teacher that you knew had gone to a ack college. every lawyer that you knew had gone to a black college. every medical doctor that treated you had gone to a black college. >> black colleges were redefining what it meant to be black in america. you weret doing something wit your hands. you were pursuing a career where education and intellect mattered. >> brown: that part goes to a period where there were really almost no other choices, right? >> right. >> brown: but one of the othaser cts you bring out are these colleges as incubators of social change, right, the places whered s and movements began. >> yeah, but i think that's one of the important functions hbcus have served so many times. we talk about the sit-in movement that started in north carolina ant, toget to brown versus board of ed and integration, that started in

howard, freedom rides, martin luther king came out of an hbcu. so they have been a safe, intellectual space for african-americans, because this is a place where young black pele can sit arod and talk about the future and where we're ioing. >> brown: what wase like on these campuses that differedh from universities? what made them? >> i think one of the things that made and still makes hbcus different is they are a nurturing environment. you know, for myn father, he and his brother were the first people in his family to graduate high school, and my father went to howard university just because he lived in d.c. and it was there, and he w went to poured. poured -- he went to howard. somebody comes up and says, what are you doing? you're fooling around, you can do this. stop goofing around. hi father went on to graduate howard, went to howard dental school, became a successful dentist and that's one of te

reasons i'm sitting here today. but as we saw in the clip, it's the nurturing that's so emportant that hbcus hav provided and still provide today. t students might not have gotten elsewhere. >> i think that is a very different kind of attitude. a lot of times you get at majority white institutions which is, like, you got here, so you belonhere,ere's the work, now do it. hbcus, it's little different. it's, like, we are here to help you and to help you do this work bedouse we know you ca it because we might have been in the same position that you are. >> brown: you get at the situation today with many black colleges struggling. there's still a debate to what extent they are neede what role they play today. what do you conclude after doing this? >> one of the ways to look at it is until racism ends in this countr until we have a level playing field for kids in graden

school and ior high and high school that we need hbcus. that's one way to look at it. eanother way, one of th things to look at the way people who wo with hbcus will tell you, we still have catholic universities, nobody's questioning at. >> brown: yemsollege we still have women's colleges. so i think that's not real question at this point. i think we need hbcus maybe not as much as we did in 1865, but we still nered them vey much today. >> brown: the film "tell then we are rising," stanley nelson. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: >> woodruff: "tell them we are rising" airs tonight on most pbs stations. on the newshour online right now, we talk to a poet whose upcoming book exploresme freedom, exteliefs and america's relationship with guns. read some of her work at pbs.org/newshour. a all th more is on our web site, pbs.org/newshour.

and that's the newshour fo tonight. on tuesday, a look at the battle over teachg climate change in schools. i'm judy woodruff. join us online a again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches realewife conversations in a n language. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic peormance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur found tion. commit building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org

>>tnd with the ongoing supp of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pie station fromrs like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by ll newshour productions captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org tonight on history detectives:

four mysteries of the american west. roy, what chance do we have? i want to know if this belonged to k carson himself. - if this saddle could talk. - man: oh, yeah. she did things women just didn't do. pulls out his pistol and pulls the trigger. elvis cost' lo: ♪ watthe detectives ♪ i get so angrrd when the tearops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he' got no heart ♪ ♪ i get so angrrd when the tearops start ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectes ♪ it's just like watchin' the dettives ♪ funding for tonight's presentation of history detectives was provided by the corporation for public broadcasting and by contributionsto yon