captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> i started facebook, i run it, and i am responsible for what happens here. >> woodruff: mark zuckerberg in. the hot se the facebook c.e.o. testifies orfore senators, amid serious privacy concernsillions of users. then, president trump lashes ons at special c robert mueller, after an f. raid on the president's personal lawyer, michael con. and, securing schools in the wake of the parkland shooting. how a district in texas is taking precautionary measures to protect students agast the worst. >> i think parents are open to it. they've seen thatimes have changed, unfortunately, and they do see we're putting children's safety first. >> woodruff: all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour.

>> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin. >> kevin. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> babbel. a language program that teaches real-life conversations in a nea langge. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation car

public broing. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: we have two major stories tonight. first, the white house now says that president trump believes he has the power to fire the man running the russia igation, special counsel robert mueller. that follows an f.b.i. raid on a member of the trump inner circle: his personal lawyer, michael cohen. it was based on information from mueller's team. we will have a full report, after the news summary. meanwhile, the head of facebook, mark zuckerberg, says his comapny is worki with the special counsel's probe of the russian election meddling. that was one a range of issues raised as zuckerberg faced off with 44 members of the united states senate today. li desjardins begins our coverage. >> reporter: for the social

media maverick who's often behind the scenes, aery public lesson in scrutiny, as lawmakers grilled facebook's mark zuckerberg with questions. >> why should we trust facebooke >> i b you have the talent to solve these problems, but dol you have the companies began with an apology. >> reporter: the c.e.o. of ot' of the intermost dominant companies began with an apology. >> we didn't take a ooad enough viour responsibility, and that was a big mistake. and it was my mistake, and i'm sorry. i started facebook, i run it, and i'm responsible for what happens here. >> reporter: this, one week after facebook revealed up to 87 million users' personal information could have been improperly accessed by cambridge analytica, a political consulting firm hired by the trump campaign in 2016. cambridge analytica then used

that data to direct trump campaign content toward individual users. facebook admits it knew about this kind of data harvesting for at least two years, but only addrsed it last month. today's rare joint hearing byse thte judiciary and commerce committees was just one sign of the fury over the revelations. zuckerberg's message: his company is changing. >> we need to take a more proactive role.h it's not eno build tools, we need to make sure they're used for good.he atnd of the day, this is something people will measure by results. reporter: but that didn't satisfy senators. bill nelson, a democrat froma, florressed zuckerberg about why facebook waited years to tell users about the breach with cambridge analytica. >> you apologize for it, but you didn't notify them. do you think that you have hical obligation to notify?

>> we considered it a closed case. in retrospect, that was clearly a mistake. >> did anyone notify the f.t.c.? >> no, senator. >> reporter: some also honed in on repeated mistakes and apologies by facebook over the years. commerce committee chairman john thune: >> how is today different? >> so we have made a l of mistakes running the company. >> reporter: other senators, arke minnesota's amy klobu pushed for specific fixes. >> would you support a rule to notify users within 72 hours of data breach? >> that makes sense to me. >> reporter: this as klobuchar and others push something called the honest ads act-- one of a long line of bills now focused on digital platforms like facebook.

it requires the company make sure no foreign interests can post campaign ads, and that the public be able to see who is bend every election ad. facebook says it is now doing that, and more-- launching easier wayfor users to block access to their informatg n, and promis restrict how much data any outside company can access. but as facebook tried to look forward, senators pointed backward. connecticut's richard blumenthal asked about facebook's deal with alexander kogan, whose app gave cambridge analytica its access. >> i want to show you terms of service that kogin provided to facebook. i want to note for you that in fact, facebook was on notice that they could sell that data. did you see this? >> i did not. >> who was responsible for this?

>> our app review team. >> was anyone fired from this team? not for that. >> reporter: illinois senator dick durbin:ou >> woulde comfortable sharing with us the hotel youig stayed in last? >> ( .laughs ) >> if you messaged anybody this week, would you share with us the names of the people you've messaged? >> senator, no, i would not choose to do that publicly here. >> reporter: zkerberg was twice pressed on whether facebook tracks users across devices anafter they leave the platform. he hesitated to answer. >> there has been repo facebook can track a user's

internet browsing activity en m.ter that user has logged off the facebook platf can you confirm whether that's true? >> senator, i want to make sure i get this accurate. it's better to have my tea follow up. >> you don't know? >> i know that peoe use cookies on the internet, and you can probably correlate activity between sessions. >> reporter: zuckerberg gave mo specifics on a differen topic: the threat from russia. facebook has said that sent fake campaign ads to more than 100 million facebook users in 2016. >> what is facebook doing to prevent foreign actors? >> this is one of my greatest priorities in 2018, is to get this right. one of my greatest regrets in

running the company, we were slow to i.d. new operators. >> reporter: zuckerberg was also pushed on if it feeds global crisis-- the u.n. and human rights groups accuse facebook of allowing hateful antndmuslim videosther posts that facilitated violence against rohingya muslims in myanmar. >> senator, what's happening in myanmais a terrible tragedy and we need to do more. >> we all agree with that. >> okay. >> but you and investigators blamed-- you blamed facebook for playing a role in that genocide. how can you dedicate, and will you dedicate resources to makeuc surehate speech is taken down in 24 hours? >> one is, we're hiring dozens of more burmese language content reviewers, because hate speech is very language-specific. h

itd to do it without people who speak the local language. >> reporter: as the hearing ran into the evening, one theme was t nstant: facebook's power, and how it handles twer. zuckerberg will be in washington at least one more night. .e testifies before a house committee tomorr for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins >> woodruff: and now, amna nawaz looks further at some of what we learned today, and some questions that remain. >> repter: and for that, i'm joined by franklin foer, a staff writer for "the atlantic," and author of, "world without mind: the existential threat of big tech." thanks for being her >> pleasure. >> reporter: you watched the testimony today. it's fair to say mark zuckerberg went in a bit on the back foot. how dwro think he did? >> well, six months ago if you looked at facebook, mark ckerberg was discussed as a potential presidential candidate, facebook disavowed that it was the world's biggest botekeeper. fa pushed back against the

prospect of government regulating it,, d if you lok at today's performance, while he was technically i think very proficient in swatting away some of the concerns of senators, their role in the world hasam futally changed. he was conceding that facebook is going to be regulated by government, and that regulation might ultimately be good for faceok and facebook's use ers. he conceded that facebook is a publisher, that it hassp sibilities for the content that it publishes, and so the zeitgeist has shift dramatically. he's trying to preserve facebook's dominant position, its monopoly. he would rather thisiscussion be about the regulation rather than a discussion about anti-trust and brking up the company. >> reporter: you mentioned him swatting away some of those questions. what did he not answer today that you thought he would or shou have? >> wek look, he was disavowing facebook's re in collecting people's data. he portrayed facebook as being a system where people were making

all sorts of conscious choices to have ther data collected by facebook. so i think he was being fairly disingenuous. there was a question you just doshowed where he said hesn't know whether facebook tracks you across all their devic. well, of course he knows that. one issue i think that's really important thate didn't discuss is the role of manipulation in facebook's system. it camnaup veryrrowly in the case of cambridge analytica, but facebook is a system that is a feedback loop hat is deigned to keep users as engaged as long as possibl, which mea keeping them addicted. so content on facebook is a rayed in such fashion to keepdd people cted. so he's not feeding people information based on what they share. he's not feeding it based on what's good for them or good for democracy. he's feeding sed on what will keep them addicted. >> reporter: he's also feeding it based on the data thdoe track. he was asked specifically about that. we saw one of those moments in

lisa's report, basically how and when and where his platforma collects from their users. what did you make of how he handled those specif questions? >> i thought he was pretty effective in dealing with the setors. i think we were at a moment where senators, a lot of the senators are, ife're frank, they're older. they're not necessarily facebook's core demographic, ore they'rtors who are busy who are now facebook power users, so they didn't derstand the system. so when it came to pressing zuckerberg on a lot of the questions abothe collection of data, i think zuckerberg wasn rely effective in pushing them away, but i think in ways that will ultimately be seen as disingenuous. >> reporter: a few of the senators zero n, what they ew and when and how they shared. they knew in 2015 cambridge analytica improperly shared data. they banned them, but they didn't tell users and they didn report it to the f.t.c.?

should they have? how do you think zubeck handled those questions today? >> i think they should have. part of the issue is when we step become and you look at these questions, the cambridge analytica questions, the questions of giving access of data to third-party developers, the questions about facebook being careless in their handling of this precious cargo, really these are systematic problems that facebook has. so this was one glaring example of facebook screwing up. zuckerbe admitted failure. but really it's part of a system ric failure. orter: along those same lines, there is an inherent business model tensio'r thpledging to protect the data, at the same time their business model is built on profiting from it. can people trust them moving forward? >> their business model is always about commanering as much of the attention of their users t possible. y're always going to be collecting as money data as possible in order to keep

people's attention for slabl and to allow advertisers to targeton that attens much as possible. i don't see how they will escape this arms race they're in when they have to keep pushing the boundaries of surveillance on their users. >> reporter: franklin foer,ng thanks for bere. >> thank you so much. >> woodruff: and in the day's other news, the president of china renewed offers to lower a series otrade barriers. his statement eased fears of a trade war and set off a stock market rally. xi jinping told a conference in southern china that beijing will "significantly lower" automobile tariffs this year, and strengthen intellectuaerty protections. >> ( translated ): we are taking efforts to make the outcomes of opening-up benefit chineseen rprises and people, as well as enterprises of various countries in the world and their people in the shortest possible time. i believe, through these efforts, the competitiveness of chinese financial industry willm be greatloved. china's opening-up will usher in a brand new prospect. >> woodruff: china has announceo

many of the s before. but in a twt this afternoon, president trump said that he is thankful for what heled xi's "kind words." xi's words also played well on wall stree the dow jones industrial average gained nearly 421 points to ose at 24,408. the nasdaq rose almost 144 pointsand the s&p 500 added 43. on syria, the international "organization for the prohibition of chemiapons" announced that it will investigate a suspected chemical attack by the assad regime. that came as video on social media purportedly showed the site of the attack that killed 40 people, and a missile that allegedly contained gas. meanwhile, at the united nations, russia vetoed a u.s. call foa full, u.n. investigation, and u.s. ambassador nikki haley had this reaction. >> today, some countries decided

to stand up for truth, accountability and justice for the syrian people. history willeco that, on this day, russia chose protecting a monster over the lives of the syrian people. >> woodruff: a competing resolution by russia also failed. president t mrump said day that he is considering a military response in syria. separately, an aide to iran's supreme leader warned that israel will pay for monday's strike that killed seven iranians in syri iran's state media quoted ali akbar velayati as saying, in damascus, "the crimes will not remain unanswered." israel has not confirmed that it carried out the missile strike on a syrian air base. the u.n.ultural organization, unesco, has condemned monday's mass killing at a famed wildlife park. five rangers and a dver were slain at virunga national rk

it is home to about a quarter of the world's mountain gorillas. the attack, by an armed militia, was the deadliest since the park was established in 1925. in britain, one of two victims of a nerve agent attack was released from the hospital today.sk yulipal was taken to a secure location. her father, sergei skripal, a former russian double agent, remains in the hospital. britain, the u.s., germany and francelame russia for the attack. back in this country, the president's adviser, tom bossert, has resigned unexpectedly, in th test in a string of white house departures. the announcement came a day after john bolton began as national security adviser. he has been expected to put his own stamp on the national security council apparatus. and, national guard troops from three states hgun arriving at the u.s.-mexico border, answering president trump's call. as of today, republican

governors from arizona, texas and new mexico had committed 1,600 guprd members. thident says he wants 2,000 to 4,000. califoia's democratic governor, jerry brown, has not said if he will also deploy the guard. still to comon the newshour: the latest on the f.b.i. raid of president trump's lawyer's office and residence. how one school district is taking measures to secure s students. a new book chronicles the human toll of the syrian civil war. and, much more. >> woodruff: we return to our second lead story now, the fallout after f.b.i. agents rai fice and the home of president trump's personal lawyer. ang begins with what we know about this unusual step and the many questions swirling around how mr. trump might respond. >> are you thinking about firina depuorney general rod

rosenstein? >> reporter: today, presidentsp trump was not king to television cameras about the fate of the russia investigation. but white house press secretary o rah sanders said the president thinks it's "gone r," and that he has the power to end it. >> does the president have theel power to fire r? >> he certainly believes he has the power to do so. >> reporter: the pre triggered the speculation about special counsel robert mueller e st night: >> why don't i feller? well, i think it's a disgrace, what's going on. we'll see wh happens. many people have said you should fire him. >> reporter: mr. tru's anger was sparked by f.b.i. raids on the manhattan office and hotel room of michael cohen, the president's longtime personal attorney. >> i just heard that they broke into the office ofne of my personal attorneys. good man. it's a disgraceful situation. it's a total witch hunt.

>> reporter: it's widely reported the f.b.i. seized thousands of cohen's records, dealing with two women who say they had sexual affairs with mr. trump in 2006. in 2016, cohen paid $130,000 to adult film star stephanie clifford, known as "stormy daniels," as part of a non- disclosure agreement. the other woman, karen mcdougal, was paid $150,000 for her story, by the "national enquirer's" parent company even though itve reported it. some of the documents are said to involve mr. trump's counications with cohen. the disclosure prompted the president to protest today, that "attorne dead!" privilege is in fact, not all communications betweiren lawyers and t clients are privileged. there's the so-called "crime- fraud" exception, for communications made with the intention of covering up a crime. a third-party team of instigators will likely be tasked to decide whether cohen's messages with the president are protected or not.

cohen's wyer said in a statement that the raid was carried out by t u.s. attorney's office in manhattan, based on a referral by mueller. the search was authori deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, who is overseeing e special counsel's investigation. democratic senator richard blumenthal of connecticut called it a "seismic" step. >> this kind of raid is eraordinary. it could not have been done if there we not near-certainty that he was going to either destroy evidence, or plan or commit a crime that involved obstruction of justice, and thah ere was evidence that would be destroyed. >> reporter: republican senator lindsey graham of south carolina brushed aside speculation that the president would try to dismiss the special counsel, but onded a word of warning. >> i'm notcerned that he'll fire mueller. i don't think he'll rosenstein. that would be the beginning of the end of his presidency, and he's not going to do that. >> reporter: legislation to protect mueller has stalled inth senate, and leader mitch mcconell says he sees no need to act on it.r

e pbs newshour, i'm john yang. >> woodruff:cour white house espondent, yamiche alcindor, is here with me now to help fill in the picture. so yamiche, you've been reporting on this all day. where do things stand right now with regard to michael cohen and what... this f.b.i. raid? >> michael cohen and his lawyer have been tight-lipped all day. i called his personal cell phone today, and someone hung up on me when i introduced myself. michael cohen told cnn he is vabery worriedut the raids that happened. he says he wants all of this to be over. th he said if he h to do it again, he might have handled that $130,000 payment to stormy daniels differently, but there is this idea that sarah sanders also said that the predent is growing very wary of mueller's investigation d thinks he's going too far, so the president is tired of what's going on and that these raids could be something that's really scary

for michael cohen. >> woodruff: but it's interesting that he's saying he would have done it another way. i think that's first time we've heard him say that. >> it's first time we've heard him say, that and unlike in the past where the preside d is doublin and saying that the f.b.i.'s breaking into his offices, michael cohen has actually said they were very courteous to him and that he ally is just very worried. he said he's worried about his family and how this could afthft . he's not someone saying, i did everything right. li says he bees he did everything legally right, but there is this idea that he feels something could go wrong, and veese investigations don't ha to focus on just collusion or russia. if they find something tha improprietary, if they find something that's wrong financially, it could be somethincompletely unrelated, that could hurt michael cohen and the president if e's involved. >> woodruff: so separately from all this, thre has been talk, yamiche, as you know, about what the president is thinking about robert mueller, lot of specklation about whether he may fire him? >> my sources are telling me and

that sanders said tod the president believes he has the power to fire robert mueller and that he has been advisedn that he o that. that's very, very important, because the white house has always said that the president was not thinking about firing robert mueller, but that is confirmation tt he's been advised about how he could do it. the problem is that could set soff a constitutional cris. legal experts that i have talked to say the departtiment of jus rules show the president himself cannot directly fire robert mueller. he would have to go through chain of command at the d.o.j. to do that. if he didn't do that, that could bebi reallproblem. and sarah sanders said that she didn't think he was going to have any inention of firing robert mueller right now, but she did say that he's frustrate ed with both the f.b.i. director and jeff sessions, s ere could be changes to come. >> woodruff: a lot to follow. yamiche alcindor, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: well, to answer some of the legal edestions invon the raid on the office and home of the president's lawyer, i spshe a t time ago to paul butler, a former federal prosecutor and

law professor at georgetowniv sity; and, mark zaid, a washington d.c. lawyer who specializes in government investigations. , we started with mr. butl how this kind of raid is extrrdinary. >> judy, barging into a lawyer's office and his residence,al looking througof his papers and e-mails and documents into his representation of the client is among the most sensitive things a feder prosecutor can do, and for that reason, the department of justice has ry high levels of authority for who has to approve it. it has to go through an stant attorney general, this case reportedly it was the deputy attorney general, rod rosenstein, andhen there has to be a showing made to a federal judge that there is probable cause to think there is evidence of a crime where f.b.i. wants to look. it's extraordinary. in years of federal practice as a prosecuhr, i never dids. you rarely see it in a case,

because it really impinges the heart of our advm.ersarial sys it's almost like cheating. there are vey serious concerns about attorney-client privilege that have to berespected. >> woodruff: mark zaid, what is so special about attorney-client privilege? >> well, it is one of the sacrosanct privilege, rabbi priest privilege, marital privilege, atorney-client ivilege. the fact is that we as attorneys know a lot of things that our clients do, od and bad, and in order to be able to properly defend them uner our constitution, we need to be able to keep that away froem prying eyes of the government. >> woodruff: so paul butler, does this mean th prosecutor would have had to present to the justice department, prent to the judge evidence, whatever evidence there was, that something was wrng, that her a crime was committed or could be about to be commitmented? >> yeah. so reportedly they said that

mrcohen is a subject of the grand jury investigation, which means that he has not formally been charged with a crime, but he's under serous investigation. and so they'd have to make that showing. then they have to establish how they're protecting attorney-client privilege. usually it's done by one set of investigators and prosecutors who are called the tank team or dty team. so they actually conduct the investigation. they go in, they seize the documents, and then they review them. they remove the privilege document, and then they turn it over to a clean team. that's a separate set of investigators who actually pursue the case. >> woodruff: but just to back a moment, mark zaid, michael cohen and his attorney have been saying, well, we've been cooperating fully witthe investigation with the muellero investigation,e don't understand why they would need to do this. >> you wou think, and i'm sure to the public that resonates a

great deal, but i can tell you fromepractice, it really sn't make a difference. i had a case involving a c.i.a. case officer auple years ago, and we were fully cooperating with the f.b.i., coming in for every meeting they requested, telling thd answering every question they asked, and lo and behold they show with -a ock warrant, meaning they just barge into the house at 6:30 a.m. so this is common. sometimes it comes up because there are concerns that there might be destruction of evidence, that it might be nscurring, but there could be a number of reawhy. but that by itself is not unusual at all. >> woodruff: paul butler, there is reporting that the special counsel, robert mueller, referred this case, and we read this, to the attorney, to the prosecutor for the southern district of new york. what does this say, do you think, about the mueller w investigatiot it is or is not pursuing itself?

>> what's been reported is that special counsel mueller uncovered evidence that michael cohen might be involved in criminal activity, and he went to rod rosenstein, and apparently rod rosenstein's decision was to refer it to the new york federal prosecutor. so may have beeat they thought it was outside of the puiew of the special counsel investigation, which is about collusion and obstruction of justice, or, on the other hand, they may juste going tonew york for this clean team, so it may be that new york will use the documents, remove all the privileged document, and thentu ly turn over the non-privileged documents back to mueller. we just don't know. again, special counsel muell ems to be doing a very good job at avoiding leaks, so wei really have led information about this. it may be about bank fraudment it may be abo stormy daniels. we'll have to wait and see. >> woodruff: mark zaid, whatad would yoto that in terms

of what this may or may not say about the mueller investigation, understanding there have been sheri few leaks? >> there is more than just the mueller investigation at is touching on parallel issues involving russia some the f.b.i. is conducting a number of investigations that are parallel to what mueller is doing. so it is possible, as was said, that the -- whatever was going on with michael cohen might fall outside, so it was sent to the tuthern district of new york. i think one of things that both michael cohen and the president perhaps have to be concerned about might not be what actually the f.b.i. was searching for specifically, as u'll see one day in the affidavit that wed before the judge, but what they actually might frye. because often they can separate the privilege issue through the dirty team and give it to the clean team, there may very well be evidence of crimes that the f..i. wasn't even aware was going on, and oftentimes that can be the worst

and most dangerous part for somee who has their house or office raided. >> woodruff: paul buler -- >> judy, if i could. >> woodruff: go ahead. >> i'm nodding, because that could be a relationship between the michael cohen investigation and robert mueller's investigation. we've seen that special counsel robert mueller, one of his tactics is to get incriminating information about somebody who might be a witness against president trump or someone higher up in his campaign, get that person to pleltad guiand essentially flip that person. overs the investigation unc substantial evidence of wrongdoing by michael cohen, again, he reportedly is president trump's fix it. he didn't takethe loyalty pledge. so he may have loads of information about president trump that special counsel mueller woullike to know, an prosecutors share information all the time. so even if there is oncu proson or investigation of cohen and another about collusion that is operated by

mueller, they could share information and possibly use the information about cohen to flipo et him to turn on his client, president tr >> woodruff: so many strands here to follow. gentlemen, thank you both very much. paul butler, mark zaid, we thank you. >> thank you. >> great to be here. >> woodruff: in the wake of the school shooting in parkland, florida, that left 17 students and edutors dead, there is a growing effort to make sure schools are better protected.ho suchings are actually rare, statistically speaking. the chance a student will die at school from murder or suicide is karly one in two million. but school officiaw they have to plan for the worst, and are under increasing pressure to add physical securitmeasures and armed staff. correspondent lisa stark of

our partner "education week" reports from san antonio, texas, for this week's segment onak g the grade." >> reporter: it's a typical day at harlan high, on the outskirts of san antonio-- a bustling lunchom, a.p. classes, sports teams working out. cut just like every other day, sety cameras, classroom fis that lock from inside, armed ofrs keeping watch, and a single open entrance inton the sprabuilding. >> i mean, we don't live in mayberry anymore. >> reporter: officer shane allard oeevesafety and security for the northside independent school district. >> we know that there's a more violent world out there, and we're going to, we he e to do whatn to ensure the safety of our staff and students. >> reporter: herthat northside, y even have their own police force. more than 100 armed officers, covering 117 schools and 106,000 students. is this office up and running 24/7? >> 24/7.

>> reporter: chief charlie carnes say dispatchers can monitor any of the district's 7,500 cameras. two officers are assigned to every high school, one at each ddle school, and roving officers make checks at elementary schools. >> we want to present a hard target. that's why we expressed to our officers, you make foot patrols around your school. you park your patrol vehicle in a highly visible place and let people know that there are police here. >> reporter: while most districts don't have a dedicated police force, 48% of schools do have sworn law enforcement officers on campus at least once a week, up from 36% a decade ago. now, after the parkland tragedy, calls for adding more armed officers.vi cirights groups worry that will hurt poorer black and latino students especially, who reare more likely to face at school. in some districts, there's talk of adding metal detectors or

even arming teachers, an idea touted by the president. wa if you had a teacher wh adept at firearms, they could very well end the attack very quickly. >> reporter: but aecent gallup poll found 73% of teachers are opposed to carrying guns. travis weissler teaches history at harlan high. >> personally, i am a gun owner, but i just feel like there's too many scenarios that could happen when you add a teacher's having weapons in the classroom. the amount of training a police officer gets and how to respond to a situation is above and beyond what a teacher could learn. >> reporter: northside superintendent brian woods says any new security measures mustly be carefhought out. >> there's always a reaction after a really scary incident like parkland for the pendulum to swing towards a much more hardened building, and that is completely understandable.

but i think we've always got to balance that with, what's the , andmission of this space what can we do that's reasonable and ye prison.he school not a >> reporter: chief carnes agrees.>> n a free america, you know, do we put serpentine wire around our schools, do we put bars onnd our s? do we put soldiers out front on the front doorstep and question everybody that approaches? le, we don't do that. >> reporter: micay learned first-hand how school security can fail. she loster daughter josephine at sandy hook elementary. >> she's still, to this day, the light of our lives and the centerf our family. >> reporter: after sandy hook, gay co-founded safe and sound schools. its purpose? >> making sure that we have reasonable precautionsthat we have layers of security in place. >> reporter: gay bstles at the term "hardening schools," saying schools can be welcoming and still use common sense measures to help prott students. >> is there a gate there? is thereil a camera that alert the office staff that

someone is now coming onto the campus? >> reporter: and at the school entrance: it needs to be locked. it's not open. it's not open to the public. it has to be a system where u are granted access. >>s reporter: that'at they're doing at northside's elementary schools. at villarreal elementary, evyone is screened. every parent, every visitor, asked the reason for their visit, kept in a secure lobby while i.d.'s are checked, a pho badge is issued, then staffers must unlock the doors e school hallway nationwide, 94% of schools now report they control access duraying the school do you think that makes schoolng less welco >> no, i think parents are open to it. they've seen that times have , and theynfortunately do see we're putting children's safety first. >> reporter: and princip roxanne gutierrez says there's another new layer of security

here-- the lobby itself-- renovated to withstand bullets. >> before this, we still had this entrance, but it was made out of glass. >> reporter: so it wasn't bullet resistant? >> no, it wasn't. >> and this glass is bullet resistant. >> reporter: the idea? it's to try to prevent another sandy hook, where the gunman shot his way into the locked school. northside has spent nearly $4 million for bullet resistant lobbies at about half its 78 elementary schools. it's asking voters in may to okay money for the other half. meantime, other security measures are required. the district conducts lockdown drills, as do 95% of schools nationwide. here, securing the classroom takes seconds. >> the all call is made for lockdown, this window is coved, the teacher does come over here and removed this. and then the door is locked.d someone is on the outside, they are not able to gain entry. >> reporter: adding modern security measures to schools can

be costly. by one eimate, a minimum of $10 billion nationwide. security experth will tell you technology only goes so far, that what schools really need to do is create a culture where students feel welcome and respected, and willing to flag anything that seems threatening. harlan high principal harris says, that's key. >> i think creatinthat culture where it's okay to communicate to adult create a culture where it's okay to call the safeline-- that's something we try to do from day one. >> reporter: the northside district has a 24-hour tip line, but it's only as good as the follow-up. how do you determine something is really a threat or not a threat? >> it's always real. if it's a threat, it's taken seriously, as if it's real. >> reporter: after parkland, schools around the country faced a flood of shooting threats. harlan r.o.t.c. student kendall duepner says her school was targeted.>> here was a fake instagram

page made, and it said that they were going to shoot up the school. kids came across this, and theyr weorting it to the safeline and emailing the principal. >> reporter: the district and school police scrambled to investigate. junior james williams picks up the story. >> it turns out it wasn't true. it was false. they did announce it to every family, that it wasn't credible, and it's okay to come to school. >> reporter: despite that, some 40% of harlan students syed home. did you come to school that day? >> i did not come to school that day, because i feel like, fake or not, you never know what's going to happen. any past shootings, i'm pretty sure they didn't go to school thinking, i might lose my life today. because you, you never know when someone's joking, when someone is serious. so any, any chance lat, you want to make sure you're in the safest position possible. >>leeporter: the uncomfortab dfact is that schools, an students, can never be 100% thsafe, but districts say 're always loong for way to surround students with security. for "education week" and the

pbs newshour, i'm lisa stark in san antonio, texas. >> woodruff: as president trump weighs a potential response to the chemical weapons attack in syria last weekend, it is worth remembering how this disarous war began, seven years ago. william brangham talks with the author of a new book that takes a very-bntimate, personal lookt. it's part of our "newshour bookshelf." >> brangham: from the very beginning of the syrian uprising, raniad abouzs been one of the conflicts earliest and closest chroniclers. she witnessed the first days of peaceful civilian protests against bashar al-assad, and then his government's brutal crackdown. she was there for the rise of groups like the ismic state, saw how the intervention of the russians changed the tide of the

conflict, and witnessed the transformation of a hopeful revolution into a grinding seven-year war. she's now published a new book called "no turning bac life, loss and hope in wartime syria," and it tells the story of this conflict through the eyes of those who endured it and those who fight in it.id rania abouoins me now. welcome to the news hour. >> thank you very much. >> brangham: so let's start at the very beginning. you open the book withthe story of a young man named suleman who is benefiting fm all the privileges of life in assad's syria. this is in 2011. and yet as the protests start to begin and his moment comes, he chooses to join the protests. i wonder, explain why? ghat was driving even men like him to rise upnst the anvernment? >> suleman waswith everything, as you say. he had connections to the regime. he came frot m family thad money. he had a great job. he had prospecteds, but he was very aware of his privilege and he knew that most syrians didn'h have opportunities he had. for suleman that was enough to get out on the streets.

i chose leman, because there is a misconception perhaps that only people with nothing to lose are the ones who take to the streets, but that's not often the case. >> brangham: as you document in the book, it a seemarent ov both sides, to the protesters and the gnment, that right away this was a very serious matter, this was no idle protest. >> no, it was exestem cell research from the very beginning. protesters knew when they went e out on the streets, lie of the protest, told me, wwill be hunted. they will be hunted if they don't succeed, if the lose. and the regime knew it was also a fight for its surviva >> brangham: the way you tell this story is threw a dozen or so different characters. and you toggle between them in time, chronolgically, and i'm just curious, when you set out to do this, did you know that was how you would tell this story, through so many different vignettes of so many different people.kn ew i wanted to show how histy shaped people andhow

people shaped history. all of these differing elements of their uprising were happeniny concurre you had people out on the streds. we also ha some islamists whore weplanning, who had daca motivations, and they planning for their ment when they could come forward and bring about some of the plans that they had for syria. >> brangham: very early on in the process, the syrian government blcklisted you and said you can't enter the country. that must have complicated thefo whole procesyou. >> yes. in the summer of 2011 i learned, rnthe syrian govent didn't even tell me and i don't mow why was blacklted, but i learned through human rights organizations who had leaked lists of syrian activist, tt my name was on that list. that's how i learned of it. i don't know why. i have no way to appeal it, i know that i am banned from the country. that's information that the regime, some members of the regime who i know have al confirmed, and i am wanted by

three of the state's four intelligence agencie but it's so an indication of how the syri state operates. somebody can be branded a spy and can be wanted without any means of course and without any understanding of why.m: >> brangne of the characters, very, very striking character, is this nine-year-old girl, rouha. >> yes, yes. >> woodruff: why did you want her in this story? >> i wanted to show how war can affect a regular family, and i wanted to tell it through this little girl's eye s, becaue just was so precocious, and she was so aware of what was happening around her, and she uld explain that in ways that would stump me. she would really leave e speechless. some of the phrases that shewo d use to describe what was happening around her. and i followed the family for six years. i wanted to focus on her i saw how she changed and howwa

affected even little girls. >> brangham: for americans who has been following thi conflict largely through newspapers and televisions, can whu help them understany this conflict has been going onr so? >> the syrian war has ceased to be about syrians. it's an international proxy war with the russians and iranians and hezbollah on the regime side turkeys, the u.s. and europe on the soposition side. t's much bigger than syria, and it's much bigger than syrians. and lat is heping to fuel the conflict. >> brangham: do you think there is a time where something could have been done that this could have been different, that the outcome for the syrian people could have been different? >> when i speak to syrians who arin this position, they point to the demand for a no-fly zone. they sathat had a no-fly zone been placed in parts of northern syria, that perhaps the institutions could have started to take form,

hospitals could have operate without fear of air,trik that some of the millions ofle refugees who fd syria could have found safwe haven hin their own borders. that's what some of the people in the opposition point to as a possible turn in addition to the redine comments about the use of chemical weapons, syrians in tha oppositiono point to that as an example of a time when pressure could have been put on the regime. it could have been held accountable for its allaleged weapons use. w so theere moments, and before ibecame such a complicad battlefield, when perhaps something could be different. >> brangham: syria, as you describe it, is a deeply broken place today. but yet in the title of your book, there is still the word "hope." do the syrians that you know and you are still in touch with have hope that something can come of this horrible conflict? >> the hope is in th people. and there's always hope.

it's in syrians who cn survive and emerge on the other side. they don't have bitterness. i itsyrians who can leave loved ones but who still say they can e.forg it's in syrian physicians who could be anywhere. they could be in turkey, but they stay in their country to treat everyone under conditions that would make world war i battlefield medicine look pretty sophisticated. the hope is in little girls lie rouha who just want to be home and cling to the idea of family, which is theld buig blocks of syrian society. the hope is in syrians that trap send politics and who just want to go ck home and send their kids to school and know they'll be safe and tha they will coe home. it's in the small things. but that's where it start >> brangham: the book is "no turning back: life, loss and

hope in wartime syr rania abouzeid, thank you very money. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, a special series on "the future of work" that comes froour student reporting labs. tonight, a new program to make computer coding part of elementary education. it was produced by students at dominion high schovi in sterlinginia. >> it's this unicorn full of magic and rainbows and butterflies, and a whole bunch of awesome stuff. >> reporter: code the future is a nationwide computer science immersion program that h set up shop at three loudoun county elementary schools in virginia. joshua johnson is an instructionacoach and curriculum designer for the organization. >> our main goal is to provide students kind of that spark early on, in grades k. through five, to get them excited about coding and excited about comput science and hopefully open some doors for them to pursue computescience in their

future. >> reporter: at round hill elementary school, students showcased their first projects at epic build night, a community event where family and friendsd are to come in and see e at kids have been working on. andrew davis is hool's principal. >> the fact of the matter is, we cannot continue to do things the same way, and expect our students to be any more prepared for the world that's awaiting them. >> pretty much, coding, to me, is an endless world, where y can, like, change everything anf so many ent combinations to make new video games.nc >> reporter: pal herman mizell at meadowland elementary values the positive impact of pading beyond the classroom. >> in order to p our students to access and navigate the world, and not only that, but to compete globally, we want to make re that our students are embracing coding and that they have that experience. >> reporter: students kate taylor and xander bush were

surprised to find that coding is fun! >> it has a lot to do with oer jobs, and i think even if i get a job someday and it doesn't incorporate code, then i would still like to have the talent to code. >> i think i would do it not for the fame, but more as something doing i love and it's like a passion. >> reporter: back at round hill elementary school, omari faulkner has seen the positiveth impact ocoding program on his son. >> in an environment where everyone is all hands in, and all hands on deck, learning new things, and you can start to see the students are becoming the leaders. >> reporter: school leaders say the beorfitstudents participating in the program are limitless. >> kids need to be able to articulate their ideas and thoughts orally, as well as on paper, and to me, coding provides that opportunity. you want your students to compete in this global society. you want your students to be able to access and navthe world, and coding is a great heart. >> reporter: forbs newshour student reporting labs, i'm grace aprahamian, inin

sterling, vi. >> woodruff: what a great project. and later this evening on pbs, "frontline" presents a cumentary looking at president trump's relationship with the republican party. "trump's takeover" goes behind the enes in washington's corridors of power, examining the tension between the whitean house g.o.p. members of congress. one illuminating emple was the attempted repeal of obamacare. >> the president increasingly tang the blame. can he get enough votes? >> frustrated, he headed to capitol hill to confront his nrty. >>servative republicans are now warning -- >> no more back-slapping and cheerleading. now an ultimate um. >> dou have the votes, mr. president? >> finally trump throws up his hands and says, you know what, you have until this , you have this didline, if you can't get it done, we're moving on.mr >> president, did you make a persuasive case? >> it was classic donald trump. >> we had a great meeting.

>> the find caucus would get on board or the president would walk away from the effort to repeal obamacare and make sure they got the blame. and this is the at most fearve, that t. freedom caucus was in they knew thespotlight was theirs. >> at the deadline, they decided to call the president's bluff.an headed to the white house to warn trump they failed. >> i'm told ryan was ice col very calm throughout the whole car ride and the visit to the white house, because he hadto convey a simple message: he did what he could, but the votes weren't there. >> i was there. i was in the oval office when he arrived. speaker ryan was very candid and very forthright. he said, we're going to pull the bill. we don't have the votes. >> donald trumpis mano expects action. this notion of pulling the bill was unau eptable. ld me we're going to get it done. we promised the american people we're gog to repeal and replace obamacare some when he

hears we have to pull the bill because we don't havees the vot he's beside himself. >> woodruff: "frontline" airs tonight on most pbs stations. and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online, and again right here tomorrow evening. for all of us at thene hour, thank you, and we'll see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provid by: >> babbel. a language program that teaches real-life conversations in a new language. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> the ford foundation.g workwith visionaries on the frontlines of social change worldwid >> carnegie corporation of new york. supporting innovations ioc education, dtic engagement, and the advancement of international peace and security.

at carnegie.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals. >> this program was ma possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh accessgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

tukufu: we're the history detectives and we're going to investigate some untold stories from america's past. hos: did this sun once belong to the notorious nazi hermann goering, hos: did this sun once belong on of the architects of the final solution? elyse:can this skul rewrite the history of a people who roamed america 5,000 years ago? or...is it a hoax? gwen: and does this seemingly simple house revealone of the legendary inventor thomas edison's greatest failures? ♪elvis costello: atchin' the detectives ♪ ♪ i get so rogry when the tea start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪