newshour productions, llc >> yang: good evening. i'm john yang. judy woodruff is away. on the newshour tonight: james mey tells all. the former f.b.i. director slams the president in a newg emoir details meetings with him. then, mark shields and david brooks are here. we discuss the fallout froman comey's claimswhat speaker paul ryan's departure means for the g.o.p. plus, what's in a face? a look at david hockney's new series of 82 poraits and why, after all these years, he's still fascinated with capturing the human spirit. >> i know the argument about "painting is dead." but painting can't die, because photography is not good enough. >> yang: all that and more, on

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thank you. yang: two white house investigations top the news tonight-- one reaching back more than a decade. today, president trump pardoned "scooter" libby, a former top aide to former vice president dick cheney. it comes 11 years after his conviction forying to investigators and obstructing justice. we'll have more on that after the news summary and in the ongoing russia investigation, details are emerging from firef.b.i. director james comey's new book, and his scathing views of the president. that's where we begin, with yamiche alcindor. >> i honestly never thought ese words would come out of my mouth. >> reporter: this today, from an abc interview, was one of several first-peeks at what former f.b.i. director jam comey is n ready to say about the president who fired him. the interview comes ahead of the release of comey's book, "a higher loyalty," containing new details about his interactions with president trump.

he writes that mr. trump's behavior "may fall sho being illegal," but that it is also "untethered to truth," and flouts "basic norms of ethical leadership." he also compares mr. trump to a mafia boss. comey, who prosecuted mob cases earlier in his career, wroteit thattrump, he saw "the silent circle of assent. the boss in completeol. the loyalty oaths. the us-versus-them worldview." there were more personalmm cots about the president, as well. president trump, comey said, "appeared shorter than he seemed on debate stage." and he says of shaking the president's hand, "it was smaller than mine, butot seem unusually so." in his abc interview, comey also diussed mr. trump's lack o concern about the threat from russia, and his apparent fixation on salacious claims made in the now widely-discussed "steele doier:" >> and then he says-- something that distracted me. because he said, you know, "if

there's even a 1% chce my wife thinks that's true, that's terrible." and i-- and i remember thinking, "how could your wife there's a 1% chance you were with prostitutes, peeing on each other in moscow?" and i said to him, "sir--"hen he started talking about it, "i may order you to investigate that." i said, "sir, that's up to you. but you'd want to be careful about that, because it might create a narrative that we're investigating you personally. and second, it's very difficult to prove something didn't happen." >> reporter: still, comey himself said in the interview, that particular claim remained unverified when he was dismissed. the book also mentions theai president's. comey claims that current chief of staff, john kelly, back whens heecretary of homeland security, called mr. trumpbl "dishono for firing comey. and, comey criticizes attorneysi general jeff ss for not doing more to insulate him from mr. trump's pressure. this morning, presidump responded tocall of this, by ing comey "a weak and

untrhful slime ball." he added, "it was my great honor to fire james comey." while briefing reporters today, press secretary sarah sanders did not mince words. >> i don't think we're surprised by the fact that james comeyea continues to sfalse information. the guy's known to be a liar and a leaker. comey's higher loyalty is pretty clear that it's only to himself. >> reporter: those comments so far are the most visible parts of the republican effort to defend the president.ne onit's anchored by this "lyin' comey" website. it highlights past democtic rebukes of comey, and is "paid for by the republican national committee." comey has criticized mr. trump and his administration before. it happened last year, when comey testified before the senatentelligence committee after his firing. >> the administration then chose to defame me, and more importantly, the f.b.i., by saying that the organization was

in disarray, that it was poorly led, that the workforce had lost confidence in its leader.e thwere lies, plain and simple. >> reporter: but fte all of the ion today on select excerpts, the book itself goes public on tuesday. is clear president trump is furious about comey's book. saeh sanders spent much of briefing criticizing comey, saying he should not be praised but rather, "put down." fhn, it was one of harshest attacks i've seem a white house known for not holding back. >> yang: yamiche, thanks a lot. stay there while we bring in phil rucker, white house bureau chief. phil, you've read this book. what's your takeaway frtom wha you've read? >> yamiche hit some of the higho ts. i think it's a scathing portrait bu president trump, not only his conduct in offic of his character overall. comey describes thpresidency as a forest fire that has to be contained and describes trump as

an unethical, amoral lear, a con congenital liar, someone who would manipulate the norms of washington to play to his personal will and demand loy from people that are not expected to give him loyalty. >> yang: yamiche, you've giv us a lot of public response but have been talking privately to people around the president. what are you hearing? >> most of the people idound the prt say the things dnthering him were the personal attacks comey d have to talk about in his books. he talks about the pnt's hands, hair, orange face. there are all these things thaot around the president say are really annoying this president and you cn tell they're annoyed because they're pulling out kellyanne conway and sarah sanders today and trying dto push back an says the president is feeling the realme anger that cwanted him to feel. >> yang: and, yamiche, this is a very well organized

coordinated response. you've shown us the web site th coordinating. what else are they doing and saying? >> the rnc is essenally using this web site as their number one way to push back on this. republics are mount ago full-throated, i would say almost partisan attack on jame comey there. they are saying he is someone who is hated in washington, thao the ats hate him, they are saying he is someone who is right rightfully fired. they're going after not just the legal asutpects refg parts to have the books saying comey talked about the reason why he investigated clinton hasn't really been clear. sarah sanders al pushed back on whether or not he had a conversation with president trump about stogpp the investigation into michael flynn, so they're pushing back on that. their not pushing back on the conversation the president had with james comey about the "pee tape."

they're not saying that didn't happen. >> yang: phil, in your story this morning, you talked aboco y controlling the president with some of these personal remarks. ntirety ofead the e the book, does it feel different? obviously, when you talk abut the highlights, him talking about the hands and the color of his complex -- >> yeah. >> yang: when you read the entirety of the book does it feel different? >> it does. the book taken in its entirety is a seriousook on serious substantive issues. bhere are a few paragraphs where comey will writeut the president's physical appearance in a way that could be seen as a personal attack, but those are just a few paragraphs. most of the book is abut comey's career, his life, his work on the clinton email investigation and, of course, his interactions with president trump. >> yang: he's also critical, phil, as you write, of officials in previous administrations like loretta lynch. >> that's right, he was critical of th attorney attorney generala

lynch in the later hathe obama administration for having been sort of weak on the clintov email estigation. remember, she got on the airplane in phoenix on the tarmac in 2016 to have asa convon with former president bill clinton whose eife was the subject of t clinton email investigation. comey described her as having aa awkwar in, half out posture with regard to the clinton investition, not fully recusing herself but deferring judgment to the f.b.i. and others at thstice department and a portrait of lynch is not favorable. >> yang: phil phil of "the washington post," "newshour's" yamiche alcindor. thank you very much. >> thank you. >> yang: in the day's othertr news, presidenp's personal attorney michael cohen went to court today, trying to block feral prosecutors from examining documents the f.b.i. seized earlier this week from his office and hotel room. lawyers for both cohen and the president told a new york federal judge that the material

is protected under attorney- client privilege. meanwhe, the "washington post" reported the f.b.i. may also have seized recordings that cohen made of his conversations. prosecutors said today their criminal probe is focused on cohen's personal business dealings. and the "new york times" reported mr. trump called cohen this morning, before the court hearing. the united states and russia traded barbs at the u.n. security council today over a suspected chemical attack in syria. u.s. ambassador nikki haley said the united states, france and britain have proof that syria's military launched the attack,wi russian support. haley and the russian ambassados argued over a le u.s. military strike to retaliate against syria. >> it is russia alone that has stopped at nothing to derind the regime's multiple uses of chemical weapons.he shouldnited states and our allies decide to act in syria,de it will be ifense of a principle on which we all agree.

>> ( translated ): we continueve to obsangerous military preparations. such a development is fraught with grave repercussio global security, especially in the light of the russian military deployment in syria. >> yang: today, russia's military said britain staged the chemical attack. a british envoy called the charge a "blatanlie." it's been another violt friday on the israel-gaza border. gaza's health ministry says israeli forces shot one man dead. nearly 1,000 others were hurt, including more than 220 wounded byive fire. some palestinians burned tires and tried to breach the border fence. they're protesting the decade- old blockade on their territory. members of the trans-pacific sirtnership reacted cautiously today to word of pnt trump's apparent willingness to rejoin the trade group.w he withde united states from the deal after taking office, calling it "unfair" and a "disaster." wstralia's trade minister said t.p.p. members woucome the united states back, under the

existing terms. >> but let's also be clear, i think there's very little appetite among the t.p.p. 11 countries for there to be any meaningful re-negotiationor ndeed any substantial re-negotiation of the t.p.p. 11 at all. >> yang: the president tweeted today that he'd only consider re-joining the trade pact if there was a "substantially better" deal. in a pennsylvania courtroom, bill cosby's chief accuserd testifat he drugged and sexually assaulted her in 2004 at his suburban philadphia home. andrea cstand took the stand in day five of the cosby re-trial. she the sixth woman to testify against the 80-year-old comedian. cosby's first trial ended with a hung jury in june 2017. president trump has ordered a task force to review the u.s. postal service and its finances. while the exutive order does not mention amazon, for weeks he's been complainin price breaks for amazon are hurting the postal service's bottom

line. federal regulators have found that the arrangements are profitable. mr. trump has also attacked amazon's owner jeff bezos and another of his properties, the "washington post and, wall street finished the week on a down note. the dow jones industrial avege lost nearly 123 points to close at 24,360. the nasd fell 33 points, and the s&p 500 slipped seven. still to come on the newshour: we break down president trump's pardon of vice president dick cheney aide, "scooter" libby. why are teachers in atveral protesting now for higher wages and improved school c sonditions? maelds and david brooks break down a packed week of politics. and, much more. >> yang: now back to president trump's pardon of a bush

ministration official. in a statement, the president said he doesn't know "scooter" libby, but "heard for years" that he had been mistreated. i. lewis libby, bettco known as "ser," served as former vice president cheney's chief of staff. libby came under investigation in 2003, after speculation that he leaked the identity of a secret c.i.a. operative, valerie plame, to newspaper reporters. plame's husband, former ambassador joseph wilson, had criticized the bush administration's rationale for invading iraq. in 2007, a federal court found him guilty of four fel including lying to investigators and a grand jury, and obstructing justice. libby was sentenced to 2.5 years in federal prison and a $250,000 fine. before he went to prison, president george w. bush commuted his sentence, but rejected pleas from vice president cheney to pardon him.

for her part, plame today questioned mr. trump's motivations for libby's pardon. >> this is definitely not about me.bs it'sutely not about scooter libby. it's is about donald trump and his future. the message being sent is, "you can commit perjury, and i willrd you if it protects me, and i deem that you are loyal to me." >> yang: to discuss the pardon, and its possible implications for the russia investigation, wchre joined by d ben-veniste, a partner in the washington office of mayer brown. heonerved on the 9/11 commis and was chief of the special prosecutor's waterte task force. mr. ben-veniste, thanks and welcome. first of all, what's your reaction to this pardon? >> i think it's the president flexing his pdoarpower. it also serves to poke a finger in the eye of then itelligence community. the disclosures relating top valeriin that ended her

careerhe effectively as an undercover officer, case officer, c.i.a., was a big blow, and they're feing it. >> yang: there was a lot made at the time during the trial ctat libbey was prog the. vice president is this -- is a message beingnt o people in the russia investigation? >> i think the message the there and it has been repeated often before this pardon that the prident might exercise his pect topower with re individuals such as mr. flynn, such as. mrnafort, and such as perhaps others who are caught up in the investigation of the russian intncerfein the 2016 election. 's interesting to note that, in waterga, the offers of presidential clemency that weret

se made to watergate burglars were a part of the conspiracy totr obst justice. here in right lights, there is discussion of whether individuals whoay have damaging information about the president will be pardoned or subject to clemency. >> yang: so could you make an obstruction of justice case, do you think? >> wele it's a matter of th president's intent in exercising a constitutionally given power, the power of the pardon, which is explicit, only if it is exercised for corrupt purposes and with a cor irutent would there be a violation of law. >> yang: there's been a lot of talk about the president threatening or talking about firing the deuty attorney general rosenstein as a way of getting someone who mght fire

robert mueller the special counsel. it reminds a lot of people of the saturday night massacre during water could you make an obstruction of justice case out of that? >> you could, again, if there was evidence that the intentionf uch a firing were to take place, was corrupt, whether it was r the prpose of obstructing the investigation. >> yang: we don't know what's going on inside the special counsel's investigation. you have been inside a special counsel's investigation. it seems like a bigeek ths week when we had the raids on michael cohen's office and residence and the president's personal attorney. does it feel to yougiven your experience, that we're at an important point in this investigation? >> well, now we have pes, john, that are alleged to have been made by mr. cohen.

we don't know what's on them, and we understand they have been seized. we have new iformation as a result of the u.s. attorney's office filing a response t mr. cohen's attorneys' atttoempt freeze the material and keep it from the hands to have the u.s. attorney's -- from the hands of the u.s. attorney's offi, and there are so many parallels to watergate now. we've had hush-money tapes, electronic interference with the opposition party, now we have russia involved, so there's so much here to unpack, and the ctlyial counsel is doing exa what he should be doing in maintaining silence. therhave been no leaks, just as there were no leaks in watergate where we had explosive

information on the secret tapes that we obtained. yet, none of that leaked out, d that's just th way mr. mueller should be conducting his investigation. >> yangn: richard -veniste, former watergate prosecutor,u thank much. >> thank you, joh >> yang: for the better part of two months now, teachers strikes and walkouts have been spreading from west virginia to arizona. today, in kentucky, thousands of teachers rallied at the state capitol in frankfort, over school spending and to protest a new pension law. it comes just as another walkout is ending in oklahoma. william brangham takes a deeper look at what's behind these strikes. >> brangham: oklahoma's educators and staff wi to school, after the state's largest teachers' union called for an end to their nine-d walkout. teachers and support staff will get raises-- but that

legislation was already signed fore the walkouts began. and there will not be additional school funding. instd, the union urged membe to support pro-school-spending candidates in the fall elections. a wave of teacher demonstrations there, as well as kentucky and arizona came after west rginia teachers won raises, following a nine-day walkout there. sarah jaffee is an author and labor journalist, and she joins me now.le s talk a little bit about oklahoma first. what is it that the teachers and staff have now agreed to. >> so the teachers, most of the teachers -- i should say there we still techers at the capitol today who did agree they should not go back to work -- aost of the teachers agreed to bill that was already signed before the strike began that will give them about a $is6,000 that will come up with some $400 million-something in tra school funding which is a

lot but still ahortfall. this will still be an ongoingst struggle in the offoklahoma, but it's important e note we're seeing renewed militancy in a ten labor unions are under attack and struggling, when austerity has been sort of the rulne of the gameed as well as blue states across the country. >> yang: we've seen this in oklahoma, kentucky, west virginia, arizona. >> yeah. >> yang: what's driving this? when we talk about this stuff, i have t go back to wisconsin in 20 is 1 when you look at the pictures of the state state capitols flooded with teachers in red t-shirts, you have to remember an attempt to take away collective bargaining rights from employees many whom are teachers. when we seehe fights, for instance, west virginia, they won raises for all the pblic employees of the state of west virginia, not just

teachers.ro there is very echoes of what h.p.d. in wisconsin in 2011. also chicago in2012 --. that really changed. the chicago teachers went on strike and in at state they went up against a democrat mayor rahm emanuel who worked in the white house, ey wanted significant changes, had massive support from the fadmilies an the students in the area, and that spurred militancy across the teachers union movement in particular, and we've seen a lot of victories, a lot of potential strikes that didn't get to a strike because people have realized, state and local governments have realized they don't actually want a big teachersetrike. so the before west virginia went out, there was a strike deadline, and they went rightp to the deadline and then called off the strike when they got ang ement in st. paul, minnesota. so things like that have been happening between now and in

chicago, in particular, but's whew now is these are places where there are not strong unions at all. we're seeing somhing new in west virginia and if oklahoma and arizona, in particular, where there's not been a lot of strong union activity in many wyears. >> yanwere saying before that some of these largely have been happening in redstates but blue states as well. do you think there is any significance that way, what the political leadership of the state is? is there any overlap there is this. >> so what's happened in west virginia and obama obamacare, in particular, i would say, is that these are achers who, a, they're winning significant coionce from a trifecta red government, right, this is all replin dominance in every part of the governance in these stay'tes, and th still managing to get significant funding commitmentst out ese people. they got in oklahoma an oil and gas tax will pay for some of this. , oklahoma is a bigg oil

extraction state. it significant these are teachers challenging those industries at the same time they're challenging a republican dominance. the other thing that's significant, agano, these are places where the teachers unions are particularly strong. thae are plce where is teachers unions don't have bargaining rights written into the law, when there are mosy lobbying associations. when you hear the teachers leadership in oklahoma say they're going to call off the strike and go back to lobbying, that's how they mostly exert the power. they don't ex aert it a bargaining table because they don't have the right to do that at all. >> yang: sarah jaffee, thank you so much. >> thank you. >> yang: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: a conversation with author david pepper on his politically prophetic wrings.

and, an intimate look at the work of painter david hockney. but first to the analysis of shields and brooks. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york times" columnist david brooks, who joins us from san francisco. gentlemen, welcome to you both. a lot of talk about the newook byames comey. he describes the president as being unethical, untethered to the truth, and describes his presidency as a forest fire. david, let me start with you. from what yo've read of the reporting and the excerpts, what's your takeaway? >> well, i think president trump has done a pretty good job of nfirming everything comey said by his tweets today. slimadball shouldn't become h of the white house. what we see is a lot of people who work in government in a washingtpart of career civil service that their loyalty is not to red and blue and we're used to covering politics as a

red and blue tribal war but their loyalty is to their profession, institutida and other sts. they get in the middle of red-blue fights and have their own personal opinions, but comey has loyalties to other this. he's offended the democrats and the republican president mightily and i think he passes the smell test by and large. i think he's honest that it'se qussible donald trump did not do anything criminal here but did do something mafioso-like and that's, frankly, not a completely w revelation. >> yang: mark? i think david makes a very good point abut jim comey who has been a rather remarkable public servant for a long time and found himself, in 2016, on the receiving end of vilification from th candidates, from the clinton people for his handling of the email matt right up to the election day, and by the trump people since and hi firing and

the president's adding to this sort of the annals of american presidential rhes toric thiweek with malice toward none and charity toward all and the only aring we have to fear is fe itself to a weak and untruthful slime ball is what he's called james comey. bethink this is not to confused with the fire and fury book which was great gossip and great anecdotage. this is the testimony straightforwardly on the record of a rather remarkable publi servant who kept notes on everything and gives hiss own itestimony. th not hearsay. this is what he says. i think it will be given great attention. it's already gottennen great sales. it will become part of the national dialogue much to the consternation of the president. >> yang: david, i've got to ask you, there is so much what has been said about this in

the press talking about the personal comments anrsonal observations about the president -- the size of his hands, the complexion, orange-tone hue to his face. does it feel to you that comey is going the president in a way? >> not really. that reads to me like a novelistic detail. one of the things we know about mey is he's a serious reader, a big fan of ronald nabor, as am i, ande wanted to write a back in literary detail that you were there. it passes the smell test. an important moment was his description of h handling of the clinton e-mails. he said my goal consciously was not to let politics influence my decision, but he allows -- and this is him showing vulnerability -- he allows thee possibility ought of her winning an election and having the email situation come out

might seem suspect to people. he thought it might hut the institution of the presidency. so he allows that possibilityco d have had some unconscious influence on him and that strikes me as a man looking at himself and saying is it possible i messed up and was influenced inys i wasn't consciously aware of? that strikes me by washington memoirs as a reasonable high esty. of hon >> we'll see he a's an effective witness on his own behalf. it's ll-court press. this will be media coverage, e "newshour",h the networks, he'll be everywhere, and he will be answering all the questions, and he will influence if not drive much of the conversation for the next couple of weeks. >> yang: david, we've started the week with the f.b.i. raid on michael cohen's office in new york and his hotel residence

and that spark to the president's ire, he talked aout this being an attack on america. the president keeps talkinga about muelle rosn.enst sarah huckabee sanders doesn't add the usual caveats. ehe says the president does hav to power to fire mueller, but she doesn't add the phrase but hest not going to do it, he not thinking about it. does this feel like we've reached an important point, maybe a flex point in this investigation? yeah, i'm not so sure. this is where trump likes to be. he likes to be in the man omano feud. someone hits him, he hits back. it's a way he's shown he can paint the drama to his supporters it's me against thewa ington political class. that's been an effective drama for him.on when berluwon the election, italian economist said if you want to attack a guy lick

berlusconi or trump don't go after their person, it becomes him crsus the politicallass, you have to go after them on policy. this distracts from thpolicy fights. if anyone's going to best trump in a popularity contest, it' not because they're going to win one of these matcs, it' because they will say to trump supporters, i've got a better deal for you, a deal on policy, and i're all beng distracted away from tha >> one point i didn't make on the comey book which i thinkwas important and that is where was the sense of outrage? where was the sense of upset that an american citnizen, a adversary nation was trying to subvert our process, our sacrament of democracy, the free and fair election of the president and sabotaged it and set about doing that, and all the president and the president's men were interested

in was that the didn't affect the outcome of the election. it was, to me, revel -- reveal revealatory and upetting. as far as the president's reaction, you know, i thinkn michael co not the roy cohen he was looking for. y cohen's defects of character and morality were, and i think they were manifest, was compensated for with a towering intellect and guile.o and michaelhen, he's got going the great loyalty and i think that right now is a wea link in the president's situation. >> yang: one person who had a turning point this week was paul ryan, saying he was going to leavthe house at this term and retire. what does this say and bode for the midterms and for the future

of the republican party, the future direction of the republican party? >> in the near term, if you're trying to raise money for republican candidates, when your speaker steps down, that's not a great way to raise money, it's not something you brag about and say it's important you invest here. the bigger story, a lot of us got to know paul ryan as an intern for power america with jack kem and bill bennette and gene kirkpatrick and others in the '80s, reaganism at its high water mark, and he more or less carried the 1980s and 1990a he more or lessried that creed and gospel up to 2018, and i think this is why donald trump was able to take over the republican party and make it his owneit was buse reaganism was never updated and the republican establishvnt never oped an economic model or a domestic policy model that was fit for an america where inequality was widening, anxiety was widening, where rutl america was geng hit

hard. they stayed with the gospel of19 and, to this day, paul ryan has stayed with that gospe his story is one of someone not changing witthtimes, i think. >> when i started in this business shortly after the cooling of the earth, i was smitten by a celebrity candidate on his way to the white house and one of the grizzled veterans in the press said, hey, kid, he said always check one thing, they get a bigger hand on the way inor out? in other words, after you've spoken to the crowd or just when you're introduced. paul ryan is in the category ofe getting the bihand on the way in. heewas the bigger wonder, he was the independent lek chiewld force, he was the guy with now, bold ideas. he leaves as much diminished figure for not meeting the margaret smith test of standing up to the demagogue she did to joe mccarthy in saying she didn't want the party to ride to victory on the four horsemen of

bigotry smear and fear and ignorance. he said the man was a man ofis exe leadership. i think he leaves with a tax bill that not on the country with a debt of a trillion dollars a year as long as the eye can see according to theng ssional budget office, but a bill seen by voters in 2018 as itten by the rich for the rich, and, so, it's a political -- it's no political asset going in. i will say if his defense, the all purpose one size fits all excuse for leaving, i want to spend more time with my family, i think paul ryan doeknow the names of his children and does really care about his family. i think they are teenagers and anybody who's had teenagers know that teenagers aren't interested in spending much time with their parents or as much time as their parents did, so i wish him luck.

>> yang: david, quickly, as we run out of time here, turn to the scooter libby pardon. is this something that thepr ident says he doesn'tbunow the gu heard for a long time he was treated infairly. is there anythg more to thi that meats the eye? >> people say he's trying to see a dent so people will purger themselves on trump's behalf. i'm dubious about that. there are a lot people in the republican party and the press including me who think scooti libby got a of a wrong deal that richard leaked valerie plame's name an not him and seems like people have been hanu this administration asking for the pardon. one ardent about this is john bolton, the national security advisor, so it seems to me it was that intervention and not any broader trying to send a signal.ca >> i sound cy and i have great respect for david's point,

but donald trump is not somebody with an establishack record of acting spontaneously and altruistically for others. donald trump thought scooter libby as a shortstop for the houston astros until this weekde when somebody he point to him that this would be helpful in sending word to those now being questioned and interrogated by robert mueller's instigation that i do pardon and that i don't think there'sou any question a that. this was -- scooter libby was the issue that bro prmanently the relationship between dick cheney and george w. bush on the way out. bush refused to do it, partly probably self-interest, e didn't want it to be his mark rich pardon ups it had been for bill clinton. he did get two and a half years in jail, that was the sentence, which was, in factor commuted. >> yang: mark shields, david brooks, another week down and more to come. see you next week.

>> thanks. >> yang: back in 2012, years before russian meddling in u.s. elections dominated headlines, ohio democratic party chairman david pepper began writing a novel about a foreign country's attempts to influence the outcome of an amthican election. book, "the people's house" was released in august 2016. w, he's out with a secon book, "the wingman," which picks up where "the people's house" left off. judy spoke with him recently, and asked how a politician came to write political thrillers. it was after an election cycle where i hadn't won and i just had this urging to try and tell a goopolitical story and i just started writing and i just kept writing, so it was not somethg i had planned on doing and i had not done creative writing before but itas a nice outlet for me, and i've always thought there are not a lot of

movies out there or books thatpt really ce the day-to-day reality of politics, a lot of the most famous ones who knows a lot are unrealistic, so my goal was to tell a political story that was based on how things really work. >> woodruff: so your firstba , "the people's house" comes out if 2016. >> right. >> woodruff: it's all about --the russians trying tond succeeding in turning a congressional mid-term election. >> right. >> woodruff: you didn't hav an,, inkling something like that wagoing to happen? >> no, i put it to bed in the summer. i got it out there and lateron people wrote my that, my gosh,ry your seeps coming true. i didn't write it to predict, my goal was to capture the deepest woblems in our system, things like gerrymanderink political systems. i happened to have worked in russia years ago and i had a russian oligarch who plays the rolesbut my goal wa to

actually expose through a thriller a lot of the epest problems in our political system that do make us vulnerable to this te ofnterference. so i think by trying to be very realistic in the plot i end up capturing obviously wht ultimately ended up happening to some degree. >> you sure did. it turned a lot of heads. the second book which we're showing here, the wing -- >> "the wingman" is a follow on tohat where the russians try greater mischief and get away with a lot of it. >> the second book gets into dark money and tries to show the kind of mischief you can use that dark money allows you to do for the most part legallyso t's another plot that i think frankly will feel partoall ome of the things happening today because it again tries to capture some of the weaknesses in the system and what they allow for in our campaigns and inections. >> woodruff: the t you portray in these books, you they lot of that could really happen?

>> yeah, so when my first book was finished, the first readerse bet ultimately started to look like reality, would say to me, your book really scared me because it felt so real. do you really think this could happen? and so there is some drmatic license in these books but my point in the end was to actually capture the political system it currently exists, capture the laws that exist and show that, yes, again, there is more drama in they ooks than probaal life but show that what we've allowed to get into our political systems, dark money, gerrymanderif: -- >> woodrark money -- the ability to spend money not disclosed often through nonprofits that are perfectly legal, by the way the hyperpartisan environment that has people not wanting to crack down on things beuse it may help them, that all of these add up to a huge weakness that, as i show in the first book and as

we're seeing, other countries casee that ybe we don't see as clearly as they do and all of a sudden those weaknesses open up pretty dark pockets in our election cycles. >> woodruff: so you see the dark possibilities and continue to work in politics. >> yeah. th's your day job. yeah, i'm very passionate about politics. if you watchlye clon politics, in addition to writing these books about these issues, i'm verpassionate about ending gerrymandering. one thing we're very proud of in ohio in the last couple of years, we've put measures forward and woed with both sides and citizen groups to try end gerrymandering in ohio. yeah, i stay involved but woulda myself a reformer, but if someone wants to get hints about the things i'm mot ssionate about, it's some of the central aspects of these books. >> wearing with your day job hat on the director of the ohio democratic party, let me just ask you a couple of questions about that. how much do you think ohio voters care or are interested in

the russia inveson which is getting so much attention in washington? >> so interestingly, given that i wrote these books, i think they care but i don't think at's the winning message of candidates this year. i think to respond to everything trump does every day, it would be only anti-trump. so talk about russia and comey all day, athink that is a trp, and if democratic candidates get caught up on that every day ik they will not do as well in elections as if they stay disciplined and focused on the o kiissues people worry about every day around the kitchen table. w druff: david pepper the chair to have the democratic party in the state of ohio and author of two poleritical thri thank you very much. >> thank you so much, great to be here. >> yang: finally tonight: a new look at work from one of the worls most renowned living artists. painter david hockney ist

80 years old, shows few signs of slowing down. jeffrey brown spoke with him in los angeles, where an exhibition that opens this weekend presents an intimate take on some of the people he knows best. >> brown: it's a kind of album of family and friends-- but these are large paintings on the walls of an enormous gallery at the los angeles county museum of art. the work of david hockney, an artist renowned for capturing the world around him >> most people don't look much. i mean, they scan the ground in front of them so they can move around, but they don't really look at much.nt well, i've sy life looking >> brown: the british-bornho ney, now 80, recently showed me around his light-filled studio in the hills above los angeles, where he's lived and worked off and on since the 1960s. small reproductions of his portraits li one wall.

hockney's been an art star since his 20s, first as part of the london art scene. a figurative painter of color, often of scenes of the life he found in l.a., and always coming back to portraits, includingf himself. what is about the human face? why is that endlsly interesting to you? >> how much can you see in them? i mean, how you can really see a person.lo i'ing at you now, and ill think, "how would i know if i'd got you really well, when i do not really know you?" >> brown: for the l.a. exhibition, titled "82 portraits and one still life," hockney painted people he does know: family members and friends, some of whom he's been painting for decades. there are also people in his life now in a variety of ways, including a housekeeper and his dentist. >> i'm trying get the

personality. i mean, you're trying to capture something of them. i mean, and i thought i did get something, if not a lot. >> brown: the first portrait in this series was of his studio assistant, known as j.p., mourning the death of a friend. hockney did it in the style of van gogh's painting "sorrowing old man." but every other portrait followed a strict format-- the subject sitting in a chair on a raised platform in urhockney's studio, with ain as background. the sittings lasted 20 hours over three days. >> most people haven't had this done to them before. most people. i mean, it is a bit strange, somebody peering, looking. >> brown: looking at different parts for hours. >> it's an odd thing to do. ( laughs )

>> brown: as it happens, one of the sitters is also the senior curator here at the museum, stephanie barron. who's known and workedr ith hockney cades. >> i found that it was exhausting. to be thsubject of the gaze of an artist who is concentrating so intensely can be a bit daunting. >> brown: intimidating? >> intimidating, and after the first few hours, i kind of relaxed into it. but it was hard work. these are not portraits that are meant to flatter people. these are portraits where he really manages to get essence of the person. >> brown: meaning what? >> pple's character. i mean, i think even in my portrait, he gets that sense ofe kind og quizzical, being interested in the process of what he's doing. i was super alert duris sitting. aimean, i was a curator, watching an artist a portrait.

>> brown: i see your head is kind of tilted. >> i was really studying what he was ing. >> brown: personalities do come through. two brothers-- the one on the right, hockney said, seemed to dare him to "paint me like this." art dealer larry gagosian, with his watch showing, was perhaps . bit impati he in fact only sat for two days. the sitters chose their own clothing-- some elegant,nfthers rathermal. >> i'd have thought, if you were gointo have your portrait painted, you'd dress up. ( laughs ) >> brown: the youngest of the sitters, 11-year-old rufus hale ressed andwell composed, though a photo taken during the process shows his curiosity to get a peak at the work in progress.co aring the work to photographs, the time put in by sitter and artist is crucial.ca hocknes these portraits" 20-hour exposures." >> photographs have a frtion of a second in them. drawings and paintings, of

course, have more time because it tak time to do it. brown: a lot of people would think of this as an old-fashioned idea, right? painting's old-fashioned, portrait painting even more. >> yeah, but it's not really. i mean, i know the arguments about "painting is dead." but painting can't die, because photography is not good enough actually. >>?rown: it's not good enou >> no.us it'sa snap. but i mean, why not look longer at something? look longer and you maybe see more.>> rown: that is not to say that hockney is a luddite or technophobe-- to the contrary. he'studied old master's use light boxes-- early cameras--

oud exhibited works composed on an ipad and printein large format. >> i'm interested in using technology that's out pictures, anything that'about pictures. >> brown: and his latest work, larger stillis a computer- manipulated "portrait" of the artist in his studio, made from some 3,000 digital photos of recent paintings, objects and reckney himself. whether the altephotos or the painted portraits, hockney says for him it's about capturing what he calls "figures in space:" >> how do we see them, and how do we then make the marks? >> brown: you clearly like the fact that you're doing something that has been done for a long, long time. >> ( laughs ) well, what is "new," rlly? new. is there anything new under the sun? i mean, i love painting.

i love it.ve ots more to do. >> brown: the exhibition, "82 portraits and one still life," continues through the end of july.ws for the pbs ur, i'm jeffrey brown in los angeles. >> yang: on the newshour online right now: author meg wolitzer has long written about female power and how we make meaning in the world, so we asked her to share three of her favorite books about women. find her recommendations on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. tonight on "washington week," more on the firestorm from former f.b.i. director james comey's tell-all boo possibility of u.s.-led strikes in syria. and later tonight, stick aund for the premiere of a new pbs program, "in principle." hosts michael gerson and amy holmes speak with talk show host glenn beck and conservativm book publishji ross about how to bridge the current political divide. watch "in principle," coming up tonight on pbs. on pbs newshour weekend

saturday, what's driving a growing nuer of black families to educate their children at home. that's tomorrow night on pbs newshour weekend. and that's the newshr for tonight. i'm john yang. ve a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been pvid by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> financial services firm raymond james. >> babbel. a language program that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org.

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tukufu: we're the history detectives and we're going to investigate some untold stories from america's past. n gwen: a tiny medallion help this woman find her parents, some 40 years after she was given up for adoption? wes: are these bones the missing link to one of the most importaio scientific expedption? in american history? kufu: is this picture a long-forgotten masterpiece by one of the nation's greatest illustrator elvis costello: ♪atchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardps start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪ ♪ watchin' the detectives