tv PBS News Hour PBS April 16, 2018 6:00pm-7:01pm PDT
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captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the "newshour" tonight: th gloves are off between president trump and james comey-- the president trades barbsh the former f.b.i. director following an interview that targe the commander-in-chief. then, the state of play in syria after u.s. air-strikes, a debate heats up in congress over the power to authorize military action. and, sounds of the desert-- weav to mali, in west africa, to hear how the music of the taureg people helps them endure >> we sing about how we have suffered through politics,ro through racism against usnd our ancestors from the desert, we say we are here, don't forge us. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's "pbs newshour."
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woodruff: the trump white house has spent this day on comey and cohen-watch. the president's legal team joined in a federal court helring involving his perso attorney, michael cohen. and, mr. trump aimed more barbs at fired f.b.i. director james comey, over his scathing new s beok. yamiche alcindons our coverage >> is donald trump unfit to be president? >> yes, but not in the way i often hear people talk about it. >> reporter: james comey led ofz his media by criticizing president trump, focusing much president'sck on th character. it came during an "abc news" intervieahead of the tuesday release of his memoir, "a higher loyalty." while comey told abc he doesn't support impeaching trump, comey pointed to m trump's reaction to last year's charlottesvilles unrest, his past treatment of women, and what comey said were mr. trump's constant lies.pr >> ouident must embody
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respect, and adhere to the values that are at the core ofv this country.s the most important being truth.r thiident is not able to do that. he is morally unfit to be president >> reporter: in the iew, comey also opened up about theou 2016 election. he said, for him, having to ehandle the hillary clintil investigation was "a no-win situation." >> i'm here to give you an update... >> reporter: and he explained again y he went out on his own to announce why that probe would not lead to charges. in the process, he described hir discomfort with the perception that en-attorney general loretta lynch may have been too close to clinton and her campaign. >> i decided, i have to step-- as much as i like her-- i have to sty from her and show the american people the f.b.i.'s work separately. i actually thought as bad as this would be for me personally th my obligation: to protect the f.b.i. and the justice department. >> reporter: in a statement s before abc's comey interview aired, lynch said she never discussed the probe with anyone from the clinton campaign or the
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democratic national committee. she also said that comey had,op "amplrtunities to raise concerns with me. he never did." comey, of course, came to lead a thobe into mr. trump's campaign and russia-- on continues today under special counsel robert mueller's purview, and could eventually lead to legal jeopardy for the president. win a separate sit-dowh "usa today," comey said he couldn't rule out whether president trump has been compromised by moscow. >> it's hard to explain some inings without at least le your mind open to that being a possibility. i don't know whether at's the business about the activity in a moscow hotel room or finances oa something else. but again, i don't want to overstate it, i'm not saying it's likely, i'm saying to be honest with you i have to say e 's possible. >> reporter: thite house said today that president trumpe saw pieces of comey's abc interview. and mr. trump himself today questioned comey's credibility. he called the former f.b.i. director, "disgruntled," and
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said comey and others "committed many crimes!" in new york today, th president's legal team wasif t fighting aferent battle.a his personal wyer michael cohen went to court to prevent government investigators fromew reg files seized during an f.b.i. raid on his he and.i office last week. cohen's lawyers called the raids "completely unprecedented." at issue: attorney-clnt privilege, and whether the president's protectedth conversations ohen mighton be revealed. mr. trump voiced his concerns ot twitter ov weekend,ek writing: "attorney client privilege isof now a thinhe past." the u.s. attorney's office for the southern district of new york, which is not connected to the special counsel's ongoingng russia probe, says that any material taken from cohen will be inspected by a separate t "filtm" to protect privileged information. but the president's new attorney argued that the president himself must be allowed to determine what is covered by privilege. in a letter sent to the judge
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late sunday, she wrote that the president is "the only person who is truly motivated to ensure that the privilege is properly invoked and applied." the u.s. attorney said that proposal "would set a dangerous precedent." for his part, mr. cohen's own attorney's argued in court thatr the judge should appoint an independent "specialer" to sort through the files "to ensure the pubc's confidence in the 'appearance of fairness.'" prosecutors say cohen is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation, in part because of a $130,000 dollar payment he made to adult film star - ephanie clifford-- also known as "stormy daniels she would keep her alleged affair with donald trump secret. daniels and her attorney were in the courtroom today as well >> woodruff: in the day's other news: at least seven inmates died at a prison in southst carolina after a pihed battle
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that lasted most of the night.ig one inmate said bodies were, "stacked on top of each other" t it happened at a maximum security facility in bishopville, where gang members fought each other with homemade osives. authorities sayof the dead were stabbed or beaten to death. 17 otherrisoners were seriously injured. >> what we believe from the initial investigation is that this was all about territory.wa this is about contraband. this is about cell phones. and you've heard us talking ghout these over and over againi these folks are ng over real money and real territory while incarcerate >> woodruff: at least 20 inmates have been killed in southis carolina s since the start of last year. the head of the environmental protection agency, scott pruitt, faces new questions tonight. the government accountability office reported today that the e.p.a.llegally spent $43,000 on a soundproof communications booth for pruitt's use. e's already under fire over
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first-class flights and a inbargain condo leaseed to an energy lobbyist. meanwhile, an inspector general's report found interior secretary ryan zinke could have avoided taking a $12,000 charter flight las year. a powerful spring storm moved o outhe northeast and mid- atlantic today after leaving heavy snow and damage across ae wath of the nation. severe wind blasted damaged >> it really looked li war zone, and we have to remember that people are living in these conditions. today, today everybody is grateful just to be alive as we are grateful that they are alive. they are going to be living under some very difficult conditions for a very long time. >> woodruff: to the north, the system dumped two feet of snow
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in wisconsin and minnesota over the weekend, and broke records for april snowfall all across the upp midwest. in china: the widely used microc g site "weibo" has reversed its decision to censor gay content, after a public backlash. the company initially said the crackdown was a respse to tough cyber-security laws. now, it says it will mainly focus on removing pornographic and violent material. president trump illworking to ore vacancies on the seven-member federal reservede board. he's tapped richard clarida, a rofessor at columbia university, to be the fed's vice chairman. he also nominated kansas bank commissioner michelle bowman too fill a spot resved for a both nominations require senate approval. r wall street's week is off to a trod start. the dow jones indl average gained nearly 213 points today to close at 24,573 the nasdaq rose 49 points, and
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the s&p 500 added 21. the 2018 pulitzer prize winnersu are out, and they're dominated by reporting on sexual misconduct and the russia investigation.l t "the new yoes" and the "new yorker" won the public service pre for coverage of the harvey weinstein scandal that galvanized the "me-too"ntha move the "times" also won, along with "the washington post," for investigating russia's meddling in the 2016 election. in the arts: rapper kendrick lamar's album "damn" took the music prize. he's the first non-classical ors jazz artist to win. and, andrew sean greer's novel "less" won the prize for fiction. t still to come "newshour," how revelations from the former f.b.i. director affect the idgoing investigations surrounding the prt.ur the situation in syria following the weekend's bombing campaign by western allies. inside the musical culture of
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the tuareg people of mali, and much more. >> woodruff: as we re earlier, new revelations made by former f.b.i. director james comey have stirred thee president's ire on twitter. but did they reveal ything new about the potential legalut trouble mr. trump could face? for that, we're joined by chuck rosenberg who twice served as a u.s. attorney, and also as a senior f.b. official, under both former f.b.i. directors robert mueller and james comey.e welack to the program. you've now had a chance to read james comey's book. what was your overall reaction? >> well, i did have a chance to read the book. i read it cover to cover this weekendi a couple oferent reactions. one, it's exceedingly well written. ates story well told. two, i don't think there are lots of new revelations in it
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hnd, by that, i mean, for the legal case mueller and his team might be building against the president orui others. then one other thing i think i should add, it's a little bit unusual to have witnesses out there as publicly as jim comey t there now speaking and writing. normally aw prosecutor -- and in was one for long time -- would caution a witness against that, but jim isn't anin oy witness, and i'm sure the mueller team already knows his story backwards and forwards.rd >> woodruff: i want to a you about that, chuck rosenberg, because there are a fair amount of cmment about t fact thatth james comey is not only make observations in this book and the number of interviews he's doing on television -- in fact we welcome him in an interview xt the "newshour" n week -- but he's making what we in journalism calleditorial comments, he's commenting on the president, he thinks he's unfit for office, and some pretty strongly negative comments about
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the president.nt what do you make of that? d is that an appropriate thing for the former f.b.i. director to do? >> well, it's ,unusual, ju there's no question about that. it's a book and not a legal brief, and, s while, normally,ma you wouldn't expect an f.b.i. director or former f.b.i. director to do that, i understand it because he's also telling a story, and when you tell a ory, to bring in your reader, you add some color, u add observations. a legal brief wouldn't sell very well. will.l.t this book >> woodruff: and in connection with that there's been real pushback. the white house is saying this is juste an effort to sell his books. resident has used strong language, called him a slime ball. what do you make of this? he's basically gotten mself into a new war with the president. >> yeah, those terms e deeply, deeply unfortunate, and i don't think they befit the office of the president.
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lo, i'll say this, i've phone jim comey fo25 years, a a friend, a colleague, as a boss. he has his faults, we all do. he has flaws, we all do. he can be stubborn, he can be head strong, he has a healthy ego, but in 25 years, i have never -- i should repeat never -- known jim to tean thing but the truth. he's a truth teller, and that's what i see in the book. stories i already knew because i lived through them with him and stories that i learned in reading it, but i've never known him to do anythg but tell the truth. >> woodruff: and i gather fromnd what you're saying chuck rosenberg that you don't see anything in here in either wt he's saying in interviews or the book that's going to change the trajecry of the mueller investigation? >> i really don't. i mean, there's>> a legalpa can, and that will be waged by agents and prosecutors on one side and defense counsel on the other, and then there's a p.r. campaign and,ei obviously,
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waged by, young know, media fols and pundits and alysts and the like. but if you're looking at the legal campaign, no, i don't c think anges anything. again, we don't normally want our witnesses out tking publicly. >> woodruff: right. i get that. but i don't think it changes the trajectory of the investigation or the case. >> woodruff: all right, different development today in a new york city feral courtroom, michael cohen, one of president trump's personal attorneys in court, in essence pmitesting federal agents al into his home, into his offices last week raiding, taking materials. what was that hearing all about, and can you explain to us whatt the judge's ruling decision was afterwards? >> i hope so. so, essentially, the cohen team wanted to stop the prosecutors and the investigators from riewing anything that wass taken from his office. the precutors had set up a system, we always do, where ale pri review team would look
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first at the stuff and decideec whether or not it isie attorney- privilege.en if it isn't, they cane entially throw it over the transom to the investigativet m. mr. cohen and his attorneys asked the judge to stop the process and the judge said she wou the judge did say we have to ohink about how it's going look going forward, whether orng not they're just going to let the prosecutors and privilege review team do the work, whethe she'll appoint a special master, somebody beholden to the court, to do that work.rk to be determined on the process and the details. but essentially, mr. cohen'sst team l the case will proceeded and the review of the privilegei docents will take place in some fashion. >> woodruff: a lot of eyes onme that set of procedures. chuck rosenberg, thank you very much.in >> thanks forg me.haha it's a privilege.
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>> woodruff: nowto syria and s the aftermath of the air-strikes launched by the u.s., united kingdom, and france to punish assad regime's allegeof chemical weapons. as lisa desjardins rerts, the military have renewed questions gabout presidential war-m powers. >> reporter: pentagon video>> shows the hail of missiles streaking toward syrion friday s night. their target: three chemical research and production facilities in damascus and homs. atellite pictures displayed satellite pictures displayed the sites hit: here, before the launch-- and then after they were leveled by at an unrelated event in florida today, the president described the strike as a success. >> they didn't shoot one, yourd know, you hhey shot 40 down, then they shot 15 down, then they, what, then i call, ie ay did they? and they say, "no, sir, every
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single one hit its target."y think of it. not one was shot >> reporter: meanwhile, a fact- finding team from the organization for the prohibition of chemical weaps arrived in damascus over the weekend. it's on a mission to determine the chemical used in month's attack on the suburb of douma that left dozens dead. but as of today, the team saidto syria and russia were blocking them from entering the area. the o.p.c.w. called an emergency meeting athe hague today, and britain's ambassador to the netherlands called on the syaned government and its russian backers to give the inspectors the access they ne. >> we see no reason why they should not be able to get to duma and carry out the svestigation as soon as possible. >> reporter: the u.s. representative to the t spectors' group said there are indications that russian teams
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went into douma already. russian foreign minister sergei lavrov told the bbc that therede was no ee of chemical weapons in douma, and denied, suggestions that russia had tampered with the sie. >> there is no proof that on april 7 chemical weapons were used in douma. frankly speaking all the d evidence which they quos t based on media reports and onso al networks. >> reporter: but in the house of commons, british prime ministerp theresa may said russia was covering up the attack. this as washington apparently prepar to fire another economic salvo at moscow. u.n. ambassador nikki haley spoke sunday of new sanctions on russian firms the u.s. believes helped syria's chemical weaponss program. but "the washington post"re rted this afternoon that mr. trump was not yet ready to impose the sanctions, and had s ordered a delay. the air-strikes came weeks after president trump said he wants ta u.s. military out of sy entirely.il
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french president emanuel macron teid yesterday that hind "cod" president trump to maintain a presencin syria. but he walked back those comments today. >> ( translated ): we have oneti military obj in syria, and one alone: the war against isis. >> reporter: white house spokeswoman sarah sanders tiid today the president s wants to bring troops home from syria, but there's no timeline-- yet-- for their exit. >> there was no opposition to using military force.mi a group of bipartisan senators unveiled a bill to current oppositions used in iraq and i.s.i.s. i'm joined by one of the bill's co-sponsors chris kountze of delaware. looking over the outline of your bill, it doesea not
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specifically with syria but with the fight against terrorism and iraq. i wa ask you about the air strikes against syria.. rdo you believe theident had the authority, were those lawful air strikes lastee >> well, this is a grey area, lisa, and one of the reasons i've engagedns in moving forward withthis bipartisan bill that inters corker and cain are leading is to rye trito reassert orsome of congress' auy and responsibility in the taking of military action. it's beenow 17 years since the 9/11 strikes at the led to the 2001 thorlings for the use of military force, and i think those initial authorizations1 from 2 and 2002 against afghanistan and iraq and against taliban and al quaida have beenn soaks tendedand so overused by both the bush and obam administrations tattooed theye are no longer timely and srelevant and, it's long past
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time due for the united states congress to step up take our role in crafting an amf that fits our current situation. it is not clear to me that trump has a plan for our path forward in syria or that s theserikes were appropriately authorized. >> and we should mention we reached out to the white house to invite them or someone from the white house to appear on the program. they didn not supply someone bt plan to have the voice on the show soon. we have been talking about this a long time and i know you want congress to ring in re but ca we talk about the balance of power more globally? why has congress, it seems, esident and in essence has the congress no longer any say essentially and presidents do what they want with theth military? ,> well, this has been a long time comi since the 1970s, in military action afterr military action, president after president has done more and more
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to skirt around congress' role, and congress has not reasserted itself. in 2001 and 2002 congress atepped up and passed authorizations ere specific to the conflict in afghanistan and iraq, but since then we have not acted. late in president obama'sra adminion, i worked to tryry and persuade white house counsel anwi the president to work the then democratic majority in the senate to try andla r the 2001aumf but was unsuccessful. senator cain ledhese effortsor in the democratic caucus and i hope we'll have a debate and vote in the foreign relations committee in the weeks ahead.. i think we owe less to the men and women of our armed forces currently carrying out missions around the world iun think we owe it to the american people to be clear about what role congress is going to take and for us t take some responsibility which we frankly have allowed s p from our
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grasp over the many years since0 th beginning of the global war on terror. >> senator, this conversation office centers around the middle east, syria afghanistan, iq, but you spent a lot of time in affect. you know the united states has at deployses dr is involved in military action in dozens of countries around the rld. where is the line?in should, for instance drone strikes be something congress approves briefly?es th i think this is exactly why we need to have debate is because last year when four american soldiers tragicallydi were lost in the line of duty in nager in west africa, i think many american srs were unaware americans were engagedng in a train and equip mission in west africa. a there are members of the intelligence committee, thell armed services commiho doo stay up to date on this and i do as well on foreign relations, but there are many others who don't. i think it's long past time for
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us to debate where we are engaging in military conduct anu what kind. >> you've proposed a bil to limit the president's ability to fire special counsel mueller on a differentll topic, th russia investigation. >> yes. what is your concernve there? ell, republican senator tom tillerson, lindsey graham joined with corey burke and me in introducego bipartisan bill.il we are hopeful it gets marked up next week in the judiciary committee. i think given the ways president trump has been tweeting mo aggressively, challenging robrtueller's special counsel investigation, it's no longer a question of if but when he will try to take an action to restrict on the otherc hand the investigation, wheth by firing rod rosenstein or directly trying to interferent witthe investigation. current just disdepartment regut tions prohibit that b am concerned given recent developments the president mayt act abruptly.ab
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seen your republican senatorss said that would be the end oftr thmp presidency, and i'm looking to find a vehicle to allowsepublicans and democr to work together to make it just a bit harder for the president to act a in anrupt and inappropriate way. this bill would allow the special counsel, i fired, to go to a three-judge panel and allow them to determine that if he was iiredappropriately, he wouldy, be allowed to resume the investigation. >> sisator c kountze of delaware, thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: we turn to mali, the west african nation that's home to over a half a million tuareg people. they are an ethnic group that has controlled the trade routes in the sahara deserttde spans northern mali-- for almost 2000 years. but the tuareg have neeg enjoyed significant political power, channeling their
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frustrationsnto a rich musical culture.co special rrespondent monica villamizar went to have at listen. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: ahmed kaidy says>> at the tuareg people have always been wriors, but he traded his rifle for a guitar. >> ( translated ): it's a music of resistance, it's poetry for a people that have plenty of things to say. we sing about how we haveh suffered throlitics, through racism against us and our ancestors from the desert,re we say weere, don't forget us. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: the 42 year old r tuareg spent the firalf of his life as aoldier for libya's infamous dictator,
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muammar gaddafi. thousands of tuareg like kaidy were paid to uproot themselves, move to libya and fight for africa's outspoken ruler. but after gaddafi was killed in 2011 during the early days of the arab spring nearly 30,000 tuareg made the journey south from libya back to mali. ♪ ♪ ahmed kaidy says the tuareg are the masters of the sahara, vigating the dunes only following the stars, surviving in one of earth's most inhospitable places.h' and their music reflects this experience of traveling the desert. >> ( translated ): it follows the rhythm of the camels walking, like hmmmmmmmmmm.me
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it's like a trance. you are alone with the camels, and you hum to the rhf the camel. it's like a trance that helps you make the long jrney ahead,ma and you are alone, no one to talk to.y ♪ ♪ >> reporter: tuareg culture became known in the west thanks to music, and the so called, tuareg blues. ds ♪ every year music bathered in a desert festival outside thm fabled city ofktu. even western singers-- like u2's bono-- flocked there but for the last five years, the festival has been cancelled after violence ripped through northern mali.i. by january, 2012, a tuarega militia began to fight for independence from mali, and its
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own tuareg nation. guns from libya fueled a revolution led by bilal ag sherif. dut al qaeda used those same guns, and hijache revolution. all of maltlbecame a batround. then, french troops landed to stop the islamists in 2013; ands u.n. peacekeepers soon followed. a cease-fire with the tuareg was signed so, bilal agheriff doesn't feel safe here in his own country under the peace accord. un the u.n. troops or malian army must protect him, but he doesn't ust them fully and his security and bodyguards aree tuareg.r hi mislal how are you? >> before 100ears, the tuareg ntrolled their areas.nt erfore colonial period. they are the maof their countries. but the situation changed totally. ts is why there is always revolutions and resistance.
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so i think today i will hope in 100 years we will never have a tuareg who is thinking they arei the second clatheir countries. >> reporter: agherif says the majority of his people still dream of a tuareg state, but not all leaders agree. fahad ag al mahmoud blames the tuareg rebellion for unleashingh the chaos that turned northern mali into a conflict zone.eb >> thelion that started on >> ( translated ): the rebellion that started on 2012 really hurt the tuareg.is today terrgroups are the masters of the territory. we are dominated by outsiders in our own land. >> reporter: ag cherif would like to incorporate tuareg fighters into the malian army, to help remove al qaeda and isis from the north. many tuareg have fled the violent sahara abandoning their nomadic way of life.c there aren't any touristse joining mel caravans or visiting the bustling markets of
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timbuktu. 600 miles south is the capital where many are trying to relocate and build a new life. bamako, the capital of mali, is a world away for the tuareg people. there is a river, and its humidt any are desert people, so for them life here is completele diffe to what they are used to. fadimata walet is getng herdi ancient instruments ready. her mostly female group namedr t makes the instrumentshe they play. r ♪ the band used to t constantly, even performingg internationally, bto times are h. >> ( translated ): since the 01rebellion and the war in we don't go on tour. i don't know if its because it's a traditional music only likeda by older people, or if itsri because of thes. ♪ ♪
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>> reporter: to make ends meet, fadgsata's band plays weddin and also... divorces. tuareg culture is matriarchal so when a woman divorces it isrc cause for cebration. >> ( translated ): even if i'm physically here my mind andoul are in the desert, i always need to live and think of going back to the desert if i'm in new yori or washington i think of my nate village in the middle the desert sitting on a large sand dune, there i am in peace, no phones or anything, i sleep perfectly well there. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: fadimata says she>> remembers the days when the lyrics to tuareg music functioned like a newspaper, and peple learned about curre events through song. ♪ ♪
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>> ( translated our culture has a tendency to disappear, that's why iormed this group of women who spread their message around the world. ♪ ♪ >> reporter: today fadimata and her band play to only our camera as the niger river bears witness. b for the pbs newshour i'm monica villamizar in bamako, mali. >> woodruff: last week two african american men were arrested in a downtown philadelphia starbucks. amna nawaz looks at how the seattle-based coffee chain is struggling to address the outcry on social media and elsewhere. >> reporter: that outcry built
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to a crowd of protestors at that particulabucks, today, unmoved by c.e.o. kevinby johnson's apologs and call for "unconscious bias" training for" employees. all this after video of last thursday's incident weal. the clip shows police officers confronting two black men seate inside the starbucks as they wait for a third guest. the store manager reportedlyli called after the men asked to use the bathroom, without buying anything first. minutes of calm conversation follow. other patrons can be heardof policcers eventually handcuff both men and force them to leave. starbuck's kevin johnson today called the arrestssi "reprehe," and vowed to make sure this did not happen again. unr more on this i am joined by philadelphia city lman kenyatta johnson, who represents the district where the starbucks store is located.. councilman johnson, thank you for your time and welcome. i want to begin by asking you, now, since you have met with a number of people involved g this incident, why do you believe that it ended up in this
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way? >> well, you know, first and foemost, councilman of a very diverse dstrict, but welso represent the starbucks in my district. i want to make se, as a council person that no form of racial bias oracial profiling is accepted, and, so,l we c a press conference today to address a this issue and toe denouthe recent arrest of the two african-american youngre men who arrested after waiting while being black the starbucks cafe and as we move forward we w st to makere starbucks have come up with a plan to specifically address the issue ofersity and inclusion as well as addressing the issue of racial awareness when it comes to how their business operates. >> councilman, youenve now sp'v to a number of people involved. you've now seen a lot more than most of us who have only seen
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the video.bee do yoeve these men are the victims of racial bias? >> yes. you know, everyone ows that starbucks brand is you can come there, use their wi-fin and, that environment, you know v meetings, you know, and take a moment and take care of your day-to-day business while you're inside of theiricular store. that's always been their particular brand. in this particular case, you have two african-american young men. they're not dressed in suits, they're in ritenhouse square, which is a high-income area in the city of philadelphia, andla the person who actually callede th police, i believe, overreacted, when she had the interaction withthese young when who said they were waiting for someone to come meet with them, and that resulted in her calling the cops, which resulted in the unnecessary arrest of the two african-american men. a ot of people in my district are in outrage, a lot of pple in my district want
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answers, but most importantly they want make sure we continue to hold starbucks accountable. >> the first reaction from starbucks was a rather tepid policy, the backlash grew and a more robust statement followed by a video statement from kevin johnson in which he said tis -- >> these two gentlemen did not >> these two gentlemen did not e serve what happened ande accountable. i am accountable.ro now, going h this, i'm going to do everything i can to ensure it is fixed and neveren haagain. whether that is changes to the policy and the practice, additional store manager training including training around unconscious bias, and we will address this. >> councilman johnson, are you satisfied with starbuckson re? >> not at all. n you know, listen, i work with veral major corporations in aio variety of different aspects regarding organizing for wages,
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for low-income individuals, and i know how this game works. wehaeed to see more just lip service. we need an actioni plan that specifically goes toward racial sensitive training, but also campaigning and letting the people here in the city of philadelphia know that anyone i welcome to come tohe starbucks cafe without fearing any type of racial or soci bias perspective when it comes to individuals hanging out or coming reent and patronize theiro business. it's totally unacceptable. a peop in outrage, and we have to continue to make sure that they aren't just giving an apology. we want an action plan to actually address this issue. >> you mentioned tanager who originally first called the police to the scene has now reportedly been removed from the store pending an investigation. is that the standard to which you as councilmen will hold other businesses in your district, that they shouldhe remove employees who exhibit
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kind of racialbis? >> absolutely. i would go further to say if the evidence shows they've exhibited some sort of racial bias, they should be fired, to be frank wi you, because, at the end of the day, no one should feel in 2018 any form of racial discrimination regardless of theirackground,ifestyle or ace.acst importantly their this is totally unacceptable and starbucks must be held accountab and beyond issuing d apology, beyond removing the young lady, we n have an action plan to make sure there's racial sense thetivity training for the employees, we need to make sure people in philadelphip arow from a racial awareness campaign in cks that anyone can come to starbucks and feel welcome without feel that they will be kicked out based upon their race, creed or color. >> philadelphia councilmann kenyatta johnson, thanks for your time. >> thanks for having me here
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today. >> woodruff: president trumpde might be in florida, but the political drama resonated today from washington to new york, and beyond. here to discuss all that, it's t time for politics monday withar takeith of npr, and amy walter of "the cook political report." welcome to you both, politics monday. so, tam you call itr political drama or fomething else, but james comey, theer f.b.i. director is make quite a tour after his book came out a few days ago. what do you mthe of reading and talking? >> so i think what stands, o especially from the interview last night which he did, which is an hour-long special on abc and the interviewfollowing and the reaction to it is this is the james comey everyoner remem this is someone who democrats d are still very mad about what ht
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did i leadup to the election, republicans still don't like him andpu they aren'' going to like what he's saying about president trump, and he is thisremarkably polarizing figure who sort of puts himselfs at the center of it and says that he made these decisions all out of the same senseof principle and higher purpose. but while we are right back in 2016-2017 all over again. >> it is. it's like we cannot let the 2016 much to have the interview was a rehash of the 2016 campai and decisions made during that campaign so it feels, yes, there is a little bit of like, gosh, we can never get this out of our system. the other eces, there really wasn't anything new in here. you didn't see or hear anything from these interviews or the excerpts from this book that
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suggests that there is a new piecof evidence that he held isck in talking about publicly, and i think this important, that he could say definitively ntat there is something illegalo that the presi has done that would put him in jeopardy. he also, of course, went on t say i don't think he should be impeached. >> right. so i think, if there's anything that was new, it might have been that. >> he expressed strong views about the president, said he's not fit f office but, you're right, we interviewed chuck rosenberg earlier in the program at worked for james comey and says i don't think this changes one mueller investigation in any way. inction, though, tam, with the mueller investigation, today in federal courtroom, new york city, one the president's lawyers, michael cohen was there to tto pull back some of that material that federal aents raided his offices to take last week. a lot of eyes were on that t courtroom because stormy daniels, the porn adult f star was there in the courtroom with her lawyer, but are we --
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ere are we in that whole drama? >> it is dramara it feels like law and order presidential unit or something. it is very muchid a dramatic scsoe. lawyerla representing the president of the united states arguing that, because of attorney-client privilege, he should be able to get theirst bite at the apple on all this evidence. my understanding is judge was not receptive to that argument. you then find h michael cohe to name who his clients were. he says he has thrlits -- one is the president, one this big g.o.p. donor who had to withdraw from being on the finance committee, and the other is sean hannityfo thenews personality who since tweeted saying, well, i neverco paiden anything. it is perplexing.s and if what hannity is saying is true, that actually helps the government's case bectheec government is arguing that cohen
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didn't really function as an attorney and, thus, shouldn't have attorney-client privilege.i t>> woodruff: and these a three people whose papers were taken, the documents were taken related to conversations. >> that'ste right, a now there is a debate over is he a client or somebody who just talked on the phone and had conversations with michaelohen, was it privilege or not, and it feels like a rowality s had the writers told you coming out of this court date with mic el cohen with was goi with the revelation that he is advising one of thero est supporters of the president who goes on television with the show that is very supportive o the president. i mean, in some way, i guess in's not sho but it really was shocking, of all the people who say this was my secret plan -- qualifies.: it the big reveal in this episode was a surprise. w >>druff: the u-turn, aur couple of polls came out, can't go too many weeks without pollst
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showing, tam, greater enthusiasm this year to see democrats elected than rest. of course, thelw poll iss a snapshot, we always say that, but it is part of a trend we're seeing this year? >> yeah, and democrats, they are in some ways, democratic voters, it doesn't matter who the candidate will be, thll going to the polls in november to make a statement about president trump, whereas republican voters,pu president trump has to convince them to go to the polls to make a statement in support of him, otherwise they' trying to get them to be excited about the the tax legislation,ory get voters excited about the economy which is chugging along, but for democrats is pretty simple, it's a protest. >> yeah, it'salways been a b challenge for democrats in an off-year election becauseju republicans the kind of voters who identify as republicans, a little bi older, more white voters turn out to vote in mid-term elections than
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more diverse, younger electorate that vote in a presidential election, so democrats are always trying to get the younger voters or their base voters to t come o a midterm. what's happening now, tam's exactly right, they' coming out -- that base is coming out at a rate tha republicans haven't seen in quite some time. so it's not even tat republicans -- they haven't faced that. that republicans aren't going to turn out to vote, they absolutely can turn t to vote but that may not be enough because more democrats are going to turn out than traditionally do in a mid-term year, then we have to see what independents do. they have been sour on thede president now pretty much universalsly fhem beginning of his presidency.si is that going to translate into tes in the election? we would suggest yes. ill the special elections and theterm elections, the off-term elections, this democratic enthusiasm has shown up by about eig points. >> we only have seven more weths to analyze this and will have to do it every day,
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all day long.ng love it. amy walter, tamara keith, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: as we reported earlier, recipients of ther, pulitzer prize were annncedpu today, and they included winners in literature, music, and the arts. jeffrey brown is with us from boston to run throh some ofh them. >> woodruff: hi, >> brown: hi, judy. >> woodruff: winner in music, big surprise, kendrick lamar.ma >> brown: that is a really big prize, judy. the pulitzer prize in music hast allways gone to someone in the world of contemporary, classical music.si twice it has gone some jazz greats, but that didn't even happen till 1997, the first wenten marcellus and in
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2007warnack coleman.le but now we have kendrick lamar from the world of popular music, one, and rap music, which has never happened before. so it's quite interesting. there's no question about he'ss bona fide as one of the great word smithsr and popu music today, but it is to think about the value of the music and what's being honored. it's quite new an analogy is bob dylan winning the nobel prize a couple of yearsgo. he was getting the prize for literature as a poet but h was a musician. kendrick is doing music but thif is ne the pulitzers. >> i. >> woodruff: i'm a fan of kendrick lamar, so good for him. there were other winners, categories. tell us about those. t >> brown: the winner many
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poetry was frank, a renowned elder statesman at this int. and he won for his called halfl ht, and it's collected poems. and, so, this is clearly honoring him for many decades of wonderful work. he's best known for his dramatic monologues, longer poems in which he sort of uses a dramatit character. sometimes a real character, andp s it into poetic form. the winne in nonfiction, some of our "newshour" viewers will remember jamesre n, jr., it's for long locking up our own, about crimeand punishment in america, and very timely look at many kinds of issues, particularly around race involving involving involvi j the crimintice system. in the world of biography, prairie fires, caroline frazier,
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the biographya of lathink think -- laura ingalls wyleer, about the american west and the prairie. >> woodruff: these pulitrs extend beyond journalism to so many areas of culture and our life. james brown, thank you. >> brown: thanks,fe judy.wo >>ruff: nell so vile talks about the cultureof harassment that plagued her industry.in tonight se shares tonighshe shares her humble opinion on why-- even with what seems like safety in numbers-- it's still hard for women to.ar speak o >> reporter: oh, yeah, me, too. recently, i shared my storyst about being sexually manipulated by a boss when i was just starting my career as a tv comedy writer. i was in my twenties.
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he was in his forties.s. now i'm in my fifties. three decades later, going public has stirred up a lot of fresh emotions. still, when a friend recentlynd sked me, "aren't you happ" about the me too movement?" i was thrown.y? ha of course, i feel relief and satisfaction that women who can are raising their voices andnd naming names. but happiness doesn't rely factor into this. with all the toppling of famous rectors, actors and anchors, you may think it's easier now to speak out about this. pe. hollywood is still a place where if a powerful person behaves alinappropriately and you them on it, somehow you pay the price. which reminds me of an old jewish joke: there's a terrible pogrom in the shtetl. all thvillagers are rounded up by the cossacks and lined up against a wall for the firing squad. the rifles are cocked, and the head cossack says, "before wefi ope, does anyone have any last requests?"
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one of the villagers raises his hand timidly and says, "as a matter of fact, i do." his neighbor leans over and ispers, "shh, don't make trouble!" we're conditioned to see the world through the eyes of the people in power even when our backs are up against a wall. by standi up for ourselves, somehow we get branded as the troublemakers. shh, we're not. writer zora neale hurston observed: "if you are silentpa about you, they'll kill you and say you enjoyed it." as difficult and as awkward as speaking out can be, those who can, should. so's our responsibility tpo many who can't. and i don't agree with those who say that it's time for male lleagues to "shut up an listen." just the opposite.ad we need men ttheir voicesdd to ours. they can also help by sharing salary information and letting us know about job opportunities.
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they can hire women and promote them. and the next time, a woman makes a reque and someone whispers," shh, don't make trouble," i hope she tells them, "ot making trouble. i'm making progress." >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight.od i'm judy ff. thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new ennguage, like spanish, frh, german, italian, and more. babbel's0-15 minute lessons are available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> and by bnsf railway.an
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>by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economicnd performance a financial literacy in the 21st ctury. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peacefulrd world.ti more infor at macfound.org >> and with the ongothg support oe institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadsting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llcws c captiones by media agroup at wgbh access.wgbh.orgne acce
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♪ ♪ ♪ -today on "america's test kitcn," julia and bridget unlock the secrets to foolproof tamales withed chicken chili. and dan makes julia the ultimate chorizo and potato tacos. it's all coming up right here on "america's test kitchen." "america's test kitchen"ths brought to you by e following. -i've always been a big believer
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