captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good 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 whdictments, but 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 heres. african ans aren't able to move in at the same rate as whites. anyou know it's unfair. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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language. >> and with the ongoing support of these ititutions: 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 yo >> woodruff: from parkla to protest.

rst week's school shooting in florida is givie to a campaign for action on guns. the pressure ratcheted up again today. new calls for gun safety lawsso unded from florida to los angeles to washington d.c., as houdents protested gun violence. outside the white, they read the names of the 17 people killed in last week's mass shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. >>e,e're not the ones in off but we are the ones in the classrooms >> they say now is not the time. marco rubio, when is ithe time? >> woodruff: over the weekend, students who survived she ting called for stricter gun laws and criminal background checks. >> if the president wants to come up to me and tell me to myt fat it was a terrible tragedy and how it should never hive happened and maintain telling us how n is going to be done about it, i'm going

to happily ask him how much money he received from the national rifle associa 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 opposed any gun restrictions. a white house statement today said the president is "supportive of efforts to improve the federal background check system," and that he now supports a bipartisan billmi on crinal background checks. the n.r.a. also says it backs that bill, introduced after 58 le died in the las vegas shooting massacre last october. it aims to ensure federal agencies enter information into databases.

the president made no mention of gun laws friday night, as he visited with first responders in rkland. instead, on saturday, he cited the f.b.i.'s failure to investigate a januy tip about the accused gunman, 19r-old nikolas cruz. he wrote on twitter that the bureau was "spending tin much time tto prove russian collusion with the trump campaign." meanwhile, cruz was back in coyt today for a preliminar aring. he's been charged with 17 counts of pmeditated murder. this morning, james and kimberly snead, who took him into their home last november after his mother died, said they had no inkling of what he plaed. >> still can't process it, what he's done because this wasn't the person that we knew. not at all. >> woodruff: the sneads say cruz kept the a-r-15 he allegedlyed , locked in a gun safe in the house. but ey say, unbeknownst to

them, he had his own key. for more on the outcry that hasr n out of last week's violence, we turn to two students from the florida high w schore the attack occurred, both of whom are nowca active in ths for change. suzanna barna is a 17-year-old senior, who writes for the school paper. lewis mizen is also 17 and a senior. he took shelter in a closet during the attack. suzanna and lewis, thank you both for talking with us. suzanna, i'm going to turn to you first. how are you doing is?e how aru friends doing in the aftermath of this? >> um, the ole community is strong, we're community right now. it's s unfortunate what we're going through right now. it's a work in progress, but we will get through it and hopefully make a change in the end of all of this. >> woodruff: le, we should

point out you're a legal permanent resident of the united states. you have been here for four years. how are you doing? how are your friends doing? >> i'm okay. again, it's completfferent from neg i could have experienced in england, but the community has been phenomenal, not just the community here, the community in the world as as whole,cially my friends back in england have been sending all their love andn support, it's helpful because, you know, we reallprdo iate the support because we're going through a lot right now. >> woodruff:ulusana, what you like to see happen? >> um, personally, um, national change, i would love. but for now, our community is really focused on getting change in our own state in tallahassee. 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 chang the age to purchase a gun to 21

for altypes of guns opposed to .ust handguns, which it is now so 21 would be the age for that. and then restricted background checks and just making sure tey're thorough enough because the shooter forhe shooter who came to our school, he had a history of being expelled from school, and he had multiple problems and, like, violent outbreaks during his time as a student, which i think needs to be looo ked intpecially when someone is so young where they're 18 and, like, early 20s. because they're still getting out of school.mp that's an tant record to have and to look at for a background check. it says a lot arout thei behavior. >> woodruff: lewis, what about you? t?at would you add to tha what do you want to have happen? >> well, i think, obviously,

it's come out in the news one of president trump's aide he would be for a bipartisannen agreement on asking background checks and i think that's phenomenal, i think it's a great step in the right direction. obviously, gun culture is part of american culture, and that's say, but there a line between owning a gun to defend yourself and giving mentally unstable people access to the same sort of weapons that we send our soldiers to fight foreign wars with. >> woodruff: in other words, that weapon that the gunmen used at your school, suzan, our understanding of what president trump is calling for is making it a little bit harder to get a gun, making sure that if someone has a criminal history, that that history goes into a federal database. i hear you saying that's a step in the rht direction, but you want more than that. >> um, that is a step in the right direction.

i mean, we do want -- we do want more than that, but, i mean as of now we looking for change. we'll take -- um, we'll take what we can get almost at this point. we really just want to seeso thing happen and, from there, we plan to do more and more and keep this political activism going for th students and by the students to keep us involved. >> woodruff: lewis, do you think the students are committed to stick with this? is this amething is going to last a long time, do you think? >> i think that this is ourho , this is our high school, and, obviously, for eve around the world who sees us on the news, they get to go home, they get to go to bed at the end of the day and wake up and move on with their lice and forget out it. we're going back to school 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 m ves. i think o lucky to have

classmates who are willing tond step up and f demand change because, they're right, no do have a right to be able to go to school an fear for our lives, and teachers have a right to go to work andeot hav to worry that, in their job requirements, thve're going to o stand in front of kids and take bullets for them. there is something to be said for change. we noed make change. >> woodruff: suzanna, some people have said what we need, what this country needs is for there to be people who are m at every school. what do you think about that? >> um, per nsonally, that ist my political belief. think that -- i think that a good guy with gun wouldn't be able to stop a bad guy with a gun just because of the -- well, just fr eom myxperience in the situation we were in, i think that we do have an amed sheriff on our campus at all times, and t the problem with that is that one good guy cannot stop

someone with a higher -- with a better gun and, like, with -- just with a ive 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 mean, ion'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. oodruff: have you ev thought about that, lewis? >> i -- i come from a country where the mosangerous thing that can happen at a school is culinary set something on fire. that's the worst case scenario, really, foan enlish school, and it's on a complete different level here. anhif we'reinking about sending elementary school kids into a place h fences and 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 environment. and i understand -- and people do have a point when they say, you know, oky, one guy with an assault rifle can take down aanother guy with ansault rifle, but kids can get caught in that c >> woodruff: well, i know everyone watching is just heart broken that the two of yo and your classmates have to even think about some of these things. but it is what we are dealing with right now as a country, and i just want to thank both o you so much for talking with us. susasuzanna borda and lewis miz, thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: in the day's other ntws, president trump charged again that presibama should have done more to stop russia's election meddling in 2016.

it was his latest tweet since federal indictments on fday that named 13 russians. we'll look at the fallout from tharges made by the special counsel, robert mueller, and mr. trump's response, after the news smary.e islamic sttackers in iraq have ambushed and killed 27 shiite-led militiamen. it happened in a town southwest of kirkuk, while the militiamen were conducting nighttime raidsi faes mourned the victims as their bodies arrived at a military airfield in baghdad. iraqi officials had declared 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 kurds arete orists, and it's attacking them around afrin. in jordan's capital, amman, the visiting turkish foreid minister warat syria is risking an armed clash.

>> ( translated ): i have also seen the the aim of our afrin operation, is obvious: to eliminate the terrorists that rry 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 usur or thesh soldiers. >> woodruff: by nightfall, no syrian-backed troops had entered asafrin. turkeylso demanded that n e united states stop supporting the syrrdish fighters. the state parole board in louisiana has denied parole to 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 lifepa withoule is unconstitutional.er and, at the wilympics in south korea, the day's highlights included a win for

american women. e u.s. women's hockey team beat finland and will play canada for the gold medal laterw thk. and officials confirmed a russian curler failed a doping test. anssia is trying to recover from findings that it systematic doping scheme for years. oustill to come on the newr: what the indictment of 13 russians means for the broader investigation. the struggle to get home loans in gentrifying neighborhoods. the u.s. aid cuts that could hurt palestinians, and muchmo . >> woodruff: now, to thet continued faller the sprawling indictment of 13 russian nationals for intervening in the 2016 presidential election. in a moment, william brangham 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, during his weekend away from washington. his venting, instead, came srough some 20-odd tweetsce saturday. tore than half were relate the indictment, or the russia investigation in general. in several tweets, including one today, mr. trump blamed formerpr esident obama for not doing enough about russia's meddling.r mrp also claimed he "never said russia 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. mr. trump said then at he raised the issue with putin twice, and that putin denied any meddling. mr. ump then told reuters, "so something happened, and we have to fi out what it is." special counsel robert mueller's indictment, against the internet

search agency, other russian associates and companies,us alleges that rsian entities did have "a strategic goalo 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 national security adviser, h.r. mcmaster, left little doubt about where he stood. >> and as you can see with the f.b.i. indictment, the evidence is now really incontrovertible and available in the public domain. >> reporter: mr. tmp attacked that as well over the weekend. "general mcmaster," he tweeted, "forgot to say that the results of the 2016 election were t impacted or changed by the russians." the indictment does claim thatn the russfendants aimed to hurt some of the 2016 presidential candidates, like democrat hillary clinton, and republican senators ted cruz and marco rubio, and to support

president trump, as well as one democratic candidate, independent senator bernie wenders. sanders, over thend, said that lined up with some of what he knew from 2016. >> and it turns out that one of ousocial media guys in san diego actually went to the clinn campaign in september and said, something weird is going on. bernie's not ithe campaign, hundreds of these people are now coming on to his facebook site. so i think we already hat it was an effort to undermine american democracy and to reallb say ho things about secretary clinton. >> reporter: the indictment alleges that, as part of the russian operation, some of the defendants, "traveled to the united states under false pretenses for the purpose of collecting intelligence torm inefendants' operations." that's in direct conflict to president 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 deputy 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 media. >> the russians also recruitedea and paidamericans to engage in political activities, promote politimpaigns, and stage political rallies. the defendants and their co- conspirators pretendbe grassroots activists. acherding to the indictment, americans did not know that they were communicating with russians after the election, the defendants allegedly staged rallies to sport the president-elect while simultaneously staging rallies to protest his election. >> reporter: the indictment sayi that r, allegedly boosted by the russian defendants,

thhappened before and afte 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 to curbuture russian 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 specifically 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. >> repter: the intelligence officials told the panel they had no reason to believe russia's efforts would subside.s mr. trump clast week's rdictment proves his campaign did not collude wisia.

but mueller's investigation into .that possibility continu for the pbs newshour, i'm yamie alcindor. >> brangham: this indictment of over a dozen russians for committinginformation warfare" on the united states is, without a doubt, a major delopment in e special counsel's investigation into russian meddling in our last election. matthew olsen con the national ter terrorism center during the obama administration, and was a ng-time federal prosecutor who worked at one point with robert mueller. so give me your initial impressions of this indictment. >> i thinkhe most striking thing about the indictment when you read it is the extryraordi detail it includes about this information warfare campaign he russians carried out. this is a speaking indictment. prosecutors could just lay out the bare elements of therime, but in this case the special counsel went to great pains to establish each of the facts neceary to show this systematic effort to conspire against the united states, an's mportant to bear in mind

that, for every overt act in this indictment, that means the special counsel believes he hasb pr evidence, he has facts he thinks he can demonstrate in court to bk 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 fake arsonas formericans. >> brangham: we're not anytime soon going to see any of thse 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 conspiracy char on which the spcial 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 th there are a number of

cooperating witnesses who pled guilty now and are assistinghe special counsel, including, for example, mike flynn, to expect that there will be additional charges on top of this foundational charging document. >> brangm: in this 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 dbt this is a putin operation? >> i believe what the intelligence community said about this from the early days of it first being exposed by oue igence leaders and officials and that is that this type ttype of operation would nt occuwithout explicit ection of the kremlin including direction of puin himself. that's consistent with what we've seen. >>rangham: you say thi -- does this give you a greater sense of where the probe is going

forward? a conspiracy charge that charged the russian side of this. i think that in my view is ectentially a strategicision for special counsel to make this rgingy apolitical ch development because it's focused on the russians, but if you look at the documents itself, it talks about the grand jury charged indiduals known and unknown who conspired, that there are others who are known and unknown to the grand jury who ise part of th so, again, there are other charges. for example, the hacking to have the democratic national committee, we know that's a crime. that's not charged here. obstruction of justice is withie the puof this investigation. this is the first major salvo in what is likely to be additional charges in other crimes and other individuals charged. >> brangham: all of thentel chiefs say russia meddled and willo it again. the white house gave us a statement saying presideke trump

does his seriously and will do everything he can to defend the nextlection. they pointed out they held a iaaring last week with state and local election off to talk about meddling. do you think, looking at the landscape no, we aroing enough to defend the next election from this kind of attack? >> you know, there have been some signs ofd aditional efforts being done, but i think the answer to your question is definitively no. we lack from the very top, from the commander-in-chief, a definitive statement saying this was the russians and that he is not going to blame others, for example president obama, but heg is go blame the people responsible and that is the russians including the russian government. there's lots more the president and the government ca to make russia pay a price including sanctions anud ing other activities that the government -- our government can thdertake. at os point, the president really hasn't stepped up to his constitutional obligation defend our democracy. he's actually failed to do that, and i think that's what we will be looking for in the future

from the president. >> brangham: matthew olsen, thank you very much. >> thank y. >> woodruff: tonight we continue a two-part series inveing why blacks and latinos seem to have a harder time getting home- related loans. since banks constricted credit immediately after the 2008 housing bustthey have been slowly increasing the amount they're lending. but this economic prosperity has not reacomd everyone. reveal" at the center for phvestigative reporting, aaron glantz returns tadelphia. >> reporter: point breeze is undergoing a transform named by zillow as the hottest ianeighborhood in philadeln 2017, it is one of the only majority bck communities where banks are doing a lot of lending. banks are even making specialou loans on genterms to people here, thanks to the 1977

community reinvestme, a landmark law 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 fore de she lives here with her pit bull, bootz.e ther 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. >> see how this wiow is off- ack? they're off track. >> rep local bank, firstrust, the only one with a branch in the neighborhood. >> i went there to get a home equity loan because i want to fix up my home. >> reporter: she was looking fo3 000 and, because of rising property values, had $200,000 of equity in her house.e s current on her mortgage, and she has a steady income. >> never, you know, d no

refinance of the home. i just wanted a loan to fix up my house and i couldn't belie they denied me. >> reporter: she was told her credit score wasn't good enough. without the loan, she's afraid the condition of her house wl only get worse. >> look. all these wires drive me crazy. it's like, oh myknod, i don't what's going on. i'm just scared. >> reporter: under the community reinvestment act, banks are required to make loans to qualified buyers ilow-income neighborhoods, like point breeze, provided the bank has a branch that takes deposits anywhere in that city. but banks don't ve to give them to the people who already 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 sidents, who are overwhelmingly african american, to get loans, it's much easier for white newcomrss like beth w.

>> i was definitely aware that i was a white person moving into this neighborhood that is historically not whitend, what is that going to look like? >> reporter: warshaw realized that she had some fil challenges. since moving back to philadelphia, she'd been unemployed for nine months and only just found a job. so she couldn't show a stable work histo. >> i needed someone who undersod the limitations of bank account. even the amount that i had iser still, like, asmall amount when it comes to buying a house in this town or in any town. >> reporter: banks can pass their community reinvestment act test by lending to anye in a low-income neighborhood, regardless of race. here in point breeze, federal lendg data show that financi institutions granted 806 loans to whites tween 2012 and 2016 and rejected them 152 times. on the other hand, african americans got 275 loanand were rejected 471 times. >> it's a bit disheartening hear that the very people who were probably the ones that we

excluded or redlined, are the ones that are not benefiting from the banks corrective actions. >> reporter: angela mciver heads the fair housing association of southeastern pennsylvania. she says the way these banks et their community lending obligations feeds gentrificatio ads to displacement. >> it is forcing african americans out of their homesam africaicans aren't able to move in at the same rate as whites. t'd you know it's unfair. >> reporter: and tnot the only gap in the law. here in philadelphia, an creasing share of the ho loan market is controlled by mortgage brokers who areot regulated by the community reinvestment act at all. warshaw got her loan from one: trident mortgage. >> a trident mortgage consultant. >> reporter: it helps more people buy homes in philadelphia than anyone else. they made nearly a thousand ofnventional home purchase loans in 2016 and only 2hem were to african-americans.

>> it makes me angry. somebody is not asking themselves the rightions, including me. i was not asking 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 white. >> 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 going to white home buyers in a city that is 40% black. m >> it struhow white everything was. i don't think i realized i had any other alternatives. >> reporter: we asked trident, which is part of berkshire hathaway, why a lender with offices all around the city grants so few los to african americans.ec but theyned an interview.

athe community reinvestme applies to only banks with bres, so mortgage companies ndke trident don't have the same requirements to n low income communities. tom enforcing that act for five years under president obama asof comptrollehe currency. >> i think after 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 ithut to update law. we requested an interview with otting he declined to comment but said 4 a statement he was interested in modernizing tyear-old act so that it would encourage" banks to invest in and meet the needs ofheir communities." otting is no stranger to the banking industry. from 2010 to 2015, he served as c.e.o. of e 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 officemet with the american bankers association at the treasury department to get their recommendations on how the act should be changed. a report the association submitted in december, they complained of "overly icstrictive concepts of community and econ development" under c.r.a. and said the rules should be loosened. all that lobbying is likely do littleo help adrienne stokes in point breeze.u while n see construction on just about every block, very little lending has been going to longtime residents of the neighborhood. wo doors down, where a black family lived for three decades, has been demolished and is now a hole in the ground,o sold ta 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 re. maybe they might change their mind and i might get this loan. and that would be a blesng. >> reporter: stokes says, like her neighbor's, her house gets offers from developers, but she won't sell the home she's fought so hd to keep.

for the pbs newshour, i'm aaron glantz in philadphia. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: 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 ograms. john yang recently sat down with one of the agency's top officials, as the trump administration seeks to cut its funding. >> yang: the largest donor to the united nations relief and works agency i don't know by it's initials

unrwa. the trump administration announced it was withholding more than half a scheduled payment to the actsy saying it wanted unspecified performance. joining us is scott anderson, director of relief and works agency. before he was a compa commander in afghanistan. 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 patient visits in our healthcare centers and provide food assistance to more than a million refugees in the reg so all of that is at risk and i think the part that's veryan impowith our education program is addition to math and

ecience and the normal typ things, we teach human rights, conflict resolution andd tolerance lso have a very strong gender component to try to bring gender parity and gender equity to the region. >> yang: the administratio says it wants reforms. it hasn't said publicly what the reforms are. have they told unrwa what they do want? >> yoantd what they do want. we are constantly reforming what weavo. wee reformed our education program. we have reformed our health moprogram. we'vd from food to cash in the west bank. this is just indicativef the very serious 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 sort of-- this is punitive, that this is somehow a payback from the president of th administration?

>> i mean, i can't speak to what the motivations were. all i can say is that if we get no more funding from the u.s. this year it would be a reduction of 83% of what they gave us in 2017, and i would like to add we're very grateful to the u.e . they hen a strong partner from president trumphe way back to president truman, as we primarily in the west bank, which is where i am. >> yang: israel has had a contentious relationship with prrwa. they havsed the president's move. they've long said unrwa contributes to the palmiestinian the answery that they let militants use the facilities and the unrwa staff is often sympathetic to the militants.te >> wch conflict resolution and tolerance which is opposite from militancy.

weo not support violence in any form, that is completely opposed to the values of the united nations. i work closely with thes iraelii 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 ihere and we contribute to stability, in the national interest of israel and the united states and all ohe statf the u.n. >> yang: they say unrwa cooperates with hamas. >> when hamas came to power inth 2008u.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 relationships to continue. if there was a mumps outinbreak 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 strictly adhere to the no contret policy but there times you can't function in the public good if you don't have some sort of interaction.o >> yang:r career path, how does a farm boy from iowa, a career military officer d up at a u.n. relief agency in gaza on the wt bank? >> i have to say it was purely accidental. after i refer to the army i went on saudi arabia and worked for the u.s. governmen foreign military sales program. i saw for a job in gaza with the u.n. and applied because i thought it looked interesting. when you get to israel, gaza, the west bank,t's a very compelling place to work, the history that's there but also the people. the palestinians are wulonde people. i've enjoyed very much the time i've had there and been very grateful for that opportunity. >> yang: scott anderson of the united nations relief and works agency for palestine refugees. thank you very much. >> thank you very much, joh pleasure to be

>> woodruff: turning back now to the ongoing russia investigation, the school shooting in florida and president trump's response to both, it's time for "politics monday" with tamara keith of npr mas, who is the washington, d.c. bureau chief for vice news. we welcome both of you to the program, "politics monday." so, tam, the presidentas now had several days to, i guess you would say, soak in what happened at parkland, the high school in parkland last week. s how do ye up his reaction? there have been tweets, he did visit parkland over the wekend. what do you make of it? >> there haven't been that m tweets, actually, and one of them tied the f.b.i.'s error in the shooting to the russia investigation. mostf his focus this wekend has been on russia. as for the gun issue, there is

this interesting development where, with the past two mass shootings that have happened during the trump presidency, the white house has said the president wants to be part of the conversation.e well, this they are actually trying to drive a conversation, and that's a littleifferent. typically, they've sort of hung back and waited for theon conversao fade away. but this week, they are bringing some students to the white house as as state and local leaders, trying to do that thing that presidents can ich is convene and guide a conversation. who knows if that will result in anything different, but it is slightly different on the front d than some of the other past mass shootings during the trump administration. >> woodruff: yeah, shawna, we're trying to look at it andar sa they act differently. >> two tonhings. president trump has spoken with senator joh john cornyn of texas about a background chck

bill he and chris murphy had written. the fact they confirmed it,it pt ut as a press release was one step toward an atual thing that exists on paper right now. i think the other thing that can't be denied is th power of those students in that it's really hard not to say sometasng or at put out a press release or do the student thinga you werlking about, when you are faced with the kids on the sunday shows yesterday, playing on a repeat on cabl they clearly know they are losing a little bit of a p. battle 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 relationship they have with the gun lobby, with the n.r.a. so the same -- it seems to me it's the same landscape out there of political support, or is it changing? >> i don't think that thene landscape haessarily changed, there's a lot of wiggle room in the language that sarah sanders used in her statement about how e president feels

about possibly considering this background check legislation. presidt trump has been eeting all weekend. he hasn't tweeted andormant of the legislation no spon publicly about it. he has a spokesperson out there but he hasn't put himse out there. the other thing i would say, earlier, thitis legis 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 aruing for. >> woodruff: the cornyn-murphy legislation is about making sure that information goes into that tabase, right? >> it is about that and making sure the data bails are talking to each other properly and giving money t the states to do

that. maybe this is a small thing e.ople could get don there are so many p background check systems and so few people in the various agencies to actually do the work that needs to be done here that if you don't see any movement on least money or trying to confirm certain things, then it is going to be a ittle bit toothless. the other problem being that thn house legislathat version of it had a concealed carry provision within it which the n.r.a. did like, and even senator cornyn said that needs to be separated from the background stuff if it is ever going to get through the students. >> wodruff: meanwhile, we heard the students a few minutes o bei very passionate about this but how long will that last. >> reporter: 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 counsel friday.re

>> it eems 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, you know, i was a great candidate, you know, basically the president is doing what he's been doing all along as relates to the russia investigation which is trying to say this doesn't threaten the legitimacy of my presidency, here look at all the other wa how. he didn't go after russia, and he also didn't offer any prescriptions for how he as the president of the united states will lead the nat dealing 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 twitter. >> woodruff: he sure did. i think one of the things is the indictment doesn't indictan him, 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,us

be tam, if you look at it, i mean, the russians started in 2014, they were clearly trying to hurt hillary clint's chances. donald trump points out, well, i -- you know, they're not saying that i was the main beficiary of this becaus this happened long before i was a candidate. >> it started long before he was a candidate. ultimately the indictment makes clear that thd favor both dersld trump and bernie san and were trying to disadvantage hector as part of that campaign. >> woodruff: yeah. well, it is -- we heard the conversation earlier in th show, shaw shawna, peple look at this indictment, it's deadly serious. you have to believe there's mort coming oand yet the white house reaction is no. >> no, but one of the things -- the white house doesn't need to push back, necessarily, in the way they did.av theyan opportunity here to shift the conversation to our ection process in 2018, to

shift the conversation to what are the states doing, how is the federal government going to act with what the states are doing to protect the election systems, and for some reason they aren't doing that. >> woodruff: and not going after russia, as both of you are pointing out. shawna thomas, tamera keith, thank you both. "politics >> you're welcome. thanks. os woodruff: tonight at 9:00 p.m. right here onpbs 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 hiscatoy black colleges and universities commonly known as h.b.c.u.s. the film charged their rise anda pivotal ros generationings of professional and middle class

african-americans and looks at threats to theircontinued prominence and even in some cases existence.ne stanleon is the film's director. welcome. >> thank you so much. >> brown: why take this 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. hbs changed the trajectory of their lives, my life and will change my kids lives down through the generations. so it's portant to me. >> brown: in the film it says the question forri n-americans has always been what is the purpose of education, who controls it, what is the relaonship of education to the broader aspirations of our people. you are presenting in the film these colleges as the answers to that. >> yeah, and ihink one of the things that the film does is kind of ask that question and then answer it.

you see, as hbcus have gone through the history how that's changed, who controls our education has chang what it's for has changed. 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 help"? here was a watching over you to see you did the best you could. >> they were educating future doctors, lawyers teachers, nurses, judges, and they were responsible for lifting african-americans out of poverty, and they started to create the black middle class as we know it. >> for a black child, every

teacher that you knew had gone to a black college. every lawyer that you knew gone to a black college. every medical doctor that treated you had gone a black college. >> black colleges were redefining what it meant to be black in america. you weren't doing something with your hands. you were pursuing a career where education and intellect mattered. >> brown: that part goes to a period where there were rea almost no other choices, right? >> right. > brown: but one of the other aspects you brit are these colleges as incubators of social change, right, the paces where leaders and movements began. >> yeah,ut i think that's one of the important functions hbcus have served so manyti s. we talk about the sit-in movement that started in north carolina ant, to get to brown versus board of ed and integration, that started in

howard, freedom rides, martin luther king came out of an hbu. so they have been a safe, intellectual space for african-americans, because this is a place where young black people can sit aound and tlk about the future and where we're going. at was life like on these campuses that differed from other universit what made them? >> i think one of the thingsd that made till makes hbcus different is they are av nurturing onment. you know, for my own father, he and his broth werthe 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 doi? you're fooling around, you can do this. stop goofing around. hi father went to graduate howard, went to howard dental school, became a successful dentist and that's one of the

reasons i'm sitting here today. but as we saw in the clip, it's the nurturing that's so important that hbcus haved provnd still provide today. >> brown: that students mige not hatten elsewhere. >> i think that is a very different kind of attitude. t a lot es you get at majority white institutions which is, like,eou got hre, so you belong here, here's the work, now do it. hbcus, it's a littl different. it's, like, we are here to help you and to help you do this work because we knoyou can do it because we might have been in the same position that you are. >> brown: you geat the situation today with many black colleges struggling. there's still a debate to what extent they are needed and 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 country, until we have vel playing field for kids in grade

scho and junior higand high school that we need hbcus. that's one way to l it. another way, one of the things to look at th way people who work with hbcus will tell you, we still have catholic universities, nobody's questioning at. >> brown: yems col leges. still have women's colleges. so i think that's not a r question at this point. i think we need hbcus maybe not as much as we did in 1865, but we still need them very much today. >> brown: the film "tell then were rising," stanley nelson. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruf >> 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 explores freedo america's relationship with guns. read some of her work at pbs.org/newshour. all that and more is on our web site, pbs.org/newsur.

and that's the newshour for tonight. on tuesday, a look at the battle over teaching climate changen schools. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again hereto rrow 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 real-life conversationuain a new lang. >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic lerformance and financ literacy in the 21st century. po >> sed by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfou.org

>> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs statiofrom viewers like you. thank you. captioning snsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access groupt wgbh access.wgbh.org

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