captioning sponsored by newshourroductions, llc woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, turmoil in the white house-- tensions brew between the chief of staff and jared kushner after a security downgrade, while one of the president's closest aides leaves. also ahead, president trump announcenew controversial tariffs on steel and aluminum. what this means for thteeconomy and ational trade. then, heightened threat-- russia's president putin boasts a new arsenal of nuclear weapons that would leave nato's defenses useless. and, an exclusive newshour investigation uncovers allegations of sexual miscondu within the u.s. forest service >> it justeels like you're like screaming into a void, like, "this happened," and nobody hears that.

>> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. or >> majunding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of int carnegie.org. and

>> and wit of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs yostation from viewers lik thank you. >> woodruff: the trump white house finds itself searching for stability, again, tonight, in a swirl of damaging developments. the president's right-hand ruefully acknowledged as much today. lisa desjardins begins our coverage. >> desjardins: it was supposed to be a celebration-- white house chief of staff john kellya ng at an anniversary event for the department of homeland

security, which he used to run. but he gave a nod to tensions at his new job. >> the last thing i wanted to do was walk away from one of the great honors of my life, being the secretary of homeland security. but i did something wrong and god punished me, i guess. >> desjardins: late last week, selly stripped "toet" security clearances for more than 30 white house aides, who had temporary atus. first among them: the president's senior adviser and son-in-law jared kushner. 's not yet clear how that affects his many roles, including work on middle east issues. kushner also faces new questions about his family's real estate business. yesterday, "the new york times" reported the kushner familfirm received more than half a billion dollars in loans fromt wall strmpanies, after jared kushner met with them at the white house. kushner has denied any wrongdoing. at today's white house briefing, press secretary sarah sanders came to his defense. >> jared is still a valued member of the administration. he's going to continue to focuor on thethat he's been

doing. >> desjardins: in addition, a report in "the washington post" suggested officials from china, isel, mexico and the unite arab emirates saw kushner as e ploitable and at one point hoped to manipulm. to this swirl, addhe impending loss of president's longest- serving aide, hope hicks, who yesterday announced she will soon leave her job as house communications director. >> are you going to be answering all of the committee's questions today?>> desjardins: hicks' announcement came one day after she told the house intelligence committee that she's s"casionally told "white l for the president, but not about anything related to the russia probe the investigating. one more open fracture-- president trump has reignited his public feud with attorney general jeff sessions. over twitter, he called sessions "disgraceful" fodeciding not to launch a special prosecutor probe of how the f.b.i. has conducted its russia investigation. r ine move, sessions pushed back with a statement that as

long as he is attoey general he'll carry out his duties "with integrity and honor." that may turn out to be more than an internal feud. today, "the washington pd t" also reporecial counsel robert mueller is investigating thpresident's attempts to pressure or oust sessions to determine whether he was obstructing justice. r the pbs newshour i'm lisa desjardins in washington. k >> woodruff: and we'll tre about the power dynamics inside the white house with philip rucker, ite house bureau chief at the "washington post." phil, welcome back to the program. so we thought there was instabity at this white house before, but i think this week, with the departure -- announced departure of hopeicks, this back and forth with the attorney general and theheresident, jared kushner concerns, and even speculation about the president's national security advisor h.r. mcmaster. where are we? >> judy, it is a truly chaotic moment for this white house, and

it reminds me of the early days of the presidey back at th beginning of 2016 when, every day, there was a new brushfire to put out. and that's wh wre going through right now. jared kushner has been diminished by thins downgrade his security clearance and the knives are out for him. other administrationicials are trying to harm himal inte. there's a bit of a power stggle with the chief of staff john kelly. kelly seems newly empowered with gais movest kushner but it really is unsettling and the president's closest aide hope hikes is departing. >> woodruff: hope hicks leaving, the president lashing out at his own attorney general, the speculation about h.r. mcmaster. where is the steadying hand in this white house >> there doesn't seem to be one

and i don't know if there ever has been one, in part because of who the president is. he sets the culture and the tone r this government himself at the top, and he likes chaos. he fee like he thrives in this sort of environment, he likes spontaneitiy and likes to make desions impulsively without a lot of process and that's what we see today with the news of tariffs in trade, that cames a huge surprise to some of the staff in the white house, a very instantaneous, spontaneous announcement in that meeting with the executives. this is what the president e.kes to h it doesn't bring solace to veterans of washington or elsewhere in the government or certainly military or capitol trump.ut it's >> woodruff: so essentially what you're saying is the president seems satisfied with things at this -- operating at this level which, from theks outside, l chaotic. >> he likes the chaos. doesn't mean he's satisfied.

he's clearly dissatisfied with his tornl. him been lashing out at this week. privately the president has been very ups about what he sees as negative media coverage of his son jared kushner and the security clearance issue and hae bubbling for weeks about the russia probe. robert mueller is getti closer to the oval office with these nterviews.s and >> woodruff: almost more than we can cope up with. thank you, phil rucker, for doing that for us. thank you very much. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: we'll return to the particulars involving jared kushner, later in the program. in the day's other news, wall street was hit hd again, after president trump announced he's imposing stiff tariffs on imported steel and aluminum. it sparked fears of a trade war, and major indexes dropped well over 1 percent the dow jones industrial average lost 420 points to close below ,609. the nasdaq fell 92 points,

and the s&p 500 sank 36. new gun control bills emerged in thu.s. senate today. that's after president trump said he's open to imposing comprehensive background checks, raising the age buy assault- type weapons, and taking away guns from those deemed a risk. republican marco rubio, from florida, alscalled today for seizing weapons from people identified as threats, but he stopped short of broad background checks. >> there are things we can act on and do, and things we can continue to argue over, debate and perhaps do in the future. but on the things we agree on, and they happen toe things that could have prevented the attack, and will prevent future attacks, let's get those done. >> woodruff: minority leader chuck schumer answered with a three-part democratic proposal.i he called for rsal background checks, as well as a debate on banninapassault-type s. >> the only hope of passing

this, given that democrats are osso strongly for these prs, is the president persuading republicans and franklng them cover from the n.r.a. >> woodruff: senate majority d leader mitch mcconnell ss first priority is a banking bill.eg as for gunlation, he said: "we'd love to do that at some point." the u.s. ambassador to mexico announced today she's stepping down, the latest high-level diplomatic departure from the trump administration. roberta jacobson has been ambassador for nearly two yearsk and for the state department for more than 30 years. she noted today that u.s.-mexico relations are at "a crucial moment," but said she wants to explore other opportunities. in syria, no relief again today for rebel-held suburbs of damascus. syria's military has been pounding eastern ghoutle its ally, russia, has called for a daily, five-hour truce. in geneva today, u.n. officials

complained their call for a 30- day cease-fire is being ignored. they dismissed the russian plan as unworkable. >> but i have to declare that iu know nnitarian actor, zero humanitarian actor who thinks that five hours is enough for us to be able to deliver relief into eastern ghouta. >> woodruff: the russians, and syrian state media, claim the rebels in eastern ghouta are blocking or even killing civilians who try to leave. it is now a crime in poland to accuse the polish nation of holocaust crimes committed by nazi germany. the new law took effect today. warsaw says it is not an effort to deny locaust. opponents say nationalists wanta to blo discussion of polish complicity in the mass murder of jews.va an officiacan magazine today slammed the treatment of

e roman catholic church. "women church world" reported they're exploited as indentured servants by cardinals and bishops, and receive little pay. it described nuns cooking, cleaning and waiting tables, but rarely getting a chance to useei intellectual gifts. back in this country, housing secretary ben carson says he's asking to cancel the purchase of a $31,000 dining set for h office. it drew tense criticism this week. in a statement today, carson said: "i was as surprised as anyone to find out that a s $31,000 dini had been ordered." osd, public schools across west virginia remained for a 6th day as teachers stayed on strike. the state house approved a five tercent pay increase last night, but today, the senate voted against considering the bill immediately. still to come on the newshour: russia's boast that its weapons can breach nato defense.

a closer look at jared kushner's business dealings. women claim pattern of discrimination at the u.s. forest service, and much more. >> woodruff: president trump promised during the campaign toe get toon trade, and today he took a major step byar announcing newfs on imported steel and aluminum. it has led some experts to warn of a much bigger trade war. but at a meeting with industry leaders, mr. trump said the u.s. needed to crack down on counies flooding american markets with cheap metals. and he told the business leaders the move would give them a big boost. >> pretty much all of you will immediately be expanding if we give you that level playing field, if we give you that help. and you're going to hire more

workers, going to be very happy. they're going to be very, very happy. owand again, what's been a to go on for decades is disgraceful. it's disgraceful. >> woodruff: mr. trump said he esuld announce which count would be targeted next week. there would be 25% tarif on steel, and 10% on aluminum. thpresident has repeatedly threatened to take tougher measures against china. for a look at what this might mean, we turn to greg ip of the "wall street journal." greg, thank you for being with us. fore we get into the reaction to all this including in the marks, what would tariffs a this level, 25% on steel, 10% og aluminumerally, what would that mean? >> well, for companies in the united states that make steel and aluminum, it's great news. those companies will have higher profit margins because they can sell their steel and aluminum at

higher prices. it's good ns for the workers because industries have lost a lot of workers because o import penetration in the last few years. fewer jobs lost and maybe some added. it's good news for parts to have the country where the mills are locad. it's bad news for a company that uses steel and aluminum. that's way more companies and workers than produce ut. automobiles, for exaeample, space, the companies that make soda because of the soda cans, tinfoil, all the consumers, you and i will all pay a tiny bit m more,be too little to notice, but more for the products. g woodruff: we havephics showing some of that and maybe we can show that to the audience while we're talking. ent, in e, so the president sees winners in this country, but there are others who areorried that the reaction from abroad is going to lead toarm forther parts of the american economy. >> well, absolutely, and we've en this movie before. in 2002, president george w.

bush raisedteel tariffs partly to protect workers in west virginia, and the analysis of that decision later showed it actually hurt the u.s. economy because it raised cost so much in industries that use steel. right now people are worried not just abo the immediate impact on the u.s. industry, but what if allhese other countries who feel we treated them unfairlyat retaand not only does it hurt us in consumption of the products but our ability to perform in foreign markets are affected. the negative impact on the stock market a tiny bit of harmless growth, a little bit of inflation, secondly, though, it alsopeaks to theverall degree of uncertainty and concern about this administration. ear ofow for the first trump's presidency it was all about less regulation and less haxes. businesses love now they're seeing the less positive side of it, more protechism. at the same time enormous

conflict both within the white house, trump advisors, the administration and allies in business and the republican congress. >> woodruff: and we were told that there s serious disagreement inside the white house as you just are suggesting over this a also confusion about whether this was going to be announced today we were told at one point it was not and the president announced it a few mines later. >> yes and some of the details have yet to be heard. we don't know which countriesll e hit with tariffs, how long they will last and maybe other te ten factors that will e into play. >> woodruff: all of which we'll wait to see. greg ip, thank you very much. >> thanks for having me. oo >>uff: just weeks before his all-but-guaranteed re- election, russian president vladimir putin gave his over version of a state of the union today. as nick schifrin reports, putin used the occasion to show off new weapons that he says can

defeat u.s. missile defenses, and maintain a deadly balance with the united states. >> reporter: presidentn ladimir putiday unveiled a grand vision for his country's future, and wh he called the means to achieve it: new, nuclear weapons. ( translated ): no one wanted to speak with us constructively. no one has listened to us. you listen to us now. >> repter: he showed off animations of weapons he called invincible. a hypersonic missile capable of crossing continents in seconds, and a never-before-acknowledgedl nuear powered cruise missilela that canm between missile defense systems putin calls a long term threat. it's not clear the weapons even t.is but putin said he wasn't bluffing. >> ( translated ): any use of nuclear weapons against russia and its allies will be perceived as a nuclear attack on our country. w the responl be immediate. >> our nuclear triad has kept ua for more than 70 years. >> reporter: putin's return to cold war rhetoric comes one month after the u.s. announced

s own plans to deploy ne nuclear weapons, and greater willingness to use nuclear ons. putin said he was responding to american threats.tr >> ( slated ): the growing military strength of russia is a secure guarantee of peace because this strength preserves and will aays preserve a balance of power in the world. >> reporter: to no surprise,ss n lawmakers responded with praise. they said putin once again made russia a global superpower. gi ( translated ): the theory about russia as a al superpower with a weak economy, disappears from the american political thinng. >> reporter: the speech took place just over two weeks before the russian elections. he framed the u.s. as an adversary and himself as the ly leader strong enough meet the challenge. we turn now to richard burt. he was the chief u.s. arms control negotiator during the strategic arms reduction talks with theoviet union during the reagan administration. he also served as assistant secretary of state for europn affairs. he's now at mclarty associates, a business consulting firm.

richard burt, thank you very much. >> good evening. >> schifrin: is this all about domestic politics, president putin not worried about threats to russia but his own power? >> part of it is certainly about bricks. i mean, there is an election in march. nobody's going to beat vladimir putin, but put wants to get a good chunk, 70% or more, of the vote, and he can't talk about an economy that's rapidly growing. he doesn't have the kind of consumerat economy that dom the early part of the century.le pe living standards are actually falling. so he's playing the great power. ca he's saying i brought russia back, we're a global superpower, and our technology is first class, it can compete effectively with thed states, and, so, you can rest easy. >>rin: that i am the only one who can take on the united states. let's look at its from perspectivive, for a second. he says you withdraw from the

anti-ballistic missile treaty, you're creating miile defenses that can counterour nuclear weapons, so we have to counter back. what wrong with that? >> putin is not entirely wrong. we did withdraw from the abm treaty in 2002. i personally think that was a mistake because the russians tend on these kinds of issues be paranoid. the one thing they liked about the abm treaty is tt gavm a sense both sides were vulnerable to anile nion, there was a mutual assured destruction at the time, so it made the soviets feel and the russians later that they were co-equal nuclear powers. they were afra t, when abm treaty was abandoned, that the united stases would its superior technology to be able to engage in a potential nucle first strike and that we could then politically dominate them. so then they have been concerned about that, and that paranoia i think coupled with the putin's desire to look strong has led to

aairly significant nuclear buildup. >> schifrin: there is the buildup happening in russia and the unid states has talked about a buildup or modernization of its weapons. do you feel an erosion of arms control? >> i feel both of those. we are entering a new arms rae.e for s reminds me of the 1970s and '80s. i don't think americans are that focused on this at this but us the not only the russians modernizing their forces, with some very capable weapons they know how to build andbe m some fictional weapons we don't kn tw whethey will build or not, but the russians are cereal deciding they want to apsee nuclear s as an important element in their policy. the trump administration is same.doing the in fact, even under barack obama, the united states decided to engage in a $1 trillion-plus nuclear buildup with new missile

submarines, new intercontinental range ballistic missiles, new strate sc bombers,o we're kind of sleep walking into this new arms race. i don't thhek either side in near term is going to gain some important advantage, but under these conditions, we could lead to a situation where one or the other side fel that, in a crisis, a serious disagreent, at the other was going to strike and that that's when, you know, people begin to make mistakes they make miscalculations, and the problem, secondly, is we don't have any arms control negotiations underway, and we have an important treaty, the i.n.f. treaty sig in 1987 which could collapse in the nexb year because wieve the russians are cheating and they claim we are not following the treaty. >> schifrin: quickly, shoul b the u.s.e concerned about this? should americans be concerned about these new weapons or concerned about this sleep walking into a -- >> i think it's more of a sleep

walking problem. i think what we need to do is find a way to get back into a serious conversation with the russians on controlling nuclear weapons. the longer we wa, the more difficult it will be, not only because both sides will havebu better weapons with these new technologies of the sort that putin talked about today, it's going to be a lot harder to design effective agreements to control this new arms race. >> schifrin: richard burt, thank you very m.h. >> thank y ep >> woodruff: as weted earlier, the white house is swirling with new questions and allegati possible conflicts of interest for jaredp kushnesident trump's senior advisor and son in law. here for more on the fallout politically and legally, i'm joinedy, evan osnos, a staff writer at "the new yorker," and patrick cotter, a defense

attorney and formeutfederal pros. and we welcome b the program. evan osnos, i'm going to start with you. let's remind everybody first, what are jared kushner's rewhonsibilities? is his role at the white house? >> he's a very broad portfolio. one ofshe thi he's in charge of is trying to find a peace agreement in the middle eain. he's alsoharge of the relationship with mexico. he's also been tasked with managing relations with china. on top of that on the destic front, he's also in charge of trying to redesign government, finding ways to make things more efhacient and ine of bringing more innovation into the government. >> woodruff: so a modest portfolio. >> yes. >> woodruff: you wrote a piece for the "new yorker" about a nth ago on his interaction with chinese officials and how complicated that was. you put that together with reportingn "the washington post" this week on how quoting officials from four differenttr cos on how they tried essentially to manipulate him, ke advantage of him. what does that add up to?

>> there's a pattern andhe pattern a as it relates to china and these other countries iers an intelligence officials were picking up iercepted communications that showed the leaders of these other countries, mexico, israel, there uae, weeking contact with jared kushner because they wanted to try to use his business commients -- debts, obligations, need for investment -- as a way to try to manipulate him on policy points. so they were actively seekingvi diplomatic encounters with him in his role at the white house because he kw he d this extensive portfolio of business interests and that was vulnerability. >> woodruff: which raises a lot of questions. patrick cotter, separately, there's been reporting this week- know there were conflict questions from the beginning because jared kushner hime from family's business, hundreds of millions of dollars in investments there, but, yesterday, the "new york times" reports about two major financial firms both apollo and

citigroup, top officials there meeting with jared kushner at the white house and around the same time both firms lending hundreds of millions of dollars to his family business. what does that add up to? >> well, we're not sure, but the danger to mr. kushner is that he may -- he may -- have exposed himself to an allegation that violated the bribery of a government official statute. 18usc201. and that makes it a crime for anyone to offer o accept anything of value to a government official in exchange for an official act. if prosecutor could link the benefits that apollo and citigroup were seeking and the benefits mr. kushner got, the roughly $500 million in loans from those two entities, there could be a viable prosecution against mr. kushner. >> woodruff:ow unusual is i for top government officials to

be in these kinds of meetings with people whom their firms or firms they are associated wit stand to benefit from financially? >> it's amazingly unusual. it is basic protocol for government officials to run what is known as a conflict check or a due diligence check to make sure that, before theyeet with private financial interests and persons, they kin't have any of a conflict. that could not possibly have been done in this casend it's rather stunning that, at this high level and thisarnto the administration, that such a check wasn't done. >> woodr and evan osnos, as if all this weren't enough, you have the swirling questions around his security clearance, the fact that it's now 13 months intohe new administration, jared kushner still does not have a full security clearance and he wasowngraded this week.

>> yeah, this is, in a sense, the culmination of the issues we have been talking about. from the very beginning, jared kushner had trouble getting a securitylearance partly because he had very complex business interests around the world, hwasn't willing to divest himself of those. also, at the very begin, her maars when he filed for clearance, he left off concts th hundreds of foreign officials and later gave them. he hadn't gotten his fast track clearance. last month we were hearing from intelligence and law enforcement they were c fcerned, theyt there was something in his profile or portfolio that mnt he couldn't receive that, and without that it's hard to work at that high level when yo don't have access to that clearance. >> woodruff: the questw n is ch "jeopardy" is jared kushner in? i saw the "wall street journal" lead editorial, a newspaper friendly to the president, saying it's time for jared kushner and ivanka trump to

leave the white house staff. they cn advise the president but from the outside. my question to you is, as much as wknow about what's happen, how much jeopardyould he be in? >> well, i will point t it's a high standard for a prosecutor to prove bribery of a government official. it's not enough to show benefit went back and forth. prosecutors are required to show quid pro quo, this for that, before they can prove bribery, so i think e has exposure. if i was advising him, i would sa he definitely has crimil exposure, but, at the same time, i think it would be a tough job forcu pror to make that very high standard of quid pro quo based on what we know today. though, of course, we may not know everything. >> woodruff: for sure. evan osnos, it's a different standard to judge "jeopardy" from a political and a foreign policy making perspective. but how do you size that? >> well, the problem for h this is a problem that is not

going to go away. sometimes when you have scandal, it's because you did something and that problem is behind you and the behaviors over. this is a structural problem in the nature of jared kushner's employment in the white house, and as long as he retains the foreign assets and as long as he continues to have these kinds of problems with a securityra cle, it's not going to go away, it's going to be what we in washingto call a distraction for the white house, it takes energy and makes it difficultto for hie effective inside the american system and in his officials.th foreign >> woodruff: at the very least, one more headache for this white house that has its shar evan osnos, patrick cotter, thank you very much. >> you're welcome. thanks, judy. >> woodruff: stay with us, coming up on the newshour: making sense of companies' responses to the national gun dete. and a brief but spectacular take on why music is key to learning.

as the me too movement has grown to include problems in lugovernment, we have an eve investigation tonight about the u.s. forest service and allegations of longtime sexualen misconduct andr discrimination within the agency. fromts inception in 1905, th forest service has been a male- dominated field. even today, women make up only a third of the service and even less, just 13%, with the ranks of forest service firefighters,r who peextremely dangerous and important work across the country. but as william brangham and our production team report, women o say that ny have they faced harassment and discrimination, but when they speak out about it, they are punished even more. >> he was like, "i'm glad you're on the cw because you're sexy usd you have a nice ass." and i was like, "eme?" >> brangham: this is your boss? >> yes, yes. >> brangham: last summer

michaela myers was working as a refighter in oregon with the u.s. forest service. as she detailed in a formal complaint, she was repeatedly sexually harassed by her older male supervisor. >> and then he would touch me, he'd grope my butt, my waist. it was just uncomfortable. >> brangham: at first, she debated whether report him: she said a male colleague warned her not to. >> he was like, "well if you want to stay in re, this is gonna happen and you can report it and face retaliation or youca do nothing and stay in fire." >> brangha those were the choices you were given? >> yes. >> brangham: speak up and get beaten down for it, or deal with it. >> yeah, yeah. >> brangham: and michaela myers is not alone. the pbs newshour has spoken to 34 women across 13 states who claim they've experienced gender discrimination, sexual harassment and in some cases, sexual assault and rape in the u.s. forest service, and many

said when they spoke up, they faced retaliation. newshour producer elizabeth flock has en reporting this story for months. >> what really came through to us was this culture of retaliation that they talked about and when they reported misconduct the reprisal they face which took so many different forms from withholding of training to denying or stripping their duties and sort of a slow chipping-away of them until these women felt they weren't a part of the workforce. >> brangham: this issue first got national attention in late 2016, when forest service employees from california told congress about rampant sexual harassment and retaliation. >> he had taken a letter opener, he poked my breast, both breasts, with a smile on his face in an arrogant way, like he could get away with it. i stood there in shock. he has cornered me in the bathroom, he has lif shirt

up, he has stalked me. >> brangham: representative trey gowdy pressed lenise lago, who's a senior official in the forest servic >> if memory serves her perpetrator was allowed to retire. is that correct? >> yes. >> you mean to tell me that someone can engage in the conduct ms. rice just described and avoid all consequence atsoever? >> per the federal regulations, yes. someone can retire or resign in lieu of being removed. >> brangham: we asked the u.s. forest service to talk with us on camera about this. i'm standing in front of their headquarters right now. they declined our requests. off-camera, a senior official said they have taken steps to address this problem. they've established a toll-free hotline where employees can file complaints, and later this year, they'lhave mandatory anti- harassment training for all employees. >> i would come home just covered in either sootr dirt from working and i really liked that part of it. >> brangham: abby bolt is a

battalion chief in california's sequoinational forest. when she first g into firefighting 20 years ago, she knew it was a tough and macho abvironment. she didn't complait the pornography left on her truck seat, or the physical hazing. and later, as she rose through the ranks of the forest service, she saw other women speak up, and suffer for it.ch >> wg somebody that would file a complaint, or make a complaint, immediately became the problem. we have the term "that girl," or thhose girls". >> brangham: " girl." >> i don't want to be one of "those girls." i've introduced myself that foy to people . i'm like, "hey, i'm abby. don't worry, i'm not one of those girls" or... >> brangham: one of those girls wring someone who simply says, "that behavior ig, let's do something about it." >> exactly. i was trained that way. don't be one of those girls >> brangham: bolt says six years ago she had a harrowing experience where this culture of not-complaining came back to haunt her. in 2012, while she was fighting

a fire in colorado along with multiple other agencies, another firefighter, not from the forest service, raped her. >> it was in a hotel room, toward the end of the assignment and... i just don't think i can say the word, but... we knowy what sexuasaulted means, right? i woke up the next day covered in bruises. and i was just like, "this is not happening. i'm not this person. i'm not this girl." >> brangham: she got a rape kit and filed a police report, butdn she di end up pressing charges, and didn't report it to the forest service. >> i could just see this whole process going down, and the only person that was going to lose everything in their berld was gonne and my family. they were gonna-- i've seen how it goes down. the person that complains becomes the tra. >> brangham: this firefighte did report her attack, and soon

felt like she was the problem. she asked to remain anonymous,ic and for her to be changed, out of fear of retribution. her story began two years ago when she was working a fire in montana and was raped by another fost service firefighter. >> what turned into just a normal drinking night with a few buddies turns into basically me, resulted in me being raped. woke up and my barracks had been rummaged through, i had no clothes on, i had no sheets. i feltshamed that i had been partying or been letting loose,d like iomehow brought this upon myself. that was how i initially felt. i really didn't want to go forward. i did not want to tell anybody. i didn't. i really didn't l. i fee it was going to be more problems. >> brangham: but she did repor it. her rapist was arrested and she believes fired by the forest service.

she was satisfied at first, but then, she was transferred immediely to a new forest. >> when i showed up to the new forestthey denied me any classes, any courses, any trainings. >> brangham: when she complained and asked to go back, she says t thed to force her out. this was all within a month of her rape. >> what they said was, "this isn't the meeting i know that you were expecti, but we've had some complaints that you anve had a vulgar language, showed innuendosbeen inappropriate." >> brangham: what do you think is going on there? >> i think that i was a problem. i think that my privacy was not protected, that my story was known. and that i was a problem because i was speaking out because i was telling about a sexuault. stat's exactly how i felt. that's how i feeill. >> brangham: rather than bed, fihe says she was advised to resign, that way she could take another position withinhe service, which she did.

the forest service wouldn't talk specifics about any particular woman's case, citing privacy concerns. last year, michaela my decided to report her supervisor's alleged groping.d >> i wanstice, but i wasn't in it for some personal vendetta. i don't want this to happen to other women. and, i don't want him to do it in the future. >> brangham: her complaint ftailed several instances inappropriate physical contact. once he "rubbed butt," another time it was her "inner thigh." another time he "grabbed breasts," put his hand between her legs and groped her. two months later, the forest service sent her a let >> it said, an investigation against allegations of misconduct was conducted, and we found that there was no misconduct. so then, it just feels like you're like screaming into a void, like, his happened," and nobody hears that.

or, they hear it, and don't believe it at al. >> brangham: her case was closed, and that supervisorin cos to work for the forest service. despite that, she's going to wo another season with the forest service, this time in washington. she says she had inquiries from several states, but not oregonwo where shed before. >> i'm on some oregon blacklist, the oregon metoo blacklist.er it'smuch a good old boys' culture. it's a man's world, in fire. or, they think it is. >> brangham: abby bolt says, completely separate from being w rapehich, remember, she did not report, she's also enduredon years of cstent bullying and harassment from her supervisors. she says it intensified after she filed a gender discrimination complaint in 2014. incently, she's been getting anonymous, intimidnotes at work. one singled out that she was

single-mother, another an article insinuating she manipulator. when she officially complained, s told "the investigation could not proceed as there was no accused person to iew." last october someone scrawled" quhe" onto the window o vehicle. bolt says the cumulative effect of all this bullying is wearing her down. >> i have sat in my truck, in never-- after the note ithat were lefouldn't get out of my truck. i would pull up to the office and i just couldn't get out. i don't know. i felt so weak. you think you're crazy. i mean, i've really gone through a lot of this like, "i am crazy." because, i'm-- you have official people from l the way at the shington office level, telling you in documents, that none of it's-- they're either not going to look into it or they've nied your grievance, or, you spoke up and they said, "there's nothing to see here." and you start to feel nuts. >> brangham: bolt worries speaking out now means the retaliation is only going to get worse, but she wants other women to know they're not alone.

>> there's so many wen out there that are so afraid. you know, i've talked to them and i've said, "you need to speak up." and i'll hear, "i'm so close toe rent abby, i can't." or, "i've come this far." or, "i have to support my family and i can't do that." if i lose my job now, but it helps make it a little bit better. i'm at the point where i stand up for what's right. and if that-- at this point if that's what it means, then, that's what means. >> brangham: tomorrow night, we'll look more at the retaliation womein the forest service face when they speak out. for the pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in sequoia national forest. >> woodruff: thareport was produced by lorna baldwin and emily carpeaux, and included extensive reporting by elizabeth flock and joshua barajas. online, you can read our expanded coverage of allegations of sexual misconduct and reprisals within the u.s. forest service. hear more womens' stories, see photos and vid a. thatpbs.org/newshour.

>> woodruff: let's return to the debate and reaction around guns, and the calls for new action. many notable companies are aymping into the fray in a w they have not previously. in a moment, hari sreenivasan will have a converthtion about .rr economics coespondent, paul solm begins our look with th update, part of our weekly series, "making sense." >> reporter: 17 students and educators were gunned down in parkland, florida, two weeks ago, and corporate america is responding. kroger announced today that its fred meyer stores will no longer sell firearms and ammunition to buyers under 21. joining walmart, which claims 130 million americans shpers a month. walmart did stop selling high- powered rifles like the ar-15 in 2015, but said "this is done solely on customer demand."

yesterday, however, walmart announced that "in light of recent events," it isalso removing items resembling assault-style rifles" from its website: toy weapons, that is. the first company to restrict sales this week was dick's sporting goods, which not only raised the minimum age for purchasing guns to 21, but announced an immediate halt to the sale of all assault-style rifles. c.e.o. edward stack told abc's "good morning america" that parkland was the tipping point. >> looking at those kids and those parents it moved us all unimaginablynd to think about the loss that those kids and those parents had, we said we need to do s taking these guns out of all of our stores permanently. >> reporter: the retailer announcements come as other nampanies are trying to distance themselves from thonal rifle association. united airlines will no longer offer discounts to its members.

nor ll rental car agencies hertz and enterprise. nor insurer metlife. and atlanta-based delta airlines will discontinue reduced rates for n.r.a. members. th prompted georgia's lieutenant governor casey cagle to threaten retaliation. >> i'm tired of conservatives being kicked around on our values and it's time that stand up and fight and show corporations that conservative values are important. >> reporter: cagle presides ovee thgia senate, which today passed a tax bill that includes stripping a long-standing jet fuel tax break for delta. as for the n.r.a., it has called the moves made by delta and others "a shameful display of political and civic cowardice. the loss of a discount will neither scare nor distract one single n.r.a. member from our mithion to stand and defend and some companies are maintaining their relationship with the n.r.a. fedex continues to offer shipping discounts to n.r.a.

members though it says it disagrees with the n.r.a.'s stance on assault weapons. this is economics corrolpondent pauln for the pbs newshour. >> sreenivasan: this may be relatively uncharted territory i whcomes to guns and ammunition. but there's a history of corporatamerica taking actions on other divisive issues, with mixed results.n nancy koacks these kind of corporate actions and is watching the developments this week.bu she's ness historian at the harvard business school. and joins me now. so, sadly, there have been several mass shootings companies could havtaken a stand on. what's different now? >> i think we've reached some kind of tipping point, pre harin terms of public opinion, public demand for action, a sense that the line has been crossed and something has to be done that's distinguishethis moment from other moments after great tragedies in these mass shootings. >> sreenivasan: how much risk is it these companies are

facing? are they doing economic calculations saying this is all the possible a customers who n.r.a. members i might upset but there are more gun owners n n.r.a. members and more people who don't own guns? >> there is always an important element of calculaon and making smart bets and thinking of alternative scenarioso any act of governance, anything a serious leader does, so i think that's a part of this but i don't thinkhat's the entire story. i don't think most of these companies, these men and women the top ofompanies, are thinking, i need to get the n.r.a. i think this is aboute need to change the rules of engagement, and we nee to pressure the most important representativfo group gun owners into leading thee responsin safety. i think this is about how do we begin some kind of chain of m action thaes a positive differen h. so the piee is partly

about calculation. it's partly about what will my employees, my invesrs, my community, my consumers think, and then there is the piece that's simply about men and women who lead, wanting to take constructive action in something they do every day which is to try to move organizations toward a desired end.en >> sasan: you have the situation of a backlash in the case of delta airlines in georgia and the tax breaks they could have gotten, this is a ngconsequence of them ta a position. >> yes, it most certainly, is and i suspect delta will nt be the only large corporation that suffers some kind of backlash or negative consequences of that company taking a std on this issue. but again, you know, governance saulde about tfs and -- is all about tradeoffs or reaction in the end in the face of something more positive. i think a the companies decided to weigh in on this.

kick sporting goods says no more assault riflesold and raising the age for gun owners. wal-mart follows within 24 hours. ere's the aspect of leaders looking at others and saying, they're willing to take heat, i'm willing to take the heat, not only for my organization, but a piece of this is also always about the leader's moralompass. >> sreenivasan: put this in historical perspective for us. on the o hand, how long do consumers remember why they're boycotting something, and then you look at something like divestment in south africa that was slow but led to change. >> this is one of these answers that typically consumersoycott or retaliate against a brand or come back to it or have short attention spans. but we've seen, over time, this kind of action not only ofbu consumer activists,

employers, bankers, investors tlooking atir portfolios vis-a-vis gun manufacturers. that part mak a difference over time. not in one fell swoop, but over time, great changes have happened from this kind of unorchestrated but -- and unorthodox action with business playing a role. >> sreenivasan: nancy koehn of harvard business school. thank you so much for joining us. hank you for having me. >> oodruff: next, we turn to another installment of our weekly brief but spectacular w serire we ask people about their passions. tonight, we hear from stanford thompson, founder of "play on, philly!" he explains why access to music is crucial in the classrm. >> i grew up in a musical a household anta. and i have seven siblings. we all played music.

my parents are both retired music educators and we alwaysru had in our house that you only ate on the days that you practiced parents, they grew up at a they taught me and my siblings growing up that we would have opportunities that they didn't. and if we took advantage of them, then we could see ourselves on a path to become a professional musician. i was able to study with musicians with the atlanta symphony orchestra and word really hard for several years to earn a spot at the curtis institute of music in philadelphia. i was able to play the staples of the orchestral and chamber music repertoire with worldon renownedctors and musicians just about every week. i went back to philadelphia in 2010 and founded play on philly, which now serves over 300 students every day after school for three hours. we work in uer resourced neighborhoods, mainly in west philadelphia.

and each student is able to access our program tuition free, and able to get access to get high quaty instruments and teachers on a daily basis. it might sound like that our aim is for these kids to become professional musicians. we really care most about them becoming really great people. our kids aretill performing a letter grade ahead in every academic subject.we annow it's because we teach them to expand theiron memory, tool inhibition, to help them lengthen the amount of time that they can focus on something. these are ills that they learn the moment they begin to make music. take a violinist. they have to figure on their left hand where to put their finger to create a certain pitch. their right hand, of course, will then control how long nothey're able to hold tha. they also have to look at the music and determine which note they are supposed to play, how loud, or maybe how fast or how slow. when you stimulate the brain like that for hours single day, then that's what helps to

turn the clock on somee damage that is done because of the amount of stress they live with. and, of course, brain development that's important, especially for younger kids, to make sure that they can go back into a classroom, focus for a longer period of time, be ablee to memorize formation so they can go home and do the homework, and then recall it later at the end of the year on a on a standardized test. we all have the responsibility of providing the bestst ments to the poorest kids. that we provide the best teacrs to the most marginalized kids. and that we continue to provide the best musical oppores for the most vulnerable kids. my name is stanford th and this is my brief but spectacular take on how music can create harmony and portunity. >> woodrf: you can watch ditional brief but spectacular episodes on our website, pbs.org/newshour/brief. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff.

join uonline and again here tomorrow evening with mark shields and david brooks. for all of us at the pbs ur, thank you and see y soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: c sumer cellular understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> supported by the rockefeller foundation. promoting the well-being ofth humanity arounworld by building resilience and inclusive economies. more at rockefellerfoundation.org >> and with the ongoing support ofhese institutions and individuals.

>> this program was possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. ca ioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org tigate

tigate some untold stors from america's past. eduardo: this week, whaest story this drawing tell of life a german p.o.w. camp? this is a treasure, a rare one. tukufu: how did a daring inventor plan to connect the united states to europe? gwendolyn: and, in an encore presentation, is this shell from a terrifying peacetime attack en the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wound hed 'causes got no heart ♪