captioning sponsored bro newshourctions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: president trump deares, "trade wars are good," rattling republican lawmakers and global markets, and prompting callsou from otherries to retaliate. then, caught beneath the bombs. hundreds are killed in syria's eastern ghouta region under a relentless attack byce government fors. and, it's friday. mark shields and david brooks are here to talk about turmoil inside the white house, and the' presidenshifting stance on gun control. plus, the world's highest paid actress, jennifer lawrence, speaks about her new film, andri gender dises in hollywood. >> if we aren't paid equally, then why would we-- why would men expect to be treated equally? so, i think the power struggle, it's created a very sick dynamic

of hollywood, that's very easy to take advantag >> 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. >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should

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>> woodrears of trade wars with u.s. allies and other countries are escalating tonight, after president trump's promise to slap tariffs on steel analuminum. 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 president trump's decision made for rocky trading overnight in asian and european stock markets. it also led to tough words from foreign governments,ow 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.fr ce's finance minister put washington on notice: >> (anslated ): the united states should know that if these unilateral decisions are confirmed, they would call for a strong, coordinated and united response from the european union. all options are onhe table.

>> woodruff: they were backed up by the european union, which said today that it would be ready to react. >> the e.u. has been a close security allto the u.s. for decades. we will not sit idly while our industry is hit with unfair measures that put thousands of european jobs at risk. c >> woodrufna's foreign ministry raised concerns about other countries following the u.s.'s lead. >> ( translated ): the u.s. adopting anti-dumping and anti- subsidy tariffs in hundreds of cases of imported steel and aluminum products is to excessively protect their domestic products.es if all countmitate the u.s. approach, then this would have a grave impact on the global trade order. >> woodruff: and in canada today, prime minister justin trudeau warned that tariff would be disruptive. >> that is why we were impressing upon the american administration the unacceptable nature of these proposals, that are going to ht them every bit as much as they are going to hurt us. >> woodruff: for his president trump dismissed the

criticism. in a tweet early this morning, he referenced u.s. trade deficits, and insisted tt, "trade wars are good, and easy to win." on "cnbc" today, his commercecr seetary 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 ono is ter countries have been picking away at us, dumping materials in here, subsidizingst their ines, and we haven't been fighting back. >> woodruff: but there was opposition building here at home, including among some republicans. in a statement, nebraska senator ben sasse called the policy "kooky 18th century protectionism that will jack up prices on american families" and "kill american jobs-- that's e whry trade war ultimately does." wisconsin governor scott walker, who has been a dependable ally

of the president, jo g.o.p. backlash. he said it would lead to "the exact opposite outcome of the administration's stated objective, which is to protectic am jobs." president trump is expected to formally sighis tariff decision next week. he has not yet announced which countries will be name which would be exempted. worries about trade wars and interest rates sent wall street on more sharp swings. the dow jones industrial average fell nearly 0 points, before rebounding. it finished with a loss of 71 points to close at 24,538. the nasdaq ros77 points, and the s&p 500 added 13. for the week, the dow lost 3%. the nasdaq fell 1%, and2% the s&p droppe in the day's other news, more questions arose abouts president trumlls for gun control measures. 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 amendment, suprt 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. was that "he will continue to d pport the second amendment." sanders also pusck today against reports that national security adviser.r. mcmaster is on his way out. she said that president trump ia y with the three-star general, despite news reports to the contrary. >> look, general mcmaster is ng goywhere. as the president said yesterday in the oval office to a number of the people, he thinks he's doing a great job, and glad he's here. >> woodruff: meanwhile, white house chief of staff john kelly publicly defded his handling of the ouster of a top aide. rob porter resigned nearly a month ago er allegations of domestic abuse. today, kelly conceded some mistakes, but contrary to widespread reports, denied he

had known about the abuse 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 heavy rain trigged flooding, and the strong winds led to cancellations of more than 2,800 flights and halting of amtrak train service. in washingto 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 ofct destruion that ravaged the iswn in january, but there was no major damage thime.io later, evacuorders were lifted for some 30,000 people. in west africa, islamist extremists struck today in the former french colony of burkina faso. the attackers targeted the french embassy and ay headquarters in the capital city, killing eight soldiers and police. thick smoke billowed 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 neutralid thanks to the actions of the police and the military personnel who protect cor embassy. it shows we need tinue the ndght against these groups with lots of strengthenacity. >> woodruff: eight of the

militants were also killed, and more than 90 pple were wounded. later, the u.s. state department advised americans not to travel to burkina faso for now.s the united stall not restore its embassy staff in cuba to full strength. it was cut by 60% after unexplained "healtattacks" 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 prention reported today that the number of cases peakedn arly february, and is now declining. it is still unclear why this e ason's flu vaccd 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.id prt trump and vice president pence were among the 2,000 mourners who gatheredrg under a tent. graham's son, franklin, was the 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. he loved his family. he stood by us, he comforted us, he left us an enduring legacy. >> woodruff: billy graham died last week at the age of 99. he was buried today next to his wife, ruth, on family property. still to come on the newshour: the uniminable destruction of a damascus suburb, that is still under bombardment. the retaliation that women in the u.s. forest service facedi after reportinrimination. attempts to develop a coffee plant that can resist the effects of climate change. and, much more >> woodruff: there was no let up

in the bombing, or the suffering, today for hundreds of thousands of civilians trapped in the eastern ghouta subus of syria's capital, damascus. as nick schifrin reports, weeks of attacks have killed hundreds, marking one of this brutal war's most-brutal moments. >> reporter: among the ruined remains of eastern ghouta, ther arw places left to hide. after seven years, the u.n. says there are no longer any words that can do justice to the t destruction,he desperation, w the childrse entire lives have been spent at war. the children who will die having known nothing but war. it was seven years ago that eastern ghouta was a green suburb of damascus. it was one of the first places to rise against syrian president bashar al-assad. today, the u.n. calls it "hell on earth," and the potentialte sif crimes against humanity. 400,000 civilians without food,

wateelectricity. 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 syrian s militas is advancing and targeting rebel groups fighting the regime. ( translated ): we are all civilians, why are they dropping the barrels on us?d they've terrife children and destroyed our homes. >> reporter: there's supposed to be a daily, five-hour ceasefire, pushed by assad's main ally, russian presidt vladimir putin. and now, president trump is calling for a national 30-day ceasefire.bu the firing has not ceased. >> ( translated ): what truce? we are hiding in the basements. russian strikes and barrel bombs. what truce? what sort of regime is this? god have vengeance. >> reporter: there's supposed to be a humanitarian corridor manned by russian and sy forces. the u.n. says not a single civilian has evacuated. the only corridors in eastern

ghouta today are traps >> assad and his allies want the ovilians of eastern ghouta to walk into the ara regime that has been attacking them and starving them for the last seven year >> reporter: on ghouta's once- busy streets, ambulance is bombed out and abandoned. the humanitarian group syrian- american medical society, or sams, says airstrikes have deroyed nearly every medic 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 working non-op. 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 terrified 13-year-old, mohammad khadawardi. s to his trachea, esophagus, and spinal cord. he is paralyzed from the waist down, and is dying of starvation. >> the heart under the skin

directly, because no muscular mass. >> reporter: aid groups say more than a thousand people need immediate medical evuations. aid convoys still aren't given lecess. >> all of these pethey need life-saving evacuations.pe thesle will die during the next few days if we don't remove them. >> reporter: the white helmets rescue group accuses assad of using chlorine. they say a chemical attack thise week killed han a dozen civilians, including a child. syrian and russian officials say chlorine attacks are by rebel groups. they call the white helmts "fake news," and accuse rebels of trapping civilians andg instigate violence. >> ( translated ):.s. and its allies are simply exploiting baseless allegations of toxic weaps use by damascus as a tool of anti-syrian geopolitical engineering. >> reporter: the.s., whose priority remains isis, responds with accusations that russia has

failed to ensure the duction of syria's chemical weapons, and is assad's enabler. >> its continued denial of the assad's regime culpability of thuse of chemical weapons simply incredible. >> diplomatically andmi tarily, moscow plays both arsonist and firefighter, fuing tensions among all parties in syria, then serving 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 "endlessly tolere" rebel attacks during the so-called truce. but for the residents of eastern ghouta, there is no truce. and there are no l words.y only a father whose son survived, expressing relief. and a father whose son died, saying gdbye. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin.

>> woodruff: now, to the latest on our exclusiveve igation about sexual harassment, and retaliation, in the u.s. foresservice. 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 sexl assault. we have a closer look tonight at some of the retaliation these women faced over the years.bu first, we have new information about complaints that allegedly rch 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 toos the allegatie ones we heard throughout the course of our reporting, allegations of sexual misconduct committed by him when he was not t earlier. they involved relations with subordinates ise complaint we heard. we asked about this many times

in the forest service and very arly this week they said, tony took has perfectly fine employment record. that's all they'd say about 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 theseas complaints underway. >> woodruff: so they are looking into this now? >> that's right. we heard from tony took himself this evening and he said he's cooperating with the investigation, supports it and hopes to be treated in the standard as any other forest service employee. >> woodruff: thinking back to r thorting last night, you laid out clearly the kinds of hassssment andlt 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 idea of 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 ys s a macho male-dominated field. 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 environment work in. we talked and heard this from a lot of different women. one e women we spoke with in our reporting is a woman named janelle wagner, part of a class action complaint against the forest service alleging gender discrimination, and she gave af description o what it's like to be a woman in the forest service. >> i was put in the most remote plede. i was foo sit and watch porn movies because that's what u did if yo want your job the next year. they dropped trees on my head, rocks in my back, destroyed my lunch, did everything possible

to wash me out.: >> woodru so hard. the women you talked to were arful of speaking out, you told us. it was really hard for them to ey. how did overcome that? and you heard that a lot. >> the fear was, in almost every single person we talked to, people were very reluctant to speak ut. in fact one of our colleagues talked with a woman for a long time on the telephone and she called back hater and saidst please y the notes of my conversation for fear they'd somehow get out. one woman reported 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 with twins and her supervisor tells her immedialy you're useless, you're useless to the forest service and he tells this toveher over and and over again. when she complains, she said the retaliation got worse.

>> once yosay something, there's no shutting that door and you get a target on your back, has been my experience. if you open your mouth and youn speak up regards to your standards or what should be right or wrong, there's no going back. >> after our program aired last night, we put a tip line on our web site tip line@"newshour".org, people can send us e-mails. we've heard dozens of womenin ecthis same thing, that when you complain of something in the forest serviet, you hammered for it. >> woodruff: it's clear some women felt they hado speak out, they've had the courage to do that and think it's important. what is driving? th the #metoo movement? something else? >> i think the #metoo movement has something to do this especiallyhe younger women of the forest service. you see other industries talkit ab and that's infectious.

i think culturally we're realizing this kind of behavior is not acceptable. that said, there are a lot ofr olomen in the forest service who have been arguing and complaining publicly about this for yea and are irritated that only now is the media starting to pay attention tot. darlene hall, also in this class action complaint, described this sort of retaliation. >> this has been gng on so long and it's getting so big and so deep that it's not going to go away andt's about time that it gets out there, and, so, people are held accountable, because they haven't for years all the way to the top. if we stand up, i hope others will stand up becausethey're destroying a lot of good people. >> woodruff: you and your team throughout the process have beet tryi get comments, reaction from the forest service. up's been difficult to do that until the last of days and just now. >> that's right. throughout the entire process judy, we asked the forest service, give us someone on camera to talk with us about

this. they wouldt provide anyone. nobody would talk with us on camera. off camera, an official sd to us, we understand this is a problem, we are trying to fix it, we have set up a ti line where employees can call the forest service and make complaints. they're trying to standardize anti-harassment training for every employee. so until tonight, though, we didn't get a formal statement from them, which we just dids 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 and heart wrenching as they may be. e elementss there of sexual harassment in the forest service that existed and continue today, we acknowavdge wemore work to do. the forest service is committed to permanently changing our culture to create the workplace we all deserve. hewe'll post entire statement 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. >> thankou. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour:el mark s and david brooks weigh in on a chaotic week at the white house.en and,fer lawrence discusses her latest endeavor-- playing a russian spy. now, how climate change might affect your breakfast habit. in his next installmen series of reports from el salvador, fred de sam lazaro examines how coffee growers are caught in the middle of an industry affected by global warming temperatures, forcing some to head for the cities, or even to north america. >> reporter: if you want to see 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 ide, and 50% of the country's exports. but el salvador's coffee cropal waost completely wiped out five years ago by a disease lled leaf rust. across central america, some 1.7 milliojobs were lost, and growers who survived must contend now with another threat that looms large: warming temperatures over the past four decades.ra a scle 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 changing climate. so you areacing against time? >> yes, we are racing against time. g reporter: he was examin some hybrid plants on an experimental farm outside

santa ana, el salvador, and didn't like what he was seeing. >> you can see there, on this branch, for example, all the nodes e flowering in january. >> reporter: two months before they should be? >> two months, yes. >> reporter: early flowering means the plants must endure two more dry season months, lowering the bean quality, even inli hybrid this one, called f1, a sturdier variety, first introduced to central america seven years ago. >> these are the most vigorous plants that we can create toy. so if this affects f1 hybrids, it's worse when affecting traditional varieties. >> reporter: in is test field, 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, itst can re it can tolerate more and more disease. and when a plant is really weakened by climate conditions,o it cresist.t' >> reporter: twhat's made jorge garcia's crop vulnerable to the rust disease. he and other growers blame the steadily rising temperatures in theshighlands, hurting a pla that thrives in cooler conditions. >> ( translated ): we never thought it would be as bad as it's ended up being. >> reporter: how much did you lose? >> ( translated ): basically, we lost everything. >> reporter: jorge garcia is a saall farmer near jayaque, about an hour west of saador. the holes throughout his farm mark where coffee trees once stood. 15 mes away, wilfredo 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.tr >> ( slated ): in order to survive, many of our wives had to move to the city to work as domestic help, and the men had to find non-farm jobs. >> reporter: many are now in thr ocess of trying to rebuild their farms. we watched as some of his members weighed their most recent harvest. last year's crop was down 90% s om pre-epidemic levels. ramos thinks thiar may bring better news. still, he says, it's been ry difficult. >> ( translated ): we are having thouble getting credit fro banks. and since credit is limited, we don't have the money to plore new areas of production. >> reporter: one organization that has been trying to help is blue harvest, a non-profit runat bylic relief services. it teaches farmers new methods counteract the signs of climate change. 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, mulchingincreasing 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 branch outo new crops, something that farmer jorge garcia has decided to do. >> ( translated ): we are noyiw to grow cocoa. my expectation is that in two years, we will be in a better position here at the far >> reporter: 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 coffee plants and adopting new techniques, like aggressively pruning trees to stimulate vigorous growth. for the last two years, he's also organiz a conference of coffee growers, large and small, to try to develop and share besc prtices in the face of the growing threat.

>> one of the major challenges we have is to make a coordinated effort as a country-- all astakeholders are in this push a renovation project withe thesnew varieties and agricultural practices that will allow us to produce more coffee and be sustainable over time. >> reporter: borgonovo can afford new hybrid plants, and he's excited by the possibilities the second generation hybrids, being grafted here onto sturdier root systems, in an attempt to breed more vigorous, disease-resistant plants. but that'sot an easy solution for the small farmers, says blue harvest's kraig kraft. >> these plants are expensive. it's 2.5 times what coffee plants cost, and these farmers don't have access toredit. this investment takes four to five years to pay off. so i think these hybrids have incredible potential.

but i would like to know how we get these in the hands of the small rmers. >> reporter: restoring el salvador's coffee crop-- which has now dropped to just 2% of thcountry's exports-- is n only a matter of pride, bourgonovo says, it's a matter of economic security. >> it's a big creator of jobs. we used to employ 300,000 people a year. now we're down to 86,000. it's a way to prevent migration to cities, and prent emigration to the u.s. and mexico. >> reporter: for consumers, coffee will always be available. but at what price? experts say it's hard to tell. 'sd the key threat, they add, is to some of the worighest quality beans, around which a yulti-billion-dollar industr has evolved over the past two decades. for the pbs newshour, i'm fred de sam lazaro outside santa a, el salvador. >> woodruff: fred's reporting

is a partnership with the under-told stoes project at the university of st. thomas in minnesota. >> woodruff: it was another whirlwind week in washington: other high-profile departure from the white house; fresh scrutiny over the president's son-in-law; and an escalation in the war of words between mr. trump and his attorney general.p all this, as tsident made surprise declarations on trade and gun control. that brings us to the analysis of shields and brooks. that is syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist davoks. welcome, gentlemen. so so much going on this week, e barely know wh to begin. at the white house, mark, the president's clost aide announced she's leaving. he has a con son i la under a

lot of scrutiny over alleged conflicts of iheerest. as a chief of staff raising questions again about how he handled the firing of an aide over domestic abus and onand 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 white bause isfor the united states and bad for the world. there's no rationale order. i mean, for example, what you've described, the morale at the white house, from every report, is just incredibly low. to work in any white house, judy, is an act of both self-aci self-sce and self-interest. you miss anniversaries, birthdays and your children's recitrecitals. but you get status and

reatgnition. all s missing. that a civil war in a leper eolony. there is no sef direction. ere was no preparation for tariffs, no preparation politically, no preparation for making a case, no preparation for the press, no preparation within the white house, it's a act on impulse and chaos and the whim of the president himself.oo >>uff: there's almost a temptation, david, a look at this as a sideshow. al consequences, aren't there? >> i'm trying to think of hiorical parallels when we've had this much chaos in the american presidency. richar nixon had bad days at the end but a very high quality staff.ha woodrow wilson a stroke. i'm going through the list. i can't think of anything likere this we had the combination of semicompetent or missing staff and emotionally or intellectually unstable

president. ince priebus said in an interview a not long ago, when you lo from the outside, it's 50 times worse on the inside.tt we're g a glimpse. i think the key thing, the most important thing, it has real-wld consequences. we're not just fighting over whether he has a military parade or not. the steel tariff is real nsequences. the word one of his allies said is he made the decision because he became unglued. so when a president makes a decision because he becomesd, ungl decision totally in avoidance of the entire process, and theno combine the chaos of et, he issues a tweet this morning which to me was a topper even by trump standards 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 anything other an crazy. so it's extremely disorienting right now. >> woodruff: so howwedo process this, mark?

the headlines, again, you couldo n almost any direction every day over a new set controversies at the 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 what he says. that's supposed to be the consolation. and don't be so concerned. one of the plausible explanations for the impulsive imposition, keeping of a promise fhe's made 30 years on steel tariffs, was that the 18t 18th district of pennsylvaniap is two weeks. the special election for a republican seat that the democrats haveot even contested in 2014 and 2016, that donaldrump carried southwestern pennsylvania, blue collar, by 20 points, and the

democrat connor lamb, former marine, former u.s.rosecutor, is even with the republican nominee, and defeat here would send such panic. this is trump terrorist, and is was seen astanding up for american jobs. that's the mostsi ple explanation politically. it's not a defense, but it's an explanation. >> woodruff: panic into the ranks of republicans worried about the fall mid-term elections. >> yes. woodruff: but, david, i mean, if that's what he was etying to do, i think a lot of republicans didn'the message because, right and left, they are, today, asking to reconsider, saying this is not a good thing, we don't need a trade war, i he's gonen exactly the wrong direction. >> republicans have, a, historical belief in free trade. b, a lot more companies work for companies nat use steelthan makes steel.

everybody who uses steel is rt, those who make steel are helped. this is 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 give a special interest what it wand but was tryi to expand trade. the difference with donald trump is he just had a zero-sum mindset. ec's very hard for him to understand tradese it's not a zero-sum game. there are winners or losers b pt mople win, and he has never thought that way. it's always if somebody'sth winning,n 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 impromptu decision, that was ly in the back of his mind. >> can i dissent, with all due respect, trade, judy, is a political issue.

when a plant closes in a city, it takes away the payroll, it takes away the life, it takesaw the dignity of people who work there. it takes away their futures, and that has happened all over the middle of the esited st. when trade works to our advantage, it means you get cheaper t-shirts at wal-mart because the t-irts can no longer be made in the united states profitably. so theres specific hurt, and there is specific help, and i thin athere is 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 position, the big picture, work, increase trade, there have been casualties indifferent to the

casualties sustained in the trade wars. >> woodruff: i should say we're seeing tha onrade. david, we're also seeing it to some extent on the question of. gu we're a little over two weeks since the terrible schoo shooting i florida. those students went back to school this week. there's aoncontinued discussi here in washington about what to do. no sign anything will happen, yet the studentsare saying we're going to make these politicians pay if they don't do something about guns. the president, it seems to me, has sent some mixed signals. he's talkedbout wanting todo something, but there's still no clear direction. >> from the president, whoever's in the room with 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 anything. for people to get realistic actual legislation, you have to pick off a fewreblicans, get

them away from the n.r.a. position and they let' work practically and you have to take the temperature down to do that. that has nod happened. up.temperature ramped it's become a culture issue.e florida destigmatized, are gun ownerso destigmatized, we read them out of polite society. l these companies areying 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 >>tting our values on the line here. t has, judy, in a way, i was surprised. i thought w newtold do it. i ethought the slaughter of the innocents in newtown. but it has had an impact and i have to say social media hasly re felt -- had its impact felt. i think by american corporations

as well. they cannot be morally n central. it's one thing to get a letter from a consumer who's upset with your position 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 takinga moral stand, in thisk' days dsporting goods -- in this case dick's sporting goods, in particular. it's always easier to be newl cent in a situation so you don't offend i think it's different. i think the real test will be the march here in washington. >> woodruff: coming up thismo h. >> march 24th. by hundreds of thousands of people really turning out, iin there is a hope for seeing change on this issue because it demands it. >> the only caution i wouldnd issue, think corporations should be citizens of the country and they should follow a set of values, i am suspicious of concentrated power.on

ic power is concentrated on the right and we should be suspicious ofit. corporations want to take over and useir t power. cultural power is 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 loteo ofe feeling they're trying to culturally silence me. if it turns into that so of cultural stigma across gunga owners orst a culture rather than simply against an n.r.a. policy, thatreally ramps up the cultural war another level and it would have bad consequences. >> woodruff: even if you're talking about relatively modest steps, rsing 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 perfectly letimate. but f you're saying, someone

said to marco rubio, i look at you and i se me aass murderer, then you're crossing the line. talking about the semtics of what the legislature is trying to do. to me that's the better way of ing about it rather than ramp up the culturalar an the war on the left. >> woodruff: 20 seconds.er i think 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 benefit and special prices. i thinkfl the national association is not the second amendment, and it is not sportsmen.

it is a special interest and it's a vial influence in the country. >> woodruff: echoing in our years the voices of those students saying they wan tto hold peopl account if they don't do anything. mark shields, david brooks, thank you both. >> woodruff: finally, with the academy awards coming this sunday, jeffrey brown profiles one of hollywood's biggest stars: jennifer lawrence. she has been making at leasttw films a year since the age of 20, and now at 27, she's the youngest actress ever nominated inr four oscars. in a year where thstry's problems with discrimination and harassment have gotten as much attention as theilms, lawrence has been outspoken, especially on pay equity. she talked to jeff about that, and her new movie opening todayo >> i was told ake a man to the hotel.

they said he was an enemy of the state. >> brown: it may be an oldam story-ican and russian spies, cloak and dagger. not the film "red sparrow," set in the here and arrives with new resonance. >>t.nstead, they cut his thr >> brown: jennifer lawrence plays dominika egorova, a russian ballerina-turned-agent forced into sexually violent and deadly world. she says the role took her placeshe'd never gone as an actor. >> there were a lot of thingsha about thiskind of scared me. she was being put in physical situationshat i was uncomfortable with, just as a human... >> brown: you, personally? >> yeah, me personally. it was actually really goofor me to kind of put myself in a plac not as my character, to someplace that i wasn't going to go, and i felt stronger afterwards. >> brown: "red sparrow" is eaosely based on novels by jason matthews, a formerlife c.i.a. operative. it features an all-star cast, including jeremy ins,

charlotte rampling, and joel edgerton as an american agent. >> your uncle is a very powerful man. >> in my country, if you don't matter to the men in power, you do not matter. >> hey, uh, i'd like to see you again. >> why, are we going to become friends? >> brown: director francis lawrence, no relation to jennifer, says he was surprised by how timely the russian- focused plot turned out to be. >> when we were developing it, we actually had conversationswh with the studie we felt like this modern cold war idea, the americans and russians, felt outdated and a little passe. but the world changed as we were making the movie, and so the movie is just become more and more topical. i still don't think it's a political film. i was drawn in by the human 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 re"scariness" jennifer lawe referred to-- deepen as her character is trained as a "redts sparrow," agen taught to use g seductioain access to those deemed enemies of the russian state. it's a taut thriller, but one that includes enes of brutality and torture. it also called for lawrence to appear nude, four years after g,she was victim of a hack and nude photos of her were posted online. >> once i read the s i knew that i had to do it. and then the only thing that was really holdi me back was just that, you know, i haven't really wanted to be seen in a sexual eey. i've always justkind of uncomfortable with that. >> it's very easy with a story like this go too far, to become gratuitous, to exploit. which is not what i wanted to dod . , that's something that i spend a lot of time thinking about. >> brown: so where do you draw thatine? >> well, that's a complicated question. what i wanted to do was make sure that every single 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 forward. >> her entire story is people trying to use her and take advantage of her and try to train r to use her body to get ahead. and she, she gets ahead by usin nd. i find it empowering. >> brown: of course, isss of power, gender and sex are also 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 built a reputation as a brilliant actress as well as box-office star.th "hunger games" series, three of them directed by francis lawrence, established her as an international celebrity and ana icon ostrong female character. she won an oscar for bestac

ess for "silver linings playbook," and was the highest-paid actress in th world in 2015 and 2016. but a leaked memo revealed that on t film, "american hustle, lawrence a co-star amy adams earned much less than their male counterparts, bradley cooper and christian bale. 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 mentity on the whole thing, you know-- why did i not feel like i deserved to be paid equally? i was more interested in that. t and evugh 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 t world must be feeling that. and why don't we? you know, i had won an oscar by the time i was doing "american hustle."

i had led movies to be number one at the box office. i was just cious why did i not feel like i deserved equal pay. >> brown: you asked yourself, and then you asked the world? >> andhen i asked women. >> brown: what about in the #metoo moment? did you ask yourself similarof typeuestions and feel you had to speak out? >> i felt like it was important to show support, because that's e,w all of these people who have suffered abelt comfortable coming forward, was because of this outpouring of support. and then also, we had to start creating movement, you know? we have to reshape the way that we're treated. things that were normalized before are no longer going to be normalized.>> rown: did it surprise you? >> no, it didn't surprise me. i thinthere's a huge gap between the amount of men and women th are working in higher-level jobs and decision- maki jobs. and it's something that just has to change. >> brown: one thing that all expod for the world was this sort of power imbalance in hollywood, right? >> a young actor, or a less

experienced actor, doesn't have the sa opportunity, the same power, to say no. >> brown: to say nabout pay, or >> whether it's pay or arassment, yeah. they want to wor so, they don't have the same power to walk away from a job, so they don't have the samnegotiating wer. and again, i go back to, if we en'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, ynit's created a very sickic in hollywood, that's very easy to take advantage of.: >> brownnnifer lawrence is asserting her power these days, on and off screen. "red sparrow" opens around the country today. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in washington.

>> woodruff: later t on pbs, "frontline" presents a film co-produced with the bbc onrv weinstein. the documentary takes an in-depth look at allegations against the powerful movie producer, and includes interviews with new accusers and a former company executive. >> it was on the front page of the new york post, and those of us that hed about it and read it kind of looked at each other. i don't think anybody was too surprised. >> tom prince, an executive who left the company last year is speaking out for the first timeo current executives would gree to an interview. prince says he had become concerned about weinstein's use of company funds to fly women around the world. >> prettmuch 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

them thatxplain to this is a one or two-day roll and, you know, we're awful lot of money flying somebody from paris to philadelphia or from new york to new zealand to fulfil a role that could be occupied by a local resident there. but this was a mandate from harvey. it was a company completely and utterly ruled by harvey, and harvey was a dictator. i thought clearly there wasre something han the actresses' acting acts involved with us flying somebody anddi spenng $20,000 on a role that would have cost $2,000. >> in his response to "frontline," weinstein denied this and said h and prince repeatedly clashed over budgets and other production issues. >> woodruff: "frontline"'s weinstein airs tonight on msost stations. c

and robeta is preparing for "washington week," which airs later tonight. robert, what's on tap?ht >> tonn "washington week," we'll discuss the civil war inside the west wing and why president trump welcomes a trade war with some of our closest allies. that'sater tonight on "washington week," judy. >> woodruff: and we'll be watching. e 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 morehan 50 years, omvancing ideas and supporting institutions to prote 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 broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbo stfrom viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by ,newshour productioc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watchg pbs.

♪ >> tonight on kqed "newsroom," a mayor's controversial warning about immigration raids is now under review by the u.s. justice department. also, self-driving vehicles get a big boost from california officials, but will there be speed bumps ahead. and a tall cold glass of w milk madh yellow tea. a new book contends it is stillery much a man's world in silicon valley and suggests how to change that. hello and welcome to "newsroom". i'm thuy vu. we begin with immigration. this week i.c.e. arrested undocumented immigrants inaids in california. protesters ralli outside the i.c.e. field ce