captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshr tonight: president trump declares, "trade wars are good," rattlingma republican lrs and global markets, and prompting calls from other countries to retaliate. then, caught beneath the bombs. hundreds are killed in syria's eastern ghouta region under a relentless attack by government forces. and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to talk about turmoil inside the white house, and ther ident's shifting stance on gun control. plus, the world's highest paid actress, jennifer wrence, speaks about her new film, ander geisparities in hollywood. >> if we aren't paid equally, then why would we-- why would women expect to be treated equally?

so, i think the power struggle, it's created a very sick dynamic in hollywood, that's very easy to take advantage of. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us.

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>> woodruff: fears of trade wara with u.s. alli other countries are escalating tonight, after president trump's promise to slap tariffs on steel and aluminum. there have been calls for the president to dial back his plan, and the rhetoric and threats are intensifying at home and abroad. the news of presidentrump's decision made for rocky trading overnight asian and european stock markets. it also led toough words from foreign governments, now that president trump has announced that he plans to slap a 25% tariff on steel imports to the u.s., and a 10% tariff on aluminum imports. france's finance minister put washington on notice: >> ( translated ): the united states should know that if these unilateral decions are confirmed, they would call for a strong, coordinated and united respon from the european union.

all options are on the table. >> woodruff: they were backed ut european union, which said today that it would be ready to react. e >> t. has been a close security ally to the u.s. for decades. we will not sit idly while our industry is hit wi unfair measures that put thousands of european jobs at risk.>> oodruff: china's foreign ministry raised concerns about other countries following th u.s.'s lead. >> ( translated ): the u.s. adopting anti-dumping and anti- subsidy tariffs in hunof cases of imported steel and aluminum products is to cessively protect their domestic products. if all countries imitate the u.s. approach, then this would have a grave impact on therd global trade. >> woodruff: and in canada today, prime minister justin trudeau warned that a tariff would be disruptive. >> that is why we were impressing upon the american administration the unacceptable nature of these proposals, that aritgoing to hurt them every as much as they are going to hurt us.f:

>> woodror his part, president trump dismissed the criticism. in a tweet early this morning, r erenced u.s. trade deficits, and insisted that, "trade wars are good, and easy to win." on "cnbc" today, his commerce secretary wilbur ross defended the decision. >> if we aren't the least- protectionist major country in the world, please tell me, who is? you know what? they had no answer. so, what's really been going on is the other countries have been picking away at us, dumping materials in here, subsidizing eir industries, and we haven't been fighting back. >> woodruff: but there wasld opposition bg here at home, including among some republicans. in a statement, nebraska senator ben sasse called the policynt "kooky 18th y protectionism that will jack up prices on american families" and "kill american jobs-- that's what every trade war ultimately does." wisconsin governor scott walker,

who has been a dependable allysi of the pnt, joined a g.o.p. backlash. he said it would ld to "the exact opposite outcome of the administration's stated objective, which is to protect american jobs."is president trumxpected to formally sign his tariff decision next week. he has not yet announced which countries will be named and ich would be exempted. worries about trade wars and interest rates sent wall street on more sharp ings. the dow jones industrial average ll nearly 400 points, be rebounding. it finished with a loss of 71 points to close at 24,538. the nasdaq rose 77 points, and the s&p 500 added 13. for the week, the dow lost 3%. the nasdaq fell 1%, ands& thdropped 2%. in the day's other news, more questions arose about president trump's calls for gun contromeasures. he met last night with the head of the n.r.a.

later, that official, chris cox, tweeted that the president and vice president "support the second amenent, support strong due process and do not want gun control." today, press secretary sarah sanders said the president's only promise to the n.r.a. wasat he will continue to support the second amendment."al sander pushed back today against reports that national securi adviser h.r. mcmaster is on his way out. she said that president trump is happy with the three-star general, despite news reports to the contrary. >> look, general mcmaster is not going anywhere. as the presidentaid yesterday in the oval office to a number of the people, he thinks he's doing a great job, and glad 's here. >> woodruff: meanwhile, white house chief of staff john kelly publicly defended his handling of the ouster of a top aide. rob porter resigned nearly a month ago over allegations of domestic abuse.el today, conceded some

mistakes, but contrary to widespread reports, denied he had known about the much earlier. and, he said, "i have absolutely nothing to even consider resigning over." a powerful late-winter storm roared across the northeast today, with wind gusts almost 80 miles an hour. near-record high tides and heavy rain triggered flooding, and the strong winds led to cancellations of more than 2,800 flights and halting of amtra train service. in washington, powerful gusts shut down federal offices, museums and other attractions. >> it's just a really windy day. i did not expect this. it's like 70-mile-per-hour winds, and i'm trying to see the monuments by foot, which is a little crazy. >> woodruff: parts of new york and ohio got a foot of snow out of the storm, and, all told, some 700,000 homes and businesses lost power. heavy rain also fell across southern california, amid fears of new mudslides in areas burned

bare by wildfires. people in montecito had piled sandbags, fearing the kind of destruction that ravaged the town in january, but there was no major damage this time.r, lavacuation orders were lifted for some 30,000 people. in west africa, islamist extremists struck todan i the former french colony of burkina faso. the attackers targeted the french embsy and army headquarters in the capital city, killing eight soldiers and police.ll thick smoke biowed from the army building as gunfire and explosions filled the air for hours. the french foreign minister praised the response. >> ( translated ): the french embassy was attacked by a group of terrorists, who were neutralized thanks to t actions of the police and the military personnel who protect our embassy.e it showsed to continue the fight against these groups witht lots ongth and tenacity.

>> woodruff: eight of the militants were also killed, and morehan 90 people were wounded. later, the u.s. state department advised americans not to travel to burkina faso for now.it the states will not restore its embassy staff in cuba to full strength. it was cut by 60% after unexplaid "health attacks" that caused hearing loss and ringing in the ears, among other symptoms. today, the state department said it is making the staff reduction permanent. back in this country, it appears the worst of the flu season has passed. the centers for disease control and prevention reportey that the number of cases peaked in early february, and is now declining. fl is still unclear why this season's vaccine did not work better than it did. and, the reverend billy graham was laid to rest today, after a funeral at the graham library in charlotte, north carolina. president trump and vice president nce were among the 2,000 mourners who gathered under a large tent. s graham's son, franklin, e

main speaker. >> the billy graham that the world saw in the big stadiums was the same billy graham that we saw at home. there weren't two billy grahams. loved his family. he stood by us, he comforted us, he left us an enduring lacy. >> woodruff: billy gham died last week at the age of 99. he was buried today next to his wife, ruth, on family property. still to come the newshour: tithe unimaginable destruc of a damascus suburb, that is still under bombardment. the retaliation that women ine s. forest service face after reporting discrimination. attempts to devep a coffee plant that can resist the effects of climate change. and,uch more.

>> woodruff: there was no let up in the bombing, or the suffering, today for hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the eastern guta suburbs of syria's capital, damascus. as nick schifrin reports, weeks of attacks have killed hundreds, marking one of this utal war's most-brutal moments. >> reporter: among the ruined remains of eastern ghouta, there are few places left to hide. after seven years, the u.n. says there are no longer any words that can do justice to the destruction, the desperation,e ildren whose entire lives have been spent at war. the children who will die having known nothing but war. it was seven years a that eastern ghouta was a green suburb of damascus. it was one of the first places to rise up against syrian president bashar al-assad. today, the u.n. calls it "hell on earth," and the potential site of crimes against humanity.

400,000 civilians without food, water, or electricity. in the last two weeks, more than 650 civilians have been killed, and thousands injured, by russian and syrian planes, and a ground assault the syrianli mitary says is advancing and targeting rebel groups fighting the regime. >> ( translated ): we are all civilis, why are they dropping the barrels on us? they've terrified the children and destroyed our homes. >> reporter: there's supposeto be a daily, five-hour ceasefire, pushed by assad's main ally, ssian president vladimir putin. and now, president trump is calling for a national 30-day asefire. but the firing has not ceased. >> ( translated ): what truce? we are hiding in the basements. russian strikes and barrel rubombs. what? what sort of regime is this? god have vengeance. >> reporter: there's supposed to be a humanitarian corridor manned by russn and syrian forces. the u.n. says not a single

civilian has evacuated. the only corridors in easternre ghouta todayraps. >> assad and his allies want the civilians of eastern ghouta too walk ie arms of a regime that has been attacking them and starving them for the last seven years. >> reporter: on ghouta's once- busytreets, an ambulance is bombed out and abandoned. the humanitarian group syrian- keerican mcal society, or sams, says airstrihave destroyed nearly every medical facility, including a children's hospital. local doctors operate without electricity or basic medical supplies. >> ( translated ): the escalation has been night and day, and the staff have been woing non-stop. the blood is flowing and the hospitals are overflowing with patients, and there are no places to evacuate them. >> reporter: and in the basement, dr. hamza treats a terrified 13-year-old, mohammad khadawardi. he,as injuries to his trach esophagus, and spinal cord. he is paralyzed from the waist down, and is dying of starvation.

>> t heart under the skin directly, because of no muscular mass. >> reporter: aid groups say mor than a thousople need immediate medical evacuations. aid convoys still aren't givence .f >> allese people, they need life-saving evacuations. doese people will die during the next few days if wt remove them. white helme the rescue group accuses assad of using chlorine. they say a chemical attack this week killed more than a dozen civilians, including child. syrian and russian officials say chlorine attacks are by rebel groups.it they call the helmets "fake news," and accuse rebels of trapping civilians andin igating the violence. >> ( transled ): u.s. and its allies are simply exploiting baseless allegations of toxic weapons use by damas a tool of anti-syrian geopolitical engineering. >> repter: the u.s., whose priority remains isis, responds

with accusations that russia hsu failed to en the destruction of syria's chemical weapons, and is assad's enabler. >> its continued denial of the assad's regime culpability of the use of chemical weapons is simply incredible. >> diplomatically and militarily, moscow plays bothar nist and firefighter, fueling tensions among all viparties in syria, then s as an arbitrator, to resolve disputes. >> reporter: this week, russian president vladimir putin left the door open for further intervention. he told reporters russia will not "endlely tolerate" rebel attacks during the so-called truce. but for the residents of easrn ghouta, there is no truce. and there are no longer any words. only a father whose son survived, expressing relief. and a father whose son died, ying goodbye. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.

>> woodruff: now, to the latest on our exclusive investigation about sexual harassment, and retaliation, in the s. forest service. last night, william brangham and our team reported on allegations of misconduct we have heard from women across the country. the report also included stories of sexual assault. we have a closer look tonight at some of the retaliation these women faced over the years. but first, we have new information about complaints that aegedly reach all the way to the top of the agency. william is here again, now, with more. so, william, tell us more about these new allegations. >> the allegations pertain to the very head of the forest service a man named tony took. the allegations are ones we heard throughout the course of our reporting, allegations of sexual misconduct committed by him when he was not the chief earlier. they involved relations with subordinates is the complaint we

heard. we asked about thiesmany tim in the forest service and very early this week they said, tonyh took a perfectly fine employment record. that's all they'd sayabout this. after our stories aired last night online and on the broadcast we got a new statement from the forest service saying, in fact, an investigation into these complain was underway. >> woodruff: so they are looking into this now? >> that's rd ht. we heom tony took himself this evening and he said's cooperating with the investigation, supports it and hopes to be treated in te same standard as any other forest service employee. >> woodruff: thinking back the reporting last night, you laid out clearly the kinds of harassment and assault these women have been subjected to. it is such a hostile environment. why do these women go into the forest service in the first place? >> they love the work. honestly, every woman we talked to loved the ideaf the forest, the mission of the forest. these are incredibly strong

women. they're athlek, they love the challenge. they love firefighting outdoors and the chains and axes. but the environment they work ins s a macho male-dominated field. if you had to create a ripe breeding ground for harrisment, this is it. you are far away from civilization. no human resources office nearby when you're fighting a fire. it's a tough envirment to work in. we talked and heard this from a lot of different women. one of the women we spoke with in our reporting is a woman named janelle wner, part of a class action complaint against the forest service allegingsc gender mination, and she gave a description of what it's like to be a wan in the forest service. >> i was put in the most remote place. iforced to sit and watch porn movies because that's what you did if you want your job the next year. they dropped trees on my head, rocks in my back, destroyed my

lunch, did ever phingsible to wash me out. >> woodruff: so hard. the womentaoued to were fearful of speaking out, yous. told it was really hard for them to do. how did they overcome that? and you heard that a lot. >> the fear was, inevlmosty single person we talked to, people were very reluctant to speak ut. in fact, of our colleagues talked with a woman for a long time on the telephonend she called back hater and said please destroy the notes of my conversation forear they'd somehow get out. one womanrt re after she reported retaliation she had to go to the won't with what she thought was a nervous breakdown in response. darla bush is also a part of the class action complaint. she said when she got pregnant, she was a señor firefighter, pregnant wh twins and her supervisor tells her immediately you're useless, you're useless to the forest service and he tells this to her over and over and over ain. when sh complains, she said the

retaliation got worse. >> once you say something, there's no shutting that door and you get a target on your back, has been my experience. if you open yourouth and you speak up in regards to your standards or what should be right or wrong, there's nooing back. >> after o program aired last night, we put a tip line on our web site ti line@"newshour".org, people can send us e-mails. we've heard dozens of women echoing this same thing, that when u mplain of something in the forest service, you get hammered for it. >> woodruff: it's clear some women felt they had to speak out, they've had the courage too hat and think it's important. what is driving them? the #metoo movement? something else? >> i think the #metoo movement has something to do this especially the younger women of the forest service. you see other industries talking

about it and that's i think culturally we're realizing this kind of behavior is not able. that said, there are a lot of nlder women in the forest service who have b arguing and complaining publicly about thisor years andre irritated that only now is the media starting to pay attention to it. darlene hall, also in this class action complaint, describ this sort of retaliation. >> this has been going on so long and it's getting so big and so that it's not going to go away and it's about time that it gets out there, and, so, people are held accountable, because they haven't for yearshe all the way totop. if we stand up, i hope others will stand up because they're destroying a lot of good peoplea >> woodruff: y your team throughout the process have been trying to get comments, reaction fromthe forest servic it's been difficult to do that until the last couple of days and just now. >> that's right. throughout the entire process, judy, we asked the forest

service, give us someone on camera to ta with us about this. they wouldn't provide anyone. nobody would talk with us on camera. off camera, an official said to us, we understand this is a prlem, we are trying to fix it, we have set up a tip line where employees can ca the forest service and make complaints. they're trying to standardize anti-harassment training for everemployee. so until tonight, though, we didn't get a formal statement from them, whichid we just as we went to air. this is an excerpt of what they had to say. the stories the forest service employees shared are important to hear, difficult andeart wrenching as they may be. undersres there are elemes of sexual harassment in the forest service that existed and continue today, we acknowledge we have more work to do. s the forevice is committed to permanently changing our culture to create the workplace we all deserve. we'll post the entire statemen on our web site. >> woodruff: i know you and

your colleagues will continue to keep an eye on all of this. william brangham, thank you very much. excellent reporting. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay withs. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and david brooks aweigh in on a chaotic we the white house. and, jennifer lawrence discusses her latest endeavor-- playing a russian spy. now, how climate change might affectour breakfast habit. in his next installment in a series oreports from el salvador, fred de sam lazaro examines how cfee growers are caught in the middle of an industry affected by global rming temperatures, forcing some to head for the cities, ort evnorth america. >> rorter: if you want to se what's driven tens of thousands of salvadorians to leave this

region-- many for the u.s.-- come to this country's coffee growing highlands. the arabica beans from here were once a source of pride, and 50% of the country's exports. but el salvador's coffee crop ost completely wiped o five years ago by a disease called leaf rust. acss central america, some 1.7 million jobs were lost, and growers who survived must contend now with another threat that looms large: warming temperatures over the past four decades. a scramble is on to save this staple from what experts say is an existential threat. >> this hybrid is very weakened by climate conditions. >> reporter: benoit bertrand leads a team of researchers at the industry-funded world coffee research, which is grafting new hybrid seedlings, trying to develop plants that can adapt to a changi climate. so you are racing against time? >> yes, we are racing against time. >> reporter: he was examining some hybrid plants on an

experimental farm outside santa ana, el salvador, and ngdn't like what he was se >> you can see there, on this branch, for example, all the nodes are flowering in january. >> reporter: two months before th should be? >> two months, yes. >> reporter: early flowering means the plants must endure two more dry season monthslowering the bean quality, even in hybrids like this one, called f1, a sturdier variety, first introduced to central america seven years ago. >> these are the most vigorous plants that we canreate today. so if this affects f1 hybrids, it's worse when affecting traditional varieties. >> rorter: in this test fiel there are 48 different families of coffee plants, each bred with different characteristics. >> this one, the vigor is not satisfactory for it's condition. >> reporter: the leaves are not

nearly as green and it just doesn't look as healthy. >> if the plant is healthy, it can resist. it can tolerate more and more disease. and when a plant is really ioweakened by climate cond, it cannot resist. >> reporter: that's what's made jorge garcia's crop vulnerable to the rust sease. he and other growers blame the steadily rising temperatures in these highlands, hurtilant that thrives in cooler conditions. >> ( translated ): we never thought it would be as bad as it's ended up being. >> reporter: how much did yoseu >> ( translated ): basically, we lost everything. >> reporter: jorge garcia is a small farmer near jayaque, about an hour west of san salvador. the holes throughout his farm mark where coffee trees once frd. 15 miles away, wilo ramos heads a cooperative of 57 small coffee farmers.

he says many of his members had to stop farming in the wake of the epidemic. >> ( translated ): in order to surve, many of our wives ha to move to the city to work as domestic help, and the men hadno to finfarm jobs. >> reporter: many are now in the process of trying to rebuild their farms. we watched as some of his members weighed their most rece harvest. last year's crop was down 90% from pre-epidemic levels. ramos thinks this year may bring better new still, he says, it's been very difficult. >> ( translated ): we are having trouble getting credit from the banks. and since credit is limited, we don't have the money to explore new areas of production. >> reporter: one organization that has been trying to help is blue harvest, a non-profit run by catholic relief services. f it teachmers new methods to counteract the signs of climate chge. kraig kraft is one of the advisors.

>> what they're facing requires more knowledge, more tools. we're also introducing techniques to lower the temperature, increasing the humidity of the soil through mulching, increasing the amount of shade that's on the farm. all of that drives the temperature lower on the farm. >> reporter: blue harvest is also encouraging farmers to brch out to new crops, something that farmer jorge garcia has decided to do. >> ( translated ): we are no trying to grow cocoa. my expectation is that in two years, we will be in a better position here at the farm. >> repter: but cocoa, which requires a great deal of water, isn't a perfect solution either. some larger farmers, like carlos borgonovo, have decided to completely renovate their fields, planting new cfee plants and adopting new techniques, like aggressively pruning trees to stimulateh. vigorous growt for the last two years, he's al organized a conference coffee growers, large and small, to try to develop and share best

practices in the face of the growing threat. >> one of the major challenges we have is to make a coordinated effort as a country-- all stakeholders are in this-- and push a renovation project with these new varieties and agrillltural practices that wi allow us to produce more cofe and be sustainable over time. >> reporter: borgonovo can afford new hybrid plants, d he's excited by the possilities of the second generation hybrids, being grafted here onto sturdier root systems, in an attempt to breed more vigorous, disease-resistan. plan but that's not an easy solution for the small farmers, says blue harvest's kraig kraft. >> these plants are expensive. it's 2.5 times wt coffee plants cost, and these farmers don't ha access to credit. this investment takes four to five years to y off.

so i think these hybrids have incredible potential. now how wed like to k get these in the hands of the small farmers. >> reporter: rtoring el salvador's coffee crop-- which has now dropped to just 2% of the country's exports-- is not only a matter of pride, bourgonovo says, it's a matter of economic security.s >> ibig creator of jobs. we used to employ 300,000 people a year. t w we're down to 86,000. it's a way to prevgration to cities, and prevent emigration to e u.s. and mexico. >> reporter: for consumers, coffee will always be available. but at what price? experts say it's hard to tell. and the key threat, they add, ie to some oforld's highest quality beans, around which a multi-billion-dollar industry has evolved over the past two decades. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro outside nta ana, el salvador.

>> woodruff: fred's reporting is a partnership with the under-told stories project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: it waanother whirlwind week in washington: ; other high-profile departure from the white houesh scrutiny over the president's son-in-law; and an escalation in the war of words between mr. trump and his attorney general. all this, as the president made surprise declarations on trade and gun control. isat brings us to the anal of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks. welcome, gentlemen. so so much going on this week, o barelywhere to begin. at the white house, mark, the president' closest aide announced she's leaving.

he has a con son in law under a lot of scrutiny over alleged conflicts of interest. he has a chief of staff raising questions again about how he handled the firing of an aide over domestic abuse and on and on. the leaks seem to just be flowing in a gusher every day. what matters in all of this? >> what matters is chaos in the ite house is bad for the united states and bad for the world.o there's rationale order. i mean, for example, what you've described, the morale at the white hose, fromvery report, is just incredibly low. to work in any white house, judy, is an act of both self-ac- self-sacrifice and self-interest. you miss anniversaries, birthdays and your cldren's recitrecitals.

but you get status and recognition. all that is missing. that aivil war in a leper coony. there issense of direction. there was n preparation for tariffs, no preparation politically, no preparation for macang , no preparation for the press, no preparation within the white house, it's all act on impulse and chaos the whim of the president himself. >> woodruff: there's almost a temptation, david, a look at this as a sideshow. but there are rencal conseq, aren't there? >> i'm trying to think of historical paralleln we've had this much chaos in the american presidency. richard nixon had bad days at the end but ah very h quality staff. woodrow wilson had a stroke. i'm going thugh the list. i can't think of anything like this where we had the mbination of semicompetent or missing staff and emotionally or

intellectually unstable president. reince priebus said in an interview a not long ago, when you look from the outside, it's 50times worse on the inside. we're getting a glimpse. i think the key thing, the mosat impo thing, it has real-world consequences. we're not just fighting overa whether he has military parade is not. the steel tariff real consequences. the isrd one of allies said is he made the decision because he bame unglued. so when a president makes a decision because he becomes unglued, a decision totally innc avoiof the entire process, and then to combine the chaos of et, hees is tweet this morning which to me was a topper even by trump staards that a trade war is good and easily won, a con isn't that no economist or historian of any stripe could think of as anythingther than crazy. so it's extremely disorienting right now. >> woodruff: so how do we

process ts,mark? the headlines, again, you could go in almost any direction every day over a new set ofat controversiehe white house. >> i honestly don't know, judy. it's overload. it really is. the one consolation, the one defense that the president's poll gist and supporters say, he doesn't mean hat heys. that's supposed to be the consolation. and don't beo concerned. onleof the plaus explanations for the impulsive imposition, keeping of a promise he's made for 30 years on steel tariffs, was that the 18t 18th district of pennsylisnia up in two weeks. the special election for abl rean seat that the democrats have not even contested in 2014 and 2016, that donald trump carried southwesternia pennsylv blue

collar, by 20 points, and the democrat connor lamb, former marine, former u.s. prosecutor, is even with the republican nominee, aa defeat here would send such panic. this is trump terrorist, and this was seen as standing up for american jobs. that's the most plausible explanation politically. it's not a defense, but it's ann exion. >> woodruff: panic into the ranks of republicans worried about -te fall mm elections. >> yes. >> woodruff: but, david, i mean, if that's at he was trying to do, i think a lot of republicans didn't get the message because, rightnd left they are, today, asking to reconsider, saying this is not a good thing, we don't need a trade onr, he's in exactly the wrong direction. >> republicans have, a, historical belief in free trade. b, a lot more compani work for

companies nat use steel than makes steel. erybody who uses steel is hurt, those who make steel are helped. th not the first time a republican president did this for political reasons. george w. bush did it within the context of trying to expand generally. he had one buckle to givea special interest what it wand but was trying to expand trade. the pfference with donald tr is he just had a zero-sum mindset. it's very hard for him tond undersrade because it's not a zero-sum game. there are winners or losers b most people win, and he has never thought that way. it's always if somebodywi ing, then i'm losing, and going back to the 1980s, he has always talked about that in the way of zero-sum mentality. i think whenever he got angry and made this impromptuat decision, as probably in the back of his mind. >> can i dissent, with all due respect, trade, judy, is a

political issue. when a plantn closes city, it takes away the payroll, it takes away the life, it takes away the dignity of people who work there. it takes away their futures, and that has happened all over the middle of the united states. when trade works to our advantage, it means you get cheaper t-shirts at wal-mart becae the t-shirts can no longer be made in the united states profitably. so there is specific hurt, and there is specific help, and i think there is a political argument that could be made. certainly when jared brown the democrat running in ohio supported the president and rob portman was less than- lukewarm >> woodruff: it's the democratic party's position. >> democratic party's pthition, big picture, work, increase trade, there have been

casualties indifferent to the casualties sustained in the trade wars. >> woodruff: i should say we're eing that on trade. david, we're also seeing it to some extent on the question guns. we're a little over two weeks since the terrible schooool ng in florida. those students went back to school this week. there'usa continued dion here in washington about what to do. no sign anything will happen,tu yet thents are saying we're going to make these politicians pay if they don'tdo something about guns. the president, it seems to me, has sent some mixed signals. he's talked about wantingo do something, but there's still no clea direction. >> from the president, whoever' in the rooth him. pro gun with p n.r.a. and anti-with dianne feinstein sitting next to him. it's bifurcated on the gun issue. it's gone through the congress and this they made it clear we're not doing anhing. for people to get realistic actual legislation, you haveo pick off a few republicans, get

them away fromthe n.r.a. position and they let's work practically and you have to take the temperature down to do that. that has nod happened. the temperature ramped up. it's become a culture issue. tigmatized, are gun owners destigmatized, so we read them out of polite society. all these companies are saying we don't want you on our affiliation plans. it's not about gun control, it's about stigmatizing a certain belief system. >> woodruff: it's moved into the private sector. into companies saying we're putting our values on the line >> it has, judy, in a way, i was surprised. i thought newtown would do it. i ethought the slaughteof the innocents in nbuewtown. it has had an impact and i have to say social media s really felt -- had its impac

felt. i think by american corporations as well. they cannot be morly new central. it's one thing to get a letter from a consumer who's upset witt your pn but when your web site all of a sudden, there's criticism raining down upon it, i think -- and i give the corporations credit for taking a moral stand, in this days dick's sporting goods -- in this casdick's sporting goods, in particular. it's always easier to be new ntral in a situation so you don't offend anybody. i think it's different. i think the real test wilbe the march here in washington. >> woodruff: coming up this month. >> march 24th. by hundredsf thousands of people really turning out, i think there is a hope for seeing change on this issue because it demands it. >> the only caution i wouldis e, and i think corporations should be citizens of the country and they should follow a set of values, i am suspicious

of concentrated power. economic power is concentrated on thean rightwe should be suspicious of it. corporations want to take er and use their power. cultural pis concentrated on the left. concentrated cultural power can do great damage, if a lot of people feel culturally intimidated. many people argue the trump presidency is a political reaction to a lot of people feeling they're trying t culturally silence me. if it turns into that sort of cultural stigma acrosun owners or against a culture raster than simply aga an n.r.a. policy, that really ramps up the cultural war level and it would have bad consequences. >> woodruff: even you're talking about relatively modest steps, raising the age where you can buy an assault weapon? >> that's where we have to be careful. if we say it's about raising the age, banning bump stocks, that's

peectly legitimate. but if you're saying, someone said to marco rubio, i look at you and i see a mass murderer, then you're crossing the line. talking abou the semantics of what the legislature is trying to do. to me that's the better way of going about it rather than ramp up the cultural waand the war on the left. >> woodruff: 20 secondi ink there is a legitimacy and a real legitimacy,taking ton national rifle association and corporations and institutions, whether it's amazon, whether it's -- fed ex, who give them special benefitsps anial prices. i thinkat thenal rifle association is not the second amendment, and it is not

sportsmen. it is a special interestitand a vial influence in the country. >> woodruff: echoing in our years the voices of those students sayinldthey want to eople to account if they anything. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> woodruff: finally, with theaw academds coming this sunday, jeffrey brown profiles one of hollywood's biggesten stars:fer lawrence. she has been making at least two films a year since the age of 20, and now at 27, she's the youngest actress ever nominated for four oscars.er in a year the industry's problems with discrimination and harassment have gotten as much attention as the films, lawrence has been outspoken, especially on pay equity. she talked to jeff about that, and her new movie opening today.

>> i was told to take a man to the hotel. they said he was an enemy of the state. >> brown: it may be an old story-- american and russian spies, cloak and dagge but the film "red sparrow," set in the here and now, arrives hth new resonance. >> instead, they c throat. >> brown: jennifer lawrence plays dominika egorova, a russian ballerina-turned-agent fonted into a sexually viole and deadly world. she says the role took her places she'd never gone as an actor. >> there were a lot of things about this that kind of scared me.g she was bet in physical situations that i was uncomfortable with, just as a human... >> brown: you, personally? >> yeah, me personally. it was actually rely good for me to kind of put myself in a place, not as my charato someplace that i wasn't going to go, and i felt songer afterwards. >> brown: "red sparrow" is loosely based on novels by jason matthews, a former real-life c.i.a. opetive. it features an all-star cast,

including remy irons, charlotte rampling, and joel edgerton as an american agt. >> your uncle is a very powerful man. >> in my country, if you don't matter to the men in power, youe do not m >> hey, uh, i'd like to see you again. >> why, are we going to come friends? >> brown: director francis lawrence, no relation to prjennifer, says he was sed by how timely the russian- focused plot turned out to be. >> when we were deveping it, we actually had conversations with the studio where we felt like this modern cold war idea, the americans and russians, felt tdated and a little passe. but the world changed as we were making the movie, and so the movie is just become more and mo topical. i still don't think it's a political film. y the human in characters and by the emotion of it. that's what's always driven me.

>> your body belongs to the state. >> brown: the emotion-- and the "scariness" jennifer lawrence referred to-- deepen as her character is trained as a "redro sparw," agents taught to usedu ction to gain access to those emed enemies of the russian state. it's a taut thriller, but one that iludes scenes of brutality and torture. it also called for lawrence to appear nude, four years after she was victim of a hacking, and nude photos of her were posted online.ad >> once i he script, i knew that i had to do it. and then the only thing that was retly holding me back was j that, you know, i haven't really wanted to be seen in a sexual way.lw i'ves just been kind of uncomfortable with that. >> it's very easy with a story olike this to go too far, become gratuitous, to exploit. which is not what i wanted to do. and so, that's something that i spend a loof time thinking about. >> brown: so where do you draw that line? >> well, that's a complicated question. what i wanted to do was make

sure that every sing moment that has any, an ounce of sexuality or nudity or violence, was inherent in the narrative, that had very specific emotional value, that was pushing the story forwar >> her entire story is people trying to use her and take advantage of her and try to train her to use her b get ahead. and she, she gets ahead by using her mind. i find it empowering. >> brown: of course, issues of power, gender and sex are al very much of-the-moment in hollywood and beyond right now, in ways that jennifer lawrence has felt compelled to address. beginning with 2010's "winter's bone," the 27-year-old has bui a reputation as a brilliant actress as well as box-office star the "hunger games" series, three of them directed by francis lawrence, established her as an international celebrity and an icon of a strong female character.

she won an oscar for best actress for "silver linings aybook," and was the highest-paid actre in the world in 2015 and 2016. but a leaked memo revealed that on the film, "americane," lawrence and co-star amy adams earned much less than their male counterparts, bradley cooper and christian le. she published an essay that helped jump-start a conversation about pay equity >> my point of view on that essay was really just my own mentality on the whong, you know-- why did i not feel like i deserved to be id equally? i was more interested in that. d even though i have kind of a weird job that's probably not relatable to most, i felt like my mentality on that-- if i'm feeling this way in hollywood, i can't imagine how many women across the world must be feeling that.n' and why we? you know, i had won an oscar by

the time i wasoing "american hustle." i had led movies to be number one at the box office. i wajust curious why did i n feel like i deserved equal pay. >> brown: you asked yourself, and then you asked the world? >> and then i asked women. >> brown: what about in the #metoo momen did you ask yourself similar types of questions and feel you had to speak out? >> i felt like it was important to show support, because that'sf how alhese people who have suffered abuse, felt comfortable coming forwa, was because of this outpouring of support. and then also, we had to start weating a movement, you k? we have to reshape the way that we're treated. things that were normalized before are no longer going to be normalized. >> brown: did it surprise you? >> no, it didn't surprise me. i think there's a huge between the amount of men and women that are working in higher-level jobs and decision- making jobs. and it's something that just has to change. >> brown: one thing that all exposed for the worlthis sort of power imbalance in hollywood, right?

>> a young actor, or a less experienced actor, doesn't have the same opportunity, me power, to say no. >> brown or?say no about pay, >> whether it's pay or harassment, yeah.t they w work, and so, they don't have the same power to walk away from a job, so they the same negotiating power. and again, i go back to, if we aren't paid equally, then why would we-- why would women expect to be treated equally, if we're not paid equally? so i think the power struggle,er it's created asick dynamic in hollywood, that's very easy to take advantage of. th brown: jennifer lawrence is asserting her powee days, on and off screen. "redparrow" opens around the country today. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in washington.

>> woodruff: later tonight on a pbs, "frontline" presentlm co-produced with the bbc on harvey weinstein. the documentary takes an in-depth look at allegations against the powerful movie producer, and cludes interviews with new accusers and a former company executive. >> it was on the froage of the new york post, and those of us tndt heard about it read it kind of looked at each other. i don't think anybody was t surprised. >> tom prince, an executive who left the company last year is speaking out for the first time. no current executives would agree to an interview. prince says he had become concerned about instein's use of company funds to fly women around the world. >> pretty much in every production i would get a phone call or an email saying, we have to fly an actress to the movie

set, and i would always come back and explain to them that this is a one or two-day roll and, you know, we're spending an awful lot of money flying somebody from paris to philadelphia or from new york to new zealand to fulfill a role that could be occupied by a local sident there. but this was a mandatefr harvey. it was a company completely and utterly ruled by harvey, and harvey was a dictator. i thought clearly there wmeas ing more than the actresses' acting acts involved with us flying somebody and spending $20,000 on a role that would have cost $2,000. >> in his response to "frontline," weinstein dndenied thisaid he and prince repeatedly clashed over budgets and otherproduction issues. >> woodruff: "frontline"'s weinstein airs tonight on most pbs stations.

and robert costa is preparing for "washington week," which airs later tonight. robert, what's otap? >> tonight on "washington week," we'll discuss the civil war inside the west wing and why president trump welcomes a t war with some of our closest allies. that's later tonight on "washington week," judy. >> woodruff: and we'll be watching. and at is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years advancing ideas and supportingns institutioo promote a better world.

at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public brocasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> u're watching pbs. elyse: we're the history detectives,

and we're going to investigate d some untolstories from america's past. tukufu: this week, what do these metal frments tell us abouthe genius behind one of the nation's most popular songs? ! wow, wow, wow, wow gwendolyn: what role did this tiny stamp play in the murder trial of nine young men? why did the communist party get involved in the scottsboro case? elyse: and sherman's assault on columbia was a tragic closing act in the civil war, but does an official marker ng have part of the story? elvis costello: ♪ watchin' the detecves ♪ i get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ butn't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪