captioning spoored by ns newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. t newshour tonight... >> i return to private life as a proud citizen as a proud american, proud of the opportunity i've had to serve my country. >> woodruff: ...secretary of state rex tillerson is abruptly shown the door. the months of tension that led to the president's decision and the ramifications for u.s. diplomacy around the world. then, the g.o.p.-run u.s. housom intelligencettee ends its issia investigation, sayi finds no evidence of collusion between the trump campaign and moscow. declaration premature. and schools across the coury prepare for a massive student walkout protesting gun violence, one month after the mass shooti at a florida high school. all that and more on tonight's

pbs newshour. f >> majorunding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by thcorporation for blic broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. rex tillerson was sacked today

as secretary of state. the president fired him after 1o montrocky relations and a long list of policy disputes. h >> rex ande been talking about this for a long ngme. we got actually quite well but we disagreed on things o >> woodruffside the white house this morning, president p insisted rex tillerson ouster should not have come as a surprise. >> i actually got along well with rex but really it was a different mind set. a different thking. >> woodruff: tillerson had just returned from a trip to africa tuesday morning when he got the 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,de ecretary of state steve goldstein, was himself fired. later, tillerson emerged to say he did have a phone call this afternon 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. as such, effective at the end of the day, i am delegating allti responsibi of the office of the secretary to deputy secretary of state sullivan s >> woodruff: tretary had long been seen as outside theid prt's inner circle. he was kept in the dark before last week's bombshell announcement that mr. trump would meet with north rea's leader kim jong un.le at the time, ton was in the african nation of djibouti. >> in all honeat came as a little bit of a surprise to us as well. >> woodruff: the president reafrmed today that he did n consult his secretary of state about the kim meeting. >> i made that decision myself. rex wasn't in the country. n

i made tth korea decision with consultation with many onople but i made the deci by myself. >> woodruff: last fall, the esident had dismissed tillerson's push for diplomacy with the north, saying he was "wasting his time." the two men were 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 ane more cautious his morning. >> as soon as we get the facts straight, if we agree with them we wndemn russia or whoever it may be. >> woodruff: the iran nucls r agreement t another point of contention. tillerson argued for staying in upe deal, while the president pushed to tear i >> when you look at the iran deal, i think it's terrible. i guess he felt it was okay. i wanted to either break it or do something and he felt a little bit differently. t so we were nnking the same.

>> woodruff: on other issues, tillerson objectedo the president's decision to pull out of the paris climate accord. and, he warned against moving the u.s. embassy from tel aviv to jerusalem, to no avail. last octoberhis standing with mr. trump took a hit after nbc news repted he'd called the president a "moron" and considered quittg. tillerson never directly denied using the term: the ranking democrat on the senate foreign relations committee, robert menendez, said today the trump-tillerson clashes have damaged america's standing with foreign nations. >> is the president going to change is mind tomorrow? is the secretary of state going to say something totally different? >> woodruff: the president says that won't happen with his new pick for state, former kansas congressman mike pompeo, now the rector 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" re north the republican chair of the senate foreign relations committee, bob corker, says he needs to get to know pompeo. >> i've never really had much if any dealings with him, i'm not sure we've even met. >> woodruff: if he's confirmed, pompeo will also confront a troubled work force. tillerson presided over efforts to cut almost a third of the state partment's budget. in turn, the foreign service has lost 60% of its career ambassadors during t trump administration. the ambassadorship tsouth korea remains unfilled, 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 sti.a. director gina haspel, would become the foman 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 laterev destroyeidence of waterboarding. tompeo has also defended the c.i.a.'s use of rture. his confirmation hearing will be held in april. for insights into what led the s president ke up his national security team, we are joined by robert costa, host of pbs' "shington week" and national political reporter for the "washington post." and josh lederman, who covers the state department for the associated press. robert, to you first, we have been hearing for monthshat rex

tillerson either might be forced out or might resign on his own. what led to this right now? >> there was not an event that led directly to this decision, judy. it was aong-simmering frustration by the president with his secretary of state. they saw the wor in different ways. and the president really wanted to assert himself more on foreign policy. he did not like delegating decisions to tillerson, a lotime executive at exxon-mobil. he wanted to move in a new direction where foreign policys reated inside of the white house. >> woodruff: josh leaderman, what would you add to that? >> i think tt over time the fact that tillerson and trump were not going to beo a god pair, a good partnership became more and more apparent until it was just impossible to overlook. it got to the point where had foreign governments that weren't even really bothering to deal with tillerson, to interact licy him, the try to make po with him because they didn't see him as actually speaking for tha trump adminion. they saw the white house, the president himself, perhaps his

son-in-law jared bernstein, and and -- jared kushner, and onc you lose your ability to do your job in an effective way, it'sl fie for a change. that's what we saw today. >> woodruff: so josh leaderman, was this doomed om the beginning? >> it was doomed rather soon from the beginning when it became clearhey had very different styles that trump had different positions on the iran deal, one,limate chand the paris agreement, and other key national security priorities than his secretary of state. >> woodruff: robert costa, why was this done in such a huliating manner, letting the secretary of state know just a few hours afner he lad back after a listening trip in africa, doing it in a tweet? >> it's so typical of president trump to manage his cabinet in this way. it's how he managed associates throughout his business career. people inside of the white house todatell me that he can be cruel, and he decided to be somewhat cruel in how hea hndled tillerson, angry that tillerson

often seemed to be out on a limb politically and diplomati he was urged by john kelly to do il in person or to wait unt tillerson came back to the u.s. the president was tempted to do itia tweet, but he generally resisted doing, that but a messy 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. >> thioreality televisin style of governing is not that far from the truth. in fact, one whiteseou official told me today, this is really season two of the trump presidency that started with the president moving back to his raw political instinct, take more control over the government, have alliesurround him in the cabinet. >> woodruff: josh leaderman, let's turn to the man the president has chosen to replace rex tillerson, mike pompeo, now at the c.i.a. what is your ad onim? what is expected of him chaomngg ne agency to the other?

>> what's expected is that he's going to bore consistent ally of the president and a more consistent backer of the president's own instincts. now, on the iran deal, for instance, where there is a major decision ahead of the prest,id it's likely that pompeo will find himself more on the same page. 's been an ardent critic of that deal, pushing the president to back away from that deal, whereas tillerson really wanted to stay in that deal. peo, likeow that pom the president, is a more brash-talkg, in-your-face kind of guy. he was in congress before, so there's some familiarity there with fole who wouldappy to confirm him. and he's also someone that the president seems to enjoy being around and likes hinycom we know that pompeo as c.i.a. director often delivered t president's daily briefs in person, spent a lot of time in the white house, more than many past c.i.a. directors, and it seemed to indicate a level ofat comfort he president has surrounding the himself with pompeo and with his advice on key issues. >> amaka: and robert, you have done a fair am unt of reporting,

on pomon his background serving in congress for, what six years? >> that's correct. what a political ascent for this former kansas conessman and ally of the koch brothers. ng respects in hawkish republican circles. he ingratiat himself with president trump. he's really develop this rapport with the president because he gives the p.d.b., the president daily briefing. he gives it in person. because of that they've developed this personality connection that really has led to this announcement that he will be the next secretary of state if confirmed. >> woodruff: and robert, i have to ask you, this departure of rex tillerson, secretary of state, comes on the heels of a nuer of other high-profile departures. a few days ago the president's chief economic adviser gary cohn out. that followed by a few days the departure of his communications director hope hicks.po

rogeer, who was -- or robert porter, who was the president's staff secretary with scandal around that depsture. whathis sense right now inside the white house? >> welenl, judy, wh told you it was season two was the 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 stateepartment, but you have the president tonight in california thinking about secretary shulkin at the department of veterans affairs. he's been struggling with different crises in the past few wet s. the presids 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 ovr gary cohn's job. a lot of tumult, a lot of chnge the horizon. >> wdruff: and josh leaderman, as someone who cov the state department and certainly keeps his eye on the white house, how does all this look to people in the administration from the other agencies, 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 sigh of relief broadly because many of the 75,000 people who work for the ate department were nog fans of tillerson, because he came in wanting to restructure the agency, wanting its budget cut,ng wanuch fewer people working there.h and keepinself very isolated from the diplomatic core. so on the one hand, they're relieved that that eris over, but there is a lot of treppeation about whether po will be better on that front or whether he will be equally or even more hostile toward traditnal american diplomacy, soft power, and the things that state department anderth agencies tend to work on. >> woodruff: finally, robert costa, is there a read on that, a clear read on what pompeo will represent from the white house? >> pompeo's goi tngo represent president trump's point of view, plain and simple. tillerson came in as this

ngtime executive who had his own view of the world. he thought he could help manager that tfolio and then translate it to the president and communicate his views. what the pesident wants is a blunt enforcer for the trumpian view of the world. that's whahe's going to get i mike pompeo. >> woodruff: all right. gentlemen, on this daa whole lot of news, robert costa with the "washington post," josh leaderman wita.p., we thank you both. >> thank you. >> thanks a lot. >> woodruff: we'll take ideeper o 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. heoined the first trump campaign, in 2015.pr thident is in california tonight, in his first official visit to the state since taking

office. he checked out eight 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 billions of dollars by reducing crime, fare fraud and burdens on schools and hospitals.ve the wall will undreds 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 misleing statements by the trump administration. james schwab cit claims that 800 immigrants escaped arrest when the mayor of kland warned of raids. schwab says agents were never going to find that mople. 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 collusio 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,p later in tgram. the clock ticked down tonight on rebritish ultimatum to russia. prime minister t may is demanding answers on how a former russian spy was poisoned in southern england. daughter eula remain in critical but stable condition. he was boyened with a russian nerve agent.

russia say they won't cooperate unlee they get access to substance.ng "the country buestioned 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 started being spread by practically every member of the british government." with russia denying any involvement in this attempted double murder, all eyes tomorro will be on theresa may's spawn. her option lude expelling diplomats, freezing financial bassets, and evycotting the world cup. but here in salisbury, the massive police investigation into this attack continues at pace. officers issuing an appeal today eir anyone who saw the skripals in thred b.m.w. before they ended up in this supermarket car park still no details on how precisely they fell ill that sunday afternoon. >> we're getting mantiy qus involving how and where the

nerve agent was actually ministered. i can't comment onhat 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 tele tsion news. alay, police investigated the unexplained death of 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 pay sweeping new controls over the government and economy. the rubber-stamp legislature is creating an anti-corruption agency that answers to the party and operates outside the courts. it's also establishing a veteransffairs 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 kabul today, he said he's still holding outho for a victory in afghanistan, but not on the battlefield. >> it's all workreg to achieve a nciliation. a political reconciliation, not a military victory. there is interest that we've picked up from the taliban side, even going before the kabul conference. >> woodruff: later, maet with afghanistan's president aseaf ghani, who's invited taliban to join negotiations. the secretary also spoke to u.s. troops. the u.s. military does little to track cases of children being sexually assaulted, by other children, on base. the associated press reports finding nearly 600 s incidents since 2007, but it says the pentagon does not analyze the cases. the chdren are not covered by military law, and the ap says federal prosutors pursued only

about one in seven in civilian courts. blizzard conditions batted new england today, in the region's third late-winter storm in less than two weeks. the nor'easter was dumping up tt two fe 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.s. chip maker qualcomm slumped 5%, after president trump blocked a takeover by broadcom, based in singapore. he cited national security concerns. overall, the dow jones industrial average l1 ints to close at 25,007. the nasdaq fell 77 points, andp the s&500 slipped 17.

still to come on the newshour: the ripple eects of rex tillerson's departure, at home and abroad.ou the end of the intel committee's russia probe. i speak to the group's top democrat, and much more. >> woodruff: we return to the shakeup at the top of the trump administration with the firing of secretary of state rex tillerson;nd 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 w at harvard university. david ignatius is a foreign polihe columnist at "washington post." and david shedd served as acting director of the defense

intelligencegency during a 33- year government career. he is now a distinguished fellow at the heritage foundation, a washington think tank. gentlemen, we welcome all three of you here today. david ignatius, i'm going the start with you. your report, what does it tell you about why the president mads this dn? >> 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 a change, asked mike pompeo if he s ready to go state. pompeo said yes. the president head off. i think hi was counseled by chlyf of staff knd others to wait on that move. he did. but his discomfort continued. t watchie public humiliation of rex tillerson has been painful i think for the hole 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 ange. he's headed into the most 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 there, for many months. >> woodruff: nicholas burns, how would you describe theta department under rex tillerson? >> demoralized. i think the greest crisis we've had in 40 or 50 years with 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 leveaels ly because no senior diplomats were appointed to senior position around president trump in the white house. the majority of our ambassadorships ulef no ambassador to seoul in the middle of this crisis, no

assistant secretary of state for east asia. so diplomatic malactice by secretary tillerson. i think that's part of his legacy. he mismanaged the state department, our civil ancareer foreign service, and this was a great, important arm of ourdi omacy, and yet these people feel that they have been excluded. i would say i thi that with secretary designatepopeo, there is an opportunity to rebuild the department if he can convince president trump and the o.m.b. director to put the money forward. he has an opportunity to winle back pe, but that's a tall order at this stage. >> woodruff: as somebody who has watched american foreign policy forhoa long time, do you see the record of rex rytillerson as secre >> i think that it's spoy. 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 direor

pompeo 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, d that relationship has grown deeper. it gives the president ily 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. r more than secretary tillerson. >> woodruff: david ignatius, there were democrats outtoday saying damage has been done to america's role in the world, to how america is seen by other countries under the trump-tillerson 14 months. do you agree? >> i think there's noioue that trump has suceeded in this often self-proclaimed goal of disrupting, destabilizing the

world and trditional relationships, assumptions about american policies. he's wanted to shake things up, and he has. i just was in europe la weekend listening to foreign policy discussion, and it's just fair to say that our allies are concerned. they see american heading indi erent 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. ink there has been damage. t it is importaat any president, president trump included, has a secretary of state who can speak confidently for president. everybody around the world knows he speaks 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 a secretary who can have a

consistent, straightforward expression of policy, especially as we head into these very delicateegotiations with nort 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 change ould we look for? >> well, first, what david ignatius just id, i think all of our recent secretaries of state would say they were successful when they had the support of the president. they have to have the support of the president or you don't have credibility overseas some if mike pompeo is seen as someone in whom president trump has great confidence, and if president trump can be consistent iexhibiting 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 inf secretary of state, and he'll be more effective around the world if people think he's speaking for president trump. two issues, judy to, watch out for, north korea is by far the most important issueri ght now.

secretary-designate pompeo, i hope there will be speedy confirmation hearings. we need him out there.go i hope to pyongyang before the summit meeting to see if ths north kore 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 wsor 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, w it's north korea, russia, iran? >> i think that the ability of mike pompeo both now in hi o direct c.i.a. and now as secretary of state should he be confirll give the president truth to power, and i think it will do that as a result of the relationship he

has. so ose key countries you mentioned and topics associated with, that i think secretary pompeo will tell the presidente' whenoff the mark, and i think it will be taken 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 theen presthat ultimately the eye on the ball is denuclearization of the korean peninsula. and nothing short of that and with all that goeslong with that in terms of having the capability to attest to the fact that kim jong-un is denuclearizing the pinsula will be something that he can cive president trump to at as an outcome, and nothing short. >> woodruff: david ignats, what would you say with regard to north korea, and what about u.s. relatis with russia where the president seems to resist wanting to ge a full-throated criticism of russia's role and more. people are calling for him to

condemn russia's activities, not just in the electionbut in syria and on and on down the list. >> if mike pompeo is a trustedre esentative, a trusted emissary for president trump, as heggested a moment ago,dea of going to pyongyang to beg to set the table for the conversation is crucial. pomphli yes's thorored into the intelligence about the korea situation obviously. i just should note at on the way out, the intellectual architect of this idea of engage. with north korea, establishing a condition for negotiations, was .rex tillerson's wo he took it very seriously. the president is now benefitin from the work that was done. russia is th biggest question for the administration. they haven't really gotten to the point of thinking clearly about strategy. again, that's something tha

pompeo ought to be able to drive because the president will listen to him.as the president to look russian aggression andf misch in the eye and begin to deal with it. otherwise we'll jusas you know, country we'll have an increasing problem. >> woodruff: as you said, irony with regard to the approa, 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. miobably the next 24 hours. the british primster will very likely tell the hamas tomorrow that it was russia,en thagineered this nerve agent attack in salisbury, england. the united statehas to stand squarely behind britain. britain may go to the nato ahynes not to go to war with russia, t to exact further sanctions against russia, and the trump administration, incling the president thisg, mornery delicate about what they will do in supporting britain. there only one anwer, we have to be behind britain and

lead the nato alliance to dettir from any further such attack. there is also the invasion of our election in 2016, the conspiracy to undermine our election. one would hope that mike pompenv could ce president trump finally that we have to be critical of president putin and rar defenses in the 2018 and 2020 election. >> woodruff: david shedd, do you have a clear expectation on what we'll sed with regto russia? >> i think mike pompeo coming with the knowledge he hase working at ti.a. about the active measures that the russians have been involved in for decades and most recently using the means of technology that, in fact, hel, wils nick suggest, be able to reach the president wih the high impact of what those active measures areof by wa intermission into our political system and undercutting democracy full scale. >> woouff: does that mean taking a tougher line? >> it absolutely means taking a tougher line. it's recognizing that perhaps in

itale in their elctions 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. you n go on and on. >> woodruff: just finally and quickly. david ignatius, a word abouthe incoming c.i.a. director, gina haspel. what do we know about her? wat do we >> gina haspel is a career c.i.a. operations officer. she's been in some iportant and sensitivity positions, one that's going to draw a lot ofro corsy is her roleniun a black site for detention interrogation in thailand. r itlly 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 strong

support and probably support from the people in the obama administration who know her and worked with her. >> woodruff: nick burns, 20 secogs? >> a very nificant appointment. what the president needs is a tight national security team. he has a star in jim mattis. if mattis, pompeo,ca haskelln work together, the president ought to listen to them. because the president has not been effective in his presidency so far with threst of the world. >> woodruff: well, this was a day when eyes were rivetted on this president and thanges he is capable of making. nick burns, david ignatius, david shedd, gentlemen, thank you all. >> thank you, judy. >> thank judy. >> woodruff: the republican-led house intelligence committee has wrapped up its year-longin

investigatio russia meddling in the 2016 u.s. presidential election. but as john yang reports, its members are split on the findings. >> yang: the republicans on the -mmittee have written a 1 page draft report. texas representative mike conaway, who led the investigation, summathe findings on fox news.th >> yes, e russians tried to interfere with our election process. yes, they had cyber attacks, active measures going on.ld we cind no evidence of collusion between either cauaign and the rssians. and we also have some recommendations, will have recommendations that speak to what we do with elections going forward, how important it is for americans 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 aign, a finding that's a odds with both the judgement of the intelligence community 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 disappointing, but not completely surprising. they have maintained for some time notwithstanding significant evidence that we have seen ther was no collusion. this merely parrots what thepr ident say, but it's not consistent with what we have seen. we're releasing about a 20-page document today thats out the witnesses that should have been brought before our committee, the documents that should have been obtained investigative leads that need to be pursued so the puic can see just how incomplete this effort was by e majority and how much work remains to be done if we're going to provide a full accounting to the public, these questions need to be answered. we cannot rely solely on robert 's his job to dedeside which

laws have been violated and who should be prosecuted. it's not his job to tell the countrwhat happened. that's our responsibility, and 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 pefully serve as a guide to investigative journalists and p others who carsue these leads even while the house majority has decided not to we'll certainly be pursuing them regardless of what the majority does, but what they have don 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 intonasome sort of ative 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. if you look at what we know from the work of robert muell and the papadopoulos plea, the russians throedugh interies, and it may sound like a spy novel because there is somne called the professor involved, but they approached the trump campaign in april 2016, in the very early stage, and said they had stolen clinton or dnc e-mail, and they previewed the e-dissemination of thosails. weeks later they made a second approach to the trump campaign, the president's son and son-in-law and campaign maner, and said they were prepared to provide derogatorynformation out 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 their false statements about the meeting taking place in the first place, about the meeting ing 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 and conspire to undermine the bipartisan policy of the united states. he ended up pleading guilty to a felony about ing about that. you can't look at those facts and say they're meaningless or they don't amunt to collusion. whether they amount to a violation ofirhe cony statute involving federal election law robert mueller wili . we need to report to the american people what happened. the reason we use the word "collusion" is collusion is patriotic and immoral, whether it rises to the level of a crime is a different issue.s, but nonethelo say that we found no evidence of this is simply at odds with the truth. >> yang: will you be laying uout your argument in r own view, in a minority report? will you have that opportunity? >> yes. we'll be doing a couple things. we'll issue a report that sets out the facts thwe know to date. but of equal importance, we'll be settingut the investigative leads that were never pursued,

the investigative threads that need continued work, theth witnesse 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 because e majority has not 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 incrinating. they were claiming privilege, and the majority was content to let them do that. you cannot runi w thy. so we will set out what really needs to be done. if not by us, th the senate or robert mueller or by our committee in the future, but t this work habe done if we're going to protect the country, if we're going to get to the bottom of whether the c russiatinue to hold leverage of the president of the united states. >> yang: given the way this d vestigation has been handled by this committee e partisan fractures we've seen on this committee, can the htelligence committee for remainder of this congress be a niedible oversight over the

intelligence com? >> well, we have continued to do our day job, that is the oversillt of the inteence community on a bipartisan basis. we've been able to compartmentalize that work. but i think since our chairm did that midnight run to the white house and claimed he had obtained evidence from an undisclosed urce of an unmasking conspiracy only the have it revealed the information he got happened t come from the white house, and since that point, theission of the majority on our committee has not been to do a credible investigation but to protect e 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, that i think our chairman and the majority simply lost their way. but as to the other matters c before ommittee, overseeing the agency, making sure they're sharing infoormation to prtect this country, that work has gone on and thankfully gone on without the kind of partnershipv

seen the majority exhibit over the russia investigation. >> ya: adam schiff of house intelligence committee, thanks so much for joining us. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we'll be back shortly wita look ahead to tomorrow's nationwide student walkout.t rst, take a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer >>

oodruff: tomorrow will mark

one month since 17 people were killed and 17 more were injured during the shooting at marjory stoneman douglas high school in parkland, florida. as students continue to advocate for gun control and other changes, walk-outs are planned around the country tomorrow to mark the anniversary. willam brangham mes a look at f the questions surrounding this event for our weekly series, "making the grade." >> brangham: organizers 20pect more tha000 students in all 50 states will participate in the walk-outs. how schools hale these walk- outs has been a matter of some concern. special correspondent sa stark of "education week" has been covering this and is here with more on e story. tolcome. >> nice here. >> brangham: so potentially thousands and thousands of kids tomorrow are going to be walking out of school. have you gotten a sense of what is the message they're trying to convey? >> there is a dual purpo here. one is simply a memorial for those who lost their lives in f parkland a all the students who may live in areas

with gun violee, anyone who has been touched by gun violence, but it's also a call to action. this is a protest. they have things they want congress to do. they want congress to ban assault rifles, ban high-capacity magazines, they want background checkfor all gun purchases. and they want congress to pass thread flag law, the kind of law that was justigned into law in florida, in fact, which would alw a court to take aa gun from someone who the judge deems is maybe at risk to themselves or someone else. >> brangham: so it's your se te that it's going to bhe same event at each school? is it going to look different at different school >> this is going to look totally different at different schools. some kids will walk out. some will hold moments of some schools are pushing kids to do assemblies, to not leave the school grounds. there is a school in maryland that's going to put 17 epty desks in the auditorium with all the names of the parkland victims. aztec high school, which is in new mexico, they lost two ofen their st to gun violence in december, they're going to

gather around their flagpoleand they're going to try to come up with some positive ways to talk about school safety. this is going to really looko different aler the country. >> brangham: how are school ndling this?rs h i have to imagine your task is you want to keep kids in schoolo re also responsible legally to look after them during the day. >> absolutely. >> brangham: but i gss they also don't want to be sell. ing students desire tot out and speak their mind politically? >> you're right. they are walking a ti here.pe on one hand they want students to find their own voice, as you say, but they are responsibleho for safety. so again, just as there will be all types of deemonstration, schools are all over the map, too. some are banning walkouts. some are trying to convince students to meet inside the schools, congregate the schools. some are requesting parental tirmission if you want your student to parpate. so again, each school is handling that and each district is handling that quite bdifferently. angham: refresh me on the constitution here.

audents, no matter what... >> there's a firendment. >> brangham: and it applies to kids all over the country. >> well, as the supremeourt has said, students don't check their firm rights when they walk inhe school door. but the problem is there are school policies. first amendment freedom of speech is unlimited. so schools can enforce their policy aainst unexcused absences, for example. some may do that. but what schools can't do isve tudents a harsher punishment than they would have for any uexcused absence. they can't ratchet up the punishment because maybe they don't support this orthagree the political message that the students are trying to make. >> woodruff: all. >> brangham: all right, lisa stark of education week, thank you very much. >> woodruff: online, teachersen and st 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. w i'm judruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon.

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