captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> i return to private life as i proud n as a proud american, proud of the opportunity i've had to serve my country. >> woo state rex tillerson is abruptly shown the door. n that led of tens to the president's decision and the ramifications for u.s. diplomacy around the world. then, the g.o.p.-run u.s. ho ce intelligenmittee ends its russia investigation, saying it finds no evidence of collusion between the ump campaign and moscow. but democrats call the declaration premature. and schools across the country prepare for a massive student walkout protesting gun violence, one month after the mass shooting at a florida high hool. all that and more on tonight's

pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoing support of these institution >> this program was made possible by e corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. rex tillerson was sacked today

as secretary of state. tethe president fired him 14hs mof rocky relations and a long list of policy disputes. i >> rex aave been talking about this for a long lome. we got a actually quite well but we disagreed on thin:. >> woodrufutside the white house this morning, president trump insisted rex tillerson's ouster should not have come as a surprise. >> i actually got along well with r but really it was a different mind set. a different inking. >> woodruff: tillerson had just returned from a trip to africa tuesy morning when he got th word. an aide said in a statement that in fact, tillerson had "every intention of staying." but he added: "the secretary did not speak to the president and is unaware of the reason." within hours, that official,un rsecretary of state steve goldstein, was himself fired. later, tillerson emerged to say he did have a phone call this afternoon from the

president. and to spell out just how abrupt the changeover will be: >> what is most important is to ensure an orderly and smooth transition during a time that the country continues to face significant policy and national security challenges. ti such, effective at the end of the day, i am dele all responsibilities of the office of the secretary to deputy secretary of state sullivan >> woodruff: the secretary had long been seen as outside th president's inner circle. he was kepin the dark before last week's bombshell mpnouncement that mr. tru would meet with north korea's leader kim jong un. at the time, tillerson was in the african nation of djibouti. >> in all honesty that came as a little bit of a surprise to us as well. >> woodruff: the presi reaffirmed today that he did not consult his secretary of state abt the kim meeting. >> i madthat decision myself. rex wasn't in the country.he

i made t north korea decision with consultation with many people but i made the decisionf. by mys >> woodruff: last fall, the president had dismissed tillerson's push for diplomacy with the north, saying he was "wasting his time.n the two re also at odds over russia. just last night, tillerson warned that if moscow engineered the poisoning of a former russian spy in britain, it was "certain to trigger a response." mr. trump appeared to take a more cautious tone this morning. , as soon as we get the facts straig we agree with them, we will condemn russia or whoever it may be. >> woodruff: the iran nuclear agreement was yet another point of contention. tillerson argued for staying in the deal, while the president pushed to tear it up. >> when you look at the iran deal, i think it's terrible. i guess he felt it wy. i wanted to either break it or do something andlie felt a le bit differently. so we were not thinking the same

>> woodruff: on other issues, tillerson objected to the president's decision to pullut of the paris canmate accord. he warned against moving the u.s. embassy from aviv to jerusalem, to no avail. last october, his standing with mr. trump took a hit after nbc newseported he'd called the president a "moron" and considered qtting. tillerson never directly denied using the term: the ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, robert menendez, said today the trump-tillersons clasve damaged america's standing with foreign nations. >> is the president going to ge his mind tomorrow? is the secretary of state going to say something totally different? >> woodruff: the president says new won't happen with h pick for state, former kansas congressman mike pompeo, now the director of the c.i.a. >> i've worked with mike pompeo now for some time. tremendous energy.

tremendous intellect. we're always on the same wave length. >> woodruff: that shared wavelength amounts to a hawkish foreign policy vision. pompeo opposes the iran nuclear deal, supports keeping guantanamo bay open, and he has said the u.s. will give "no concessions" to north korea. the repuican chair of the senate foreign relations committee, bob corker, says he needs to get to know pompeo. >> i've never reallydead much if anings with him, i'm not sure we've even met. >> woodruf pompeo will also confront a troubled work force. tillerson presided over effos to cut almost a third of the statdepartment's budget. in turn, the foreign service has lost 60% of its career ambassadors during the trump administration. the ambassadorship to south korea remains unfill, and the ambassador to mexico announced her resignation last week.

tillerson today claimed progress on north korea, syria and iraq. at the c.i.a., the president's choice to replace pompeo, deputy iri.a. director gina haspel, would become the woman to lead the agency. she is certain to face tough questions at her confirmation hearing. in 2002, haspel ran a secret so- called "black site" prison for terrorism suspects, and laterro destd evidence of waterboarding. pompeo has also defended thef c.i.a.'s use otorture. his confirmation hearing will be held in april. for insights into what led theto presidenhake up his national security team, we are joined by robert costa, host of pbs'washington week" and national political reporter for the "washington post." and josh lerman, who covers the state department for there associated. robert, to you first, we have been hearing for month that rex

tillerson either might be forced out or might resign on his own. what led to this right now? >> there was not an event tat led directly to this decision, judy. it was a lng-simmering frustration by the president with his secretary of state. they saw the world in different ways.an the president really wanted to assert himself more on foreign policy. he did not like delegating decisions to tillerson, a ngtime executive at exxon-mobil. he wanted to move in a new direction where foreign policywa created inside of the white house. >> woodruff: josh leaderman, what would you add to that? >> ih thinkat over time the fact that tillerson and trump were not going to be aod pair, a good partnership became more and more apparent until it was just impossible to ovek.rl it got to the point where you had foreign governments that r weren't evally bothering to deal with tillerson, to interact with him, the try to make policy with him because they didn't see him as actually speaking for tht trump admition. they saw the white house, the president himself, perhaps his

son-in-law jared bernstein, and and -- jared kushner, and once you lose your ability to do your job in an effective way, it's final the for a change. that's what we saw tod>>ay. oodruff: so josh leaderman, was this doomed from the beginning? >> it was doomed rather soon from the beginning when it became clear they had very different styles that trump hado differentitions on the iran deal, on climate change, and the paris ageement, and other key national security priorities than his secretary of state.f: >> woodrobert costa, why was this done in such a humiliating manner, letting the secretary of state know just a few hours after he landed back after a listening trip in africa, doing it in a tweet? >> it'so typical of president trump to manage his cabinet in this way. it's how he managed associates throughout h business career. people inside of the white house today tell me that he can be a crue he decided to be somewhat cruel in how he handled tillerson, angry tllerson

often seemed to be out on a limb politically and diplomatically. he was urged by john kelly to it in person or to wait until tillerson came back to the u.s. the president was tempted to do it via tweet, but he generally resisted dng, that but aessy departure for the secretary of state. >> woodruff: i was asking, robert, because the president's known for the television show "the apprentice" where he would fire people, but he did it do their face. >> this reality television style of governing is not that far from the truth. in fact, one white house official told me today, this is ally season two of the trump president that sarted with the president moving back to his raw political instin, take more control over the government, have allies surround him in the cabinet. >> woodruff: josh leaderman, let's turn to the man the presidt has chosen to replace nowtillerson, mike pompe at the c.i.a. what is your read on him? what is expected of him changing from one agency to the other?

>> what's expected is that he's going to be a more consistent ally of the president and a moe consistent backer of the president's own instincts.no on the iran deal, for instance, where there is a major decision ahead of the president, it's likely that pompeo will find himself more on the same page. he's been an ardent critic of that deal, puhing the president to back away from that deal, whereas tillerson really wanted to stay in tat deal. but we know that pompeo, like the president, is a more brash-talking, in-your-face kind of guy. he was in congress before, so there's some familiarity there with folks who would be happy to confirm him. and he's also someone that the president seems to enjoy being around and likes his company. we know that pompeo as c.i.a. director often delivered the president's daily brirsefs in , spent a lot of time in the white house, more than many past c.i.a. directo, and it seemed to indicate a level of comfort that the president has thrrounding the himself pompeo and with his advice on key issues. >> amaka: and robert, you have done a fair am unt of reporting

on pompeo, on his background serving in congress for, what si >> that's correct. what a political ascent for ths brmer kansas congressman and ally of the koothers. long respects in hawkish republican circles. he ingratiated himself with president trump. he's really developed this rapport with thpresident because he gives the p.d.b., the president daily briefing. he gives it in person. because of th they've developed this personality connection that really has led to this announcement that he b withe next secretary of state if confirmed. ert, idruff: and rob have to ask you, this departure of rex til state, comes on the heels of a number of other high-profile depayures. a few ago the president's chief economic adviser gary cohn out.d that follo a few days the departure of his communications director hope hicks.

roger porter, who was -- orho robert porter,as the president's staff secretary wit scandal around that departure. what is this sense right now inside the white house? >> well, judy, when i told you it was season two was e phrase inl side of the west wing, i wasn't joking. officials say the tillerson departure could be one of several departures this week, not only tillerson's aide at the state department, but you have the president tonight in california thinking about secretary shulkin at the department of vterans affairs. he's been struggling with different crises in the past few weeks. the president is looking at make changes. there you see people inside of the white house on edge about their own positions. the president is interviewing people to take over gary cohn's job. a lot of tumult, a lot of change on the horizon. >> wdruff:nd josh leaderman, as someone who covers the state department and certainly keeps his eye on the lwhite house, how does this look to people in the administration from the otherag cies, from the state

department, from the c.i.a., and so on? >> there's an interesting dynamic right now at the state department where they're breathing a si of relief broadly because many of the 75,000 people who work for the state department were not big fans of tillerson, because hca in wanting to restructure the agency, wanting its budget cut, wanting much fewer people working there. and keeping himself very isolated from the diplomatic core. so on the one hand, they're relieved that that era is over, but there is a lotof trepidation about whether pompeo will be better on that front or whether he will be equally or even more hostile toward traditional american diplomacy, soft powerand the things that state department and other agencies tend to work on. e> woodruff: finally, robert costa, is there ad on that, a clear read on what pompeo will represent from the white house? >> pompeo's going to represent president trump's point ofew, plain and simple. tillerson came in as this

longtime executive who had his own view of the world. he thought he could help manage that portfolio and then translate it to theresident and communicate his views. what the president wants is a blunt enforcer for the trumpian view of the world. that's what he's going to get in mike pompeo. >> wdruff: all right. gentlemen, on this day of a whole lot ofews, robert costa with the "washington post," josh leaderman with the a.p., we thank you both. >> thank you. >> thanks a lot. >> woodruff: we'll takata deeper nto the end of the tillerson era, and its implications, after the news summary. in the day's other news, another departure from the white house staff. news accounts say the president's personal aide, john mcentee, was escorted off the white house grounds on monday, for security reasons. he will work as a senior adviser for the trump 2020 re-election campaign. joined the first trump campaign, in 2015.e esident is in california tonight, in his first official visit to the state since taking

office.ut he checked oight possible border wall prototypes erected outside san diego today, and made his case for why they're needed. >> it'll save thousands and thousands of lives, save taxpayers hundreds of billionsof ollars by reducing crime, drug flow, welfare fraud and burdens on schools ands. hospit the wall will save hundreds of billions of dollars. many, many times what it's going to cost. >> woodruff: the president again criticized california's sanctuary city policy that protects undocumented immigrants. a federal immigration spokesman in california says he's resigned over misleading statements by the trump administration. james schwab cites claims that 800 immigrants escaped arrest when the mayorf oakland warned of raids. mhwab says agents were never going to find thy people. in an interview with the "san francisco chronicle," he says:

"i told them that the information was wrong, they asked me to deflect, and i didn't agree with that." president trump today hailed a report from republicans on the house intelligence committee that found no collusion between his campaign and russia. he called it "a powerful decision that left no doubt." democrats said republicans cut the probe short to protect mr. trump. we'll hear from a top democrat,t later program. the clock ticked down tonight on a british ultimatum to russia. prime minister theresa may is maing answers on how a former russian spy was poisoned southern england. daughter eula remain in critical but stable condition. he was boyened with a russian nerve agent.

russia say they won't cooperate unless they get access to the substa be. "the countng questioned has the right to access the substance in question to carry out its own analysis. this is what we asked for as soon as the rumors first sta being spread by practically every member of the british government." with russia denying any involvement in this attempted double murder, all eyes tomorrow will be on theresa may's spawn. her option include expelling diplomats, freezing financial assets, and even boycotting the world cup. but here in salisbury, the massive police investigation into this atta continues at pace. officers issuing an appeal today for anyone who saw the skripals in their red b.m.w. before th i ended this supermarket car park. still no details o how precisely they fell ill that sunday afternoon. >> we're getting many questions involving how and where the

nerve agent was actually ministered. i can't comment that at this time. >> reporter: police also said they so far have no suspects or persons of interest. >> woodruff: that report from paul mcnamara of independent television news. also today, police investigated the unexplained death a russian businessman at his london home. nikolai glushkov once worked for boris berezovsky, a kremlin critic who died in london in 2013. in china, the national congress moved today to give the communist rty sweeping new controls over the government and economy. the rubber-stamp legislature is creatg an anti-corruption agency that answers to the party and operes outside the courts. it's also establishing a vetera affairs ministry and an agency to regulate banking and insurance. lawmakers already agreed to let president xi jinping rule indefinitely. this reorganization will greatly extend his power.

u.s. defense secretary james mattis has made a surprise visit to afghanistan. during a flight to kabay, he said he's still holding out hope for a victory in afghanistan,ut not on the battlefield. >> it's all woing to achieve a conciliation. a political reconciliation, not a military victory.er there is it that we've picked up from the taliban side, even going before the kabul conference. >> woodruff: later, mattis metfg withnistan's president ashraf ghani, who's invited the taliban to join negotiations. e secretary also spoke to u.s. troops. the u.s. m track cases of children being sexually assaulted, by other b children, e. uce associated press reports finding nearly 600 incidents since 2007, but it says the pentagon does not analyze the cases. the ildren are not covered b military law, and the ap says federal precutors pursued only

about one in seven in civilian courts. blizzard conditions battered new england today, in the region's ird late-winter storm in less than two weeks. the nor'easter was dumping up te two et of snow in some places, and snow plows were out in force. waves driven by winds of 70 miles an hour pounded the massachusetts coastline. the storm also knocked out power to thousands, canceled 1,500 flights and halted amtrak service between boston and new york. in economic news, shares of u.sp aker qualcomm slumped 5%, after president trumblocked a takeover by broadcom, based in singapore. he cited national security concerns. overall, the dow jones industrial average lost 171 points to close at 25,007. nde nasdaq fell 77 points, the s&p 500 slipped 17.

still to come on the newshour: the ripple effects of rex tillerson'departure, at home and abroad. the end of the house intel committee's russia probe. i speak tohe group's top democrat, and much more. >> woodruff: we return to the shakeup at the top of the trump administration wh the firing of secretary of state rex tillerson; and the appointment of the current director of the c.i.a., mike pompeo, to replace him as america's top diplomat. we get three views: nicholas burns served 27 years in government, much of it at the department of state. he was u.s. ambassador to nato, and to greece. he's now at harvard university. david ignatius is a foreign policy columnist at the "washington post." and david shedd served as acting director of the defense

intelligence agency during a 33- year government career. he is now a distinguished fell at the heritage foundation, a washington think tank. gentlemen, we welcome all three of you here day. david ignatius, i'm going the start with you. your report, what does it tell you about why the president madd thision? >> president trump has been uncomfortable with secretary tillerson for a year really since soon after he took the job. last november trump wanted to make ak change, aed mike pompeo if he was ready to go to state. pompeo saiyes. the president head off. w i think hias counseled by chief of staff kelly and others to wait on that move. he did. but hi discomfort continued.hi wa the public humiliation of rex tillerson has been painful i think for thlewho country. it was visible today the pain the resignation statement that

tillerson made. i think trump finally decided that the time had come to make a change. he's headed into the mos important diplomatic encounter of his presidency, face-to-face diplomacy with kim jong-un and north korea. hi wanted to have his own person at state, his own team behind him, so i think the moment had come. the discomfort has been thereny for many months. >> woodruff: nicholas burns, how would you describe the ste department under rex tillerson? >> demoralized. i think the greatest crisis we've had in 40 or 50 years th 30% budget cuts by the trump administration and secretary tillerson. the firing of some of our best senior officers early in the administration. an exodus of very good officers at all levrels lly because no senior diplomats were appointed to senior positis around president trump in the white house. the majority of our ambassadorshipsilnfd. no ambassador to seoul in the middle of this crisis, no

assistant secretary of state for east asia. so diplomatic malpractice by secretary tillerson. i think at's part ohis legacy. he mismanaged the state department, our civil and career foreign service, and this was a great, important arm of our plomacy, and yet these people feel that they have been excluded. i would say i think that with secretary designate pompeo, there is an opportunity top rebuild the tment if he can convince president trump and the o.m.b. director to put the moey forward. he has an opportunity to win back people, but that's a tall order at this stage. >> woodruff: as somebody who has watched american foreign policy f a long time,w do you see the record of rex tillerson as sec? >> i think that it's spott because of all the reasons that have already been described in terms of his inability to really influence the president. and i have seen in dire actor

pomp disproportionate amount of influence coming from the c.i.a. at a very time when diplomacy should be what we would be focusing on >> woodruff: what do you mean? >> i mean the director and the president i think hit it off from the first day, and that relationship has grown deeper.es it g the president daily briefs. i think the issues that are in alignment with the president's thinking about iran, about north korea, about counter-terrorism, are really shaped by the c.i.a. far more than secretary tillerson. >> woodruff: david ignatius, there were democrats out toda saying damage has been done to emerica's role in the world, to how america is sby other countries under the trump-tillerson 14 months. do you agree? >> i think there's nost quen that trump hasc suceeded in this often self-proclaimed goal of disrupting, destabilizing the

world and traditional relationships, assumptions about american policies. he's wanted to shake things up, and he has. i just was in europe last weekend listening to foreign policy discussion, and it's just fair to say that our allies are concerned. they see american heading in fferent directions. they want the united states to be a strong leader of the system that the u.s. created after world war ii, and the concern that trump is walking away from that. i think there has beedamag it is important that any esident, president trump included, has a secretary of state who can speak confidentlyh foe president. everybody around the world knows he speak on behalf of the president with his voice in effect. rex tillerson, couldn't do that. that was part of his problem. in that sense it's better to have aar secrwho can have ar

consistent, aightforward expression of policy, especially as we head into these very delicah negotiations with no korea. >> woodruff: and nick burns, you were saying a moment ago there's an opportunity for change with mike pompeo coming in. how so? what kind of changould we look for? >> well, first, what david ignatius just said, i think all of our recent secretaries of state would say they were successful when they had the pport of the president. they have to have the support of the president or you don't havet crediboverseas some if mike pompeo is seen as someone in whom president trump has great confidence, and if president trump can be consistentn exhibiting that confidence and not undercutting pompeo the way he clearly undercut secretary tillerson, then i think secretary pompeo, secretary-designate pompeo has a chance to be an influential ndcretary of state, and he'll be more effective arhe world if people think he's speaking for president trjup. two issues to, watch out for, north korea is by far the most important iss ght now.

secretary-designate pompeo, i hope there will be speedy confirmation hearings. we need him out there.o i hope to pyongyang before the summit meeting to see if the north koreans are really serious. i support what president trump is trying to do, turning toward diplomacy, and pompeo has been a noted critic of the iran deal. that could spell bad ne for those of us who believe we should continue with the iran nuclear deal. >> woodruff: david shedd, how do you expect to see policy change or be reconfigured, whether it's north korea, russia, iran? >> i think that the ability o mike pompeo both now in ors diref c.i.a. and now as secretary of state should he bee confwill give the president truth to power, and i think it will do that as a n sult of the relationship he has.

soose key countries you mentioned and topics associated with, that i think seretary pompeo will tell the president when he's off the mark, and i think it will be en in the kind of relationship that they've built over the last 14 months. >> woodruff: what does that mean, say, for north korea? >> i think he will tell theid prt that ultimately the eye on the ball is denuclearization of the korean peninsula. and nothing short of that and with all that goes along with that in terv of haing the capability to attest to the fact that kim jong-un is denuclearizing thee pninsula will be something that he can cdrive president trump toept as an outcome, and nothing short. >> woodruff: david ignius, what would you say with regard to north korea, and what about u.s. relaons with russia where the president seems to resist wanting to give a full-throated criticism of russia's role and more. people arealling for him to

condemn russia's activities, not just in the electi, but syria and on and on down the list. >> if mike pompeo is a trusted presentative, a trusted emissary for president trump, as tsuggested a moment ago idea of going to pyongyang to begin to set the table for the conversation is crucial. pompeii yes's thoroughly red into the intelligence about the korea situation obviously. i just should note that on the way out, the intellectual architect of this idea of engage. with north korea, establishina condition for negotiations, was rex tillerson's wo he took it very seriously. the president is now benefiting from the work that was done. russia is te biggest question for the administration. they haven't really gotten to the point of thinking clearly about strategy. again, that's something that

pompeo ought to be able to drive because the president will listen to him.h the presiden to look russian aggression and mischief in the eye and begin to deal with it. otherwise we'll just, you know, as a country we'll have an increasing problem. >> woodruff: as you said, irony with regard to the apprpch, the dilomatic approach to north korea. nick burns, how would you measure a change in the u.s. approach to russia at this point? >> wel, there's an immediate question, judy. probably the next 24 hours.e the british prnister will very likely tell the hamas tomorrow that it was russia, that engineered this nerve agent attack in salisbury, england. the united states has to stand squarely behind britan . brity go to the nato ahynes not to go to war with russiabut to exact further sanctions against russia, and the trump administration, inuding the president thisin mo very delicate about what they will do in supporting britain. thersis only one anwer, we have to be behind britain and

lead the nato alliance to deter chtin from any further su attack. there is also the invasion of our election in 2016, the copiracy to undermine our election. one would hope that mike pomcoo coulince president trump finally that we have to be critical of president putin ands our defenses in the 2018 and 2020 election. >> woodruff: david shedd, do you have a clear expectation on what we'll see with regard to russia? i think mike pompeo cming with the knowledge he has working at the c.i.a. about the active measurethat the russians have been involved in for decades and most recentl using the means of technology that, in fact, he wil as nick suggest, be able to reach the president h the high impact of what those active measures arey by intermission into our political system and d undercuttimocracy full scale. >> woodruff: does that mean taking a tougher line? >> itea absolutely taking a tougher line. it's recognizing that perhaps in

ity, in their ections for example, calling that out, calling it out in terms of the constant russian efforts to divide and conquer nato by way of their activities. it's support for the baltic countries. yocan go on and on. >> woodruff: just finally and quickly. david ignatius, a word about the incoming c.i.a. director, gina haspel. what do we know about her? wat do w >> gina haspel is a career c.i.a. operations officer. she's been in someportant and sensitivity positions, one that's going to draw a lot ofnt versy is her role running a black site for detenti interrogation in thailand. it's really important and worth noting that she will be, if confirmed, the first woman director of the c.i.a. that's a big position. it's a significant glass ceiling that's been broken. she'll have i think stron

support and probably support from the people in the obama administrati who know her and worked with her. >> woodruff: nick burns, 20 seconds? >> a very significant appointment. what the president needs is a tight national security team. he has a star in jim mattis. if mattis, pompeo, haskell canet work togher, the president ought to listen to them. because the president has not been effective in his presidency so far with the rest of the world. >> woodruff: well, th was a day when eyes were rivetted on this president and the changes he is capable of making. nick burns, david ignatius, david shedd, gentlemen, thank you all. >> thank you, judy. >> thanks, judy. >> woodruff: the republican-leds intelligence committee has wrapped up its year-long

investigation into russia ioddling in the 2016 u.s. presidential ele but as john yang reports, its members are split on the findings. >> yang: the republin the committee have written a 150- page draft report. texas representative mike naway, who led the investigation, summarized then findingsx news.es >>the russians tried to interfere with our election process. yes, they had cyber attacks, active measures going onou we find no evidence of collusion between either mpaign and thessians. and we also have some recommendations, will have recommdations that speak to what we do with elections going forward, how important it is for amerans to be on guard. the process is sacred to our economy. >> yang: conaway also said there is no evidence the russians were trying to help the trump ampaign, a finding that's odds with both the judgement of the intelligence comnity and a recent federal grand jury indictment. for the democrats' view, we are now joined by representative adam schiff of california, the committee's top democrat.

mr. sheriff, thanks for being with us. you presumably have seen the same evidence that the republicans on the committee looked at. what's your response to their conclusion? >> well, deeply disappotting, but no completely surprising. ehey have maintained for som time notwithstanding significant evidence that we have seen that there was no collusion. this merely parrots what the president say, but it's not consistent with what we have seen. ae're releasing about a 20-page document today tsets out the witnesses that should have been brought before our c the documents that should have been obtained, the investigati n leads thd to be pursued so the public can see just how incompletes his effort wa thhhouse majority and how m work remains to be done if we're going to provide a full accounting to the public, these questions need to be answered. is cannot rely solely on robert 's his job to dedeside which

laws have been violated and who should be prosecuted. h it's ns job to tell the country what happened. lity, andr responsi by curtailing the investigation prematurely, the majority has prevented us from doing, that and what we're releasing today ought to show the public the work that remains to be done an hopefully serve as guide to investigative journalists anda others who pursue these leads even while the house majority has decided not t. we'll certainly be pursuing them regardless of what the majority does, but what they have done within the last 24 hours has made that immeasurably more difficult. >> yang: mr. conaway said they found evidence of bad judgment in taking meetings, but he said it would take a spy novelist to weave that io some sort of narrative of collusion. now, are you saying that you disagree based on what you've seen? >> certainly. and even what you see in the public do main does -- disputes

that claim. noif you look at what we from the work of robert mueller and the papadopoulos plea, the russians throteugh inediaries, and it may sound like a spy novel because there is someone called the professor involved, but they approached the trump campaign in apil 2016, in the very early stage, and said they had stolen clinton or dnc e-il, and they previewed the dissemination of those e-mails. weeks later they made a second approach to the trump campaign, the president's son and son-in-law and campaign manager, and said they were prepared to provide deroga about hillary clinton as parted of their effort to help donald trump. these are things that cannot be easily explained away. you add to that the president and the president's son and e eir false statements about the meeting taking pl the first place, about the meeting being about adoptions when it wasn't, and there's no disregarding the actions of mike flynn, who secretly had

conversations with the russian ambassador to come cloudy d conspire to undermine the bipartisan policy of the united states. he endedp pleading guity to a felony about lying about that. you can't look at those facts and say they're meaningless or they don't amount to collusion. whether they amount to a violation of the conspiracy statute involving federal election law robert mueller will cide. we need to report to the american people what happened. the reason we use the word "collusion" is collusion is unpatriotic and immoral, whether it rises to the level of a crime is a different issue. but nonetheless, to say that we found no evidence of is is simply at odds with the truth. >> yang: will you be laying out your argument ur own view, in a minority report? will you have that oportunity >> yes. we'll be doing a couple things. th'll issue a report that sets out the factsat we know to date. but of equal importance, we'll be setng out the investigative leads that were never pursued,

the inveigative threads that need continued work, the witnesses that need to be called in, the documents we need to obtain to really get to the truth. we can't give a comprehensive report on many of these issues becae the majority has no been willing to do the work. too often when witnesses came in and had no basis to refuse to answer questions, they refused to answer them because the answers might be inceriminating. y were claiming privilege, and the majority was content to let them do t. you cannot runi) this way. so we will set out what really needs to be done. if not by us, then by the senate or robert mueller or by our committee in the future, butha this wor to be done if we're going to protect the country, if we're going to get to the bottom of whether theia ru continue to hold leverage of the president of the united states. >> yang: given the way this investigation has been handled by this committee and the partisan fractures we've seen on this committee, can the intelligence committee for the remainder of this congress be a credible oversight over theom

intelligencenity? >> well, we have continued to do our day job, that is the ovsight of the intelligence community on a bipartisan basis. we've been able to compartmentalize that work. but i think since our chrman did that midnight run to the white house and claimed he had obtained evidencfrom an undisclosed source of an unmaing conspiracy only t have it revealed the information he got happened to come from the white house, and since that point,he mission of the majority on our committee has not been to do a credible investigation but to prote the president. and that has made our work difficult if not impossible. we learned a great deal nonetheless, but to conduct a credible investigation, you have to be dedicated to getting to the truth, and on, thai think our chairman and the majority simply lost their way. but as to the other matters before our committee, overseeing the agency, making sure they're sharing infrormation to potect this country, that work has gone on and thankfully gone on without the kind of partnership

've seen the majority exhibit over the russia investigation. >> yng: adam schiff of house intelligence committee, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we'll be back shortly with a look ahead to tomorrow's nationwide student walkout. but first, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your n pport, which helps keep programs like ourse air. >> woodruff: for thosetations sticking with us, we turn back to president trump's trip todaye to.s.-mexico border where he saw prototypes for a wall. and the border wall prototypes

mr. trump's controversial vow to build ou promise of his presidential campaign. but up to now, efforts to secure funding have failed to gain traction, even though immigration has been near the earlier this year, jean guerrerm of pber station kpbs reported on this long-running debate. she was reporting from san diego, not far from idere the prt visited today, to put the focus back on his campaign promise. >> build th wall! >> build that wall! >> reporter: presint trump promised to build a wall. we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall,, powerfautiful southern

boer wall. >> reporter: here on this dirt patch of land in southeastern san diego are e main products of those promises: eight prototypes of various colors and materials. each towers abou30 feet high, three times the height of the existing border fence just south of them. it's been three months since they were unveiled, with the acting deputy commissioner for u.s. customs and border protection, ron vitiello, lauding their scale. >> my biggest impression is how g they are. >> reporter: the protypes cost taxpayers $20 million. it's unclear if the prototypes will ever be used, because there's still no money for mr. trump's wall. more recently, artists projected lite graffiti on to the prototype r mexico. one of them is jill hol.es

>> the border wall is absolutely against the core foundational values of the united states. vee core foundational values of the united states een built upon immigration, upon welcoming refugees, upon creating a society that's very diverse. >> rep to await the wall with hopeful anticipation. one of those people is bobre maupin, a remechanic whose property touches the border in southeastern san diego county. >> if we get a wall like they built in israel, i probably won't have twear a bullet- proof vest along the border anymore. >> rorter: he patrols his property for trespassers from mexico. >> hell yeah, i'm a vigilante, if you use the word before hollywood got a hold of it because originally a vigilante, aw vigilantes, were people who were enforcing theecause of the lack of law enforcement. er reporter: along the southern edge of his prop, he built a chain-link fence that runs parallel to the government's

border fence. he says the government fence is pretty useless because it's so easy to climb, standing only 10 feet tall here, with corrugations that can be used as steps. his fence is crowned with barbed wire. still, it often gets cut by smugglers. maupin has patched it with-l bundles of chak and metal slabs. >> over the years, my wife and i have spent probably $20,000 in fence repair in property repair, because of these people. >> reporter: now, maupin feels he must use himself as a barrier against illegal immigration. >> it is my duty to protect the country from people invading it. >> reporter: further east, in izthe a desert, another man searches for people who get lost illegally crossing the border, and trs to save them. re, it's nature that stops people from coming through. hundreds die each yearthe extreme temperatures. ofte ely ortiz recovers thei bodies, with the help of a group named aguilas del essierto: eagl of the desert.

ortiz says the existing wall is to blame for the deaths, because it has pushed migrants into the desert. >> the wall is a method of discrimination. it's a way of saying, you're inferior to me and here i am marking my terriry, the united states, with its policies, how many lives has it claimed? >> reporter: he says a longer wall will mean more deaths. ortiz started the rescue group after finding the body of his own brother, rigoberto, in the arizona desert. rigoberto died trying to cross the border illegally in 2009. >> ( translated ): i lost all illusions, ambition for having things. i stopped having deso be somebody.ed i wao dedicate my life to helping people who suffer this. >> reporter: on this search, ortiz and his group come across a stack of letters andthther gs that appear to have

belonged to someone who died.e a largain of grease on the desert floor indicates that a corpse was recently removed. >> i love you so much francisco, my love. >> reporter: the letters appear to be from the man's girlfriend or wife. >> there shouldn't be a wall. we're all human. >>goeporter: back in san die border patrol agent joshua wilson s easier for agents to do their jobs. >> no barrier is a be-all, end- all that's going to prevent all illegal activity. however, what it does is it allows us time to interdict annt attempt to the country illegally. it acts as a speed bump. >> reporter: he says there are areas of the border that the wall doesn't address at ocl, such as thn. >> we've had people try to swim across, surf across, scuba dive, jet ski. there's no end to the creativity of people trying to come here ilgally. >> reporter: maritime apprehensions skyrocketed after the first wall was built. smugglers alrtso s digging tunnels under the fence and using drones.w,

and overnment statistics show most drug trafficking occurs through ports of entry. experts on both sides of theca polispectrum agree that even if president trump's wall is built, smugglers won't stop finding new strategies for getting people into the u.s. for the pbs newshour, i'm jean guerrero in san diego. >> woodruff: tomorrow will mark one month since 17 people were killed and 17 more were injurede duringhooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida.de as ss continue to advocate for gun control and other changes, walk-outs are planned around the country tomorrow to mark the anniversary. sillam brangham has a look at some of the questi surrounding this event for our weekly series, "making the grade."

>> brangham: organizers expect nre than 200,000 students all 50 states will participate in the walk-outs. how schools handle these walk- outs has been a matter of some concern. special correspondent lisa stark of "education week" has been covering this and is here with more on the story. welcome. >> nice to be here. >> brangham: so potentially thousands and thousands of kidso ow are going to be walking out of school. have you gotten a sense of whata is the me they're trying to convey? >> there is a dual purpose here. one is simply a memorial for those who lost their lives in paland and for all the students who may live in areas oith gun violence, anyone has been touched by gun violence, but it's also a call to action. this is a protest. they have things they wantng ss to do. they want congress to ban assault rifles, banit high-capmagazines, they want background checks for all gun purchases. and they want congress to pass thread flag law, the kind of law that was just signed into law in florida, in fact, which would

allow a court to a ke away gun from someone who the judge deems is maybe at risk to themselves or someone else. >> brangham: so it's your sense that it's going to be the same event at each school? is it going to look different at different schools? >> this is going to look totally diffent at different schools. some kids will walk out. some will hold moments of silence. a some schooe pushing kids to do assemblies, to not leave theo schoolds. there is a school in maryland that's going to put 17 empty desks in the auditorium with all the names of the parkland victims. aztec highchool, which is in new mexico, they lost two of their students to gun violence in december, they're going to gather around their flagpole and they're going to try to come up wi t some positive ways tolk about school safety. this is going to really look diffent all over theuntry. >> brangham: how are school administrators handling this?o i havemagine your task is nsu want to keep kids in school. you're also resle legally to look after them during the day. >> absolutely. >> brangham: but i guess they also don't want to be sell.

ing students desire to get out and speak their mind poli'rcally? >> yoright. they are walking a tightrope here. on one hand they want students to find their own voice, as you say, but they are responsible for school safety. so again, just as there will be all types of demonst schools are all over the map, too. some are banning walkouts. somere trying to convince students to meet inside the schools, congregate inside the schools. some are requesting parrmtal sion if you want your student to participate. so again, each school is handling that and each district is handling that quite shfferently. >> brangham: refme on the constitution here. students, no matter what... >> there'nda first ament. >> brangham: and it applies to kids all over the country. >> well, as the supreme court has said, students don't check their firm rights when they walk in the school door. but the problem is there are school policies. first amendment freedom of speech is unlimited.oo so s can enforce their policy against unexcused abse some may do that.. but what schools can't do is

give students a harsher punishment than they would have for any unexcused abnce. they can't ratchet up the punishment because maybe they don't support this or agree with the political message that the students are trying to make. >> woodruff: all. >> brangham: all right, lisa stark education week, thank you very much. >> woodruff: online, teachers and students have expressed their ideas for stopping school shootings. read that and more on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by:

the ford foundation. working with visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwide. >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations in education, democratic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security. atarnegie.org. >> and with the going support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. or captioning spo by newshour productions, llc

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elyse: we're the history detectives, and we're going to investigate some untold stories from america's past. this week, we go to the front lines of the battle to end slavery. does this cryptic letter reveal lincoln's secret strategy for winning political power? gwendolyn: dithis faded map once guide slaves to freedom on the undergroundailroad? orwes: and an ee presentation: e these fragments from a deadly kamikaze attack that almost sank one of the navy's most powerful warshs? elvis costello: ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ca ♪ but he t be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪