captioning sponsor p by newsductions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: mpe democratic party sues russia, the trump gn, and wikileaks for meddling in the 2016lection. plus, we see james comey's memos on meeting with the president. then, i sit down with the u.n. high commissioner for human rights, zeid ra'ad al hussein, to talk about the ongoings confli syria and yemen. and, it's friday. mark shields and reihan salam are here to talk about the comey memos and what the passing of barbara bush may teach us about politics today. then, a poet's best friend. author stephen kuusisto writes about his relationship with hisr guide dog, a a condition left him legally blind. >> as i'm writing about what

corky and i did together, right, i began to realize this is about my opening up and becoming a larger, more courageous, open, curious, flexible and outgoing person. >> woodruff: all that and more,n onight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects

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rp ts program was made possible by the ation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. oo >>uff: the claim that president trump stole the 2016 election is going to federal court. cydemocratic party lawsuit today alleges a conspind seeks civil damages. it comes as the proiident is alsog battle with former f.b.i. director james comey. yamiche alcindor begins our coverage. >> reporter: the list of defendants in the democratic national committee's multimillion dollar federal lawsuit reads like a "who's who" of trump associates. the president himself is not among them, but the d.n.c. is suing the trump campaign; theen prest's son, donald trump

jr.; the president's son-in-law and white hou adviser, jared kushner; long-time associate rer stone; and the indict former trump campaign chairman, paul manafort. also includes wikileaks, and the site's founder, julian assange. russia, and russia's main military intelligence unit, the g.r.u., sit at the top of the list of defendants. the d.n.c.'s central allegation? that people close to president trump and russian entitiesto conspirepread documents that were stolen from the d.n.c., and bolster then- alndidate trump's presiden bid. "russia and its co- conspirators," the lawsuit says, "must answer for thesections."de thcratic party set off a similar legal battle decades ago, after the watergate break- in. back then, the d.n.c. sued president nixon's re-election campaign for damages. the party ultimately won a $750,000 settlement on the samen

day that mon resigned. there was also continued attention today on the "comey memos," james comey's first-hane accounts of hiractions with president trump, while he was still director of the f.b.i. the ire are seven memall, 15 pages total. thursday, after pressure from some republican lawmakers, the d justice department handeer the notes to congress. they detail discussions comey had wiresident and white house aides about his first national security advi michael flynn, as well as the president's fixation on the so-called "steele dossier." comey had publicly discussed some of what's in the memos previously. >> sure. i created records after conversations, and i think i did it after each of our ne conversations. if i didn't, i did it for nearly all of them, especially the ones that were substantive. >> reporter: president today lashed out at comey again. "flynn's life can be t" ally destroye lamented, "while shady james comey can leak and lie. t is that rehe way life in america is supposed to work?"

meanwhile, three hou.p. committee chairmen argued that mrhetrump would benefit from memos being released. "rather than making a criminal case for obstruction, these memos would be defense exhibit a." congressional democrats disagreed. house miniority leader nancy pelosi tweeted that the memos proved mr. trump's "contempt for the rule of law." for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: late today, the trump campaign responded to the lawsuit, calling it "frivolous"c anpletely without merit." we will hear from the chair of ere democratic national committee, right ahe news summary. in the day's other news, russia says president vladimir putin is still waiting for president trump to follow up on an invitation to visit the white house. the offer came in a phone call with trump last month. in moscow today, foreign minister sergei lavrov said . trump had also talked of visiting russia. >> ( translated ): we proceed t fr fact that the u.s.

president said that he would be glad to see president putin in t the white houst he would be glad to meet in a return visit. president trump has returned co this topicple of times, so of course we assume that he will make it more specific. >> woodruff: there was immediate response from the white house. the middle east, violen erupted again at gaza's border, anivpalestinians said that f re killed and 150 wounded by israeli fire. reousands of gazans turned out, and some burned and sailed kites carrying molotov cocktails toward the border fence. israeli officials said they defended the barrier with live fire and tear gas. north and south korea took another major step today toward resolving their long standoff. the rivals installed and tested the first-ever direct telephone hotline between seoul and

pyongyang. their leaders hold a summit next friday. several people were publicly caned in indonesia's aceh province today, despite international condemnation. some unmarried couples were punished, under islamic sharia law, for public displayof affection, along with two women accused of prostitution. a crowd of hundreds-- including malaysian tourists-- jooked on. mared and recorded the scene on their cell phones, andc some od to plans to move the public canings indoors >> ( translated ): this caning is carried out in public because it can be witnessed by everyone, so it will give a deterrent effect against others. the caning shod not be done in prison for that reason. >> woodruff: "human rights watch" says caning amounts to torture, and it has demanded thg provinciernment abolish the practice. the state of alabama executed an 83-year-old man overnight, by lethal injection. walter leroy moo jr. became the oldest prisoner put to death

in the u.s. since capital punishment was reinstated in 1976. moody was convicted of mailing four bombs that killed a federal judge and a civil rights lawyer in 1989. the casket of former first lady barbara bush lay in repose in houston today, for a 12-hour public viewing. her husband, former president george h.w. bush, greeted some of the first people to file past a private feral will be held tomorrow. mrs. bush died tuesday at the age of 92. e warning today, to avoid eating all romaine lettom southwestern arizona. ers for disease control and protection expanded an earlier alert over an e-colitb ak. at least 60 people across 16 states have fallen ill so far. the c.d.c. says the best advice is, if you don't know the source

of lettuce you bought for certain, don't eat it. and on wall street, interest s rates rose, tecks tumbled, and the market gave ground. the dow jones industrial average lo 202 points to close at 24,462. the nasdaq fell nearly 92 points, and the s&p 500 slipped 23. for the week, all three indexes gained about half a percent. and, britain's prince charles will be the next leader of the 53-nation commonwealth. member states met in london today and unanimously chose charles for the largely symbolic sition. he will succeed his mother, queen elizabeth, when she dies. the queen turns 92 tomorrow. still to come on the newshour: why the d.n.c. lawsuit against the trump campaign. the u.n. human rights chief on the crises in yemen and syria. students stage another walkout to protest gun violence. and, much more.

>> woodruff: we return to the lawsuit filed by the democratic ganational committee todayst president trump's campaign, several top trump advisers, wikileaks and the russian government. the d.n.c. alleges a massive a plot to interfere in the 2016 presidential election, in partem by hacking theratic party's computer network and releasing stolen ema i spoke with democratic national committee chair tom perez a short time ago, and started by asking w when the investigation by special counsel robert mueller is still underway. >> well, there are three reasons, scwood. first of all, we don't know when director mueller will finish his inveeigation and he should t his time to do a thorough job. we have to file within a statute of limitations and, so, if we sit and wait, we're frankly committing legal malpractice.

a year ago when i came to the d.n.c., it was clear we had been hacked and by the russians. it was less clear to me a year o whether there was conspiracy between the russians and the trump campaign.as it become abundantly clear to me that there is that conspiracy and, because we have done our homework, we've filed this suit. finally, judy, i'm very concerned about the upcoming elections. l lawsuits have an important purpose of deterrence, and i ar from so many people across this country, they've hacked before, they've int ierferedn 2016 and they're going to do it again, what are youoing to do about it, tom? >> woodruff: i hear you, but to the point ofconspiracy, this is something we kno again, special counsel robert mueller is look into it. the pubac doesn't know if tht actually happened. it may appear to some people it did but until the dots ve been connected and there is some

legal basis for that, are you at rgek in a lawsuit oftting ahead of what are known facts? >> well, i'm very comfortable o where e now. i feel we have ample evidence to vil't strait in a proceeding what we're doing. and we have a lower burden of proof in a civil case. so i've dealt with this from the criminal side as a d.o.j. prosecutor, and i understand and i have great respect for the work that director mueller is doing, and we have great respect that they will continue to do the independent, thorough job that they need to do. >> woodruff: let. but also -- we were hacked and they tried to cause chaos in the inn c and in the democratic party, and we need to seek ajustice in a civil cas we need to deter. >> woodruff: let me ask, you won't be surprised to know that there has been a full-throated response from the trump campaign. ism just quoting their campaign manager who said s a sham lawsuit, about a bogus russian

solution claim filed by a desperate, dyfunctional a nearly insolvent democratic party. >> wel i think they had their greatest hits of conspiracy theories. and, judy, for your viewers, i think it wo interesting to go back to the watergate era because the d.n.c. filed a lawsuit against the nixonth campaign bacen, and the response when that lawsuit was filed was almost identicato what we saw today. so it seems like the trump folks and the nixon folks, once again, were's yet another thing that they have in commoich is these false defiles of involvement. >> woodruff: one last question and that is ts back to the mueller investigation, does your lawsuit run the risk of politicizing something that for most part mr. mueller hasma ged to keep away from politics? >> this isn't partin, this is patriotic. making sure our elections are free and fair with no foreign

interference, there is nothing more important than that. you look at what general mcmaster said on his way out from his service in the trump administration. he said, they have not paid a cost for their misdeeds, referring to rusrea. john mccairred to the hack as an act of war, and the absence of deterrence right now, i think it's incredibly important we move forward. and th pcivceeding is something where we will be in a articlurt. we're not going to have a trial of twitter, we're not going to have dein nuúñez presiding over the trial. i believe in the federal civil justice system and that, is i think, a really impohirtant e moving forward for us to have the truth out there, andat i'm confidenhe the truth is going to show that there was an unholy alliance between the trump campaign and the russians to interfere with our 2016

election. >> tom perez, the chairman ofic the democrational committee, we thank you. >> thank you. >> woodruff: and now, william brangham is here with the legal implications of the d.n.c. lawsuit. >> brangham: for that analysis, i'm joined by susan hennessey. she is the executive editor of "lawfare" and a senior fellow at the brooking institution. welcome back to the "newshour". >> tnks for having me. >> reporter: you heard about tom perez, the cam wikileaks all conspired to make hillary clinton looebad. from aal perspective what do you make of their suit? n >> the pertes there is ample yefd. there are quite a few allegations. some grounded, relying on this intelligence media assessment of russian interference but a lot relies on things ke news reports including a single source or anonymously sourced reports. so the challenge will bees translating thential news reports into evidence that will be admissible in court.

nowhat's relevant righis not necessarily whether they can do that but whether or not they can survive a motion to dismiss, whether or not they have a well-pleaded complaint on the face. it does seem likely thisla uit, at least some defendants, at least some claims are likely to survive a motion to dismiss. this is most relevant because it means they will move to theer discphase. that might end up becoming a really powerful ol for the d.n.c. to unearth new information. >> so the tricky r rt fotheir case, seems to be, that while there might be discreet evidence of the wikileaks release, the d.n.c. being hacked, some members of the trump organization indicating that they would like to get dirt onar hiclinton, they have to tie all those things together as a conngected conspiracy, rht? >> right. so what they are alleging is this broad conspiracy. they're alleging there was an actual agreement between russian actors, the trump campaign and associates to hack the d.n.c. and agreement to distribute stolen materials to help donald

trumpnd harm hillary clinton. that is a high bar and ahead of the public record 've seen thus far. that's going to be a difficult showing for tell me to make th court. that said, there is another case ing on in an invasion of privacy thee y. th going to be a motion to dismiss monday. we have a case that will prode a road map as to whether the legal claims are going to be sufficient. >> reporter: the elephant i e room is the mueller investigation, undergoing constantly right now. what does this do vis-a-vis the mueller investition because, theoretically, the d.n.c. suit touches on some of thsame people, evidence and events. is this a conflict? can they go on at theame time? help me understand at that time. >> i think they are fundamentally unrelated. we don't know much about the mueller inveigation but it doesn't appear to be particularly reactive tothings like this. the d.n.c. suit relies on the

muelleinvestigation because it uses some evidence that actually comes from the court filings. it gets quite ahead. vt is alleging this actual conspiracy but we en't seen mueller make that showing. they are related to the exten they're talking about the same events and people, so i think we can think of it as an alternative. we don't know how the mueller investigation is going to end. even if he found evidence of serious wrongdoing, that might be included in a report that within d.o.j., a repor that goes to congress and isn't distributed to the american isblic. so thin alternate vehicle by which the d.n.c. mighth uneame of the same or similar facts but in a fashion in which they can conduct their own fact finding and in a mfashion in which they cake these things public. so the best way to think about it is parallel tracks, the same subject matter but not necessarily related. >> reporter: this also comes when the president is juggling so manother legal cases -- the mueller case, stormy daniels

case, the michael cohen case, thlu emonts lawsuit -- i mean, this is an enormous amount for a white house and trump organization's team to juggling. >> right, it's also only a year and a half into his ter is is an amazingly complex legal laodscape they'reking through and we're seeing peculiarities.in his southern case against michael cohen, we have theen press private lawyers arguing on a attorney-client privilege agnst justice department attorneys, donald trump's private attorneys are arguing against his institutional attorneys so that illustrates the strangeness that we're in and potential conflicts there. >> reporter: the release to have the comey memos, the memos james comey contemporaneously wrote down afterfedifnt meetings with the president. we've heard about the memos a long time. now they're released and we have been able to read them specifically. do the details of the memos tell us anything germane legally with

regard to the rus investigation? >> they don't offer much information, conmedering what said in his book and congressional testimony as well, so i don't know that it advances the ball forward legally at all. that said, it certainly does corroborate comey's aount. it goes to his credibility, and it knocks down this notion of comey as a disgruntled employee that's recounting these events in a way that's unfavorab trump after the fact. these are the memos he wrote while still f.b.i. director, while he was still wanted to have a good relatn with the president, had every incentive to not make a mountain ouof a molehill. what we're seeing in the memos is a profound degree of conocern and ncern he has remained consistent about the way president trump was ing the justice department in his inability to understand the importance of maintaining those institutional norms of independence. >> reporter: susan hennessey, thank you so much. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: the u.s. state department released its annual, global accounting of the state of human rights toda the report blasted russia, china, iran and north korea, specifically for being "forces of instability." it also accused syria's bashar al-assad of indiscriminate alittacks on cis, on hospitals, and of employing torture, and using rape as a weapon of wa criticism of saudi arabia, a cl intervention in yemen's brutal civil war was more muted. for an internationalook at these issues and more, i spoke a short time ago with the united nations high commissioner for human rights, zeid ra'ad al hussein. i began by asking him about the brutal syrian civil wa well, for the last few years, there'seen an ablute disregard for the most minimal

standards of principles in law, and we have seen every conceivable atrocity beingmm ted by most parties to the conflict, but most particularly the syrian government and itsr allies in of scale. that's not to say that the arme groud particularly the extremist movementsthe terrorist movements haven't themselves been complicit in the most -- and perpetrated the most awfuatrocities, but the lion's share of the alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes that are almost certainly to be proven by a court of law in the future fall at the foot of thev syrian gernment. one mus't forget this whole crisis began with the torture, the abse of children, and started from a severe viotion

of human rights and respect of the rights of those children and, from there, we have a crisis that's almost breaking the world in a very real sense. >> woodruff: we'ading about another aspect of this crisis in syria today. the "the washington post" reporting on raqqa, occupied by i.s.i.s. for so long, talks aout the destruction of 11,000 or 12,000 buildin or damage under u.s.-led airstrikes and goes on to say the sentiment there is that the u.s. took part in this destruction but not taking responsibility for cleaning it up. >> yeah, in all sucoperations, basic principles that govern the conduct of military fores, principles such as distinction, proportionality have to bean observedwhenever you see actions like this, you expect there to be inquiries and

investigations such that you can then explain to the peoyple it is that civilians have fallen the rockets and the ghmbardments. otherwise, you're ng a losing battle. basically, as nicha once said, if you're not careful, when dighting monsters, you yourself become one, that's the point that has to be driven at every time we sit with a particular government. don't make it worse. you are there to protect t civilian population from armed exemists that have run amok. don't, through criminal negligence or even in certain cases it could lbe deiberate, one doesn't know, don't make it worse. vestigate and make the investigations transparent. >> another crisis zone in that connection, of course, is yemena wherain, terrible human suffering, civilians, women,

children, what is your understanding of the situation there? >> wi l, likewise. an, it's been this horrific humanitarian catastrophe and ongoing. we from the human rights side have been tasked by -- froem th human rights council in geneva to put together a group of emint experts to ivestigate these attacks that have led to civilian casualties. there was a reported attack today, 20 people, civians being killed just outsi of taz, and this investigation will be madpubc in september, and one hopes that all sides to this horrific conflict in yemen, the coalition on one side, the houthis and the separatists in the soth, that they understand that, one day, if they don't, ov if they don't continue, one day they may well have to stand before a judge and account for

that haveed crime been committed. >> of course, all this is happening at a time when we are seeing voices, leaders around the world who are showing disrespect for humanights, p parts of eastern europe, hungary, the czech republic, thi phils. how do you in your role at the united nations speak to them what's the role of the rest of the world when we see these kinds of forces arising? >> well, this year we celebrate the 70th anniversary of the universe to have the declaration of human rights and it's a document put together by those who really suffered in w twold wars and the holocaust and, in the second line, it says d contempt aregard for human rights an contributed toe suffering of humanity. what we see now is exactly thatf on the par many of the world's leaders who should know better that, as i said in

respecyoof syriahave a conflict that hasdestroyed not just one part of the world but maybe two, and it began with a severe human rights violation and, eventually, all human rights violations, if they're ot curtailed, they can turn into conflict and behooves us to pay much more attention. >> well, words for all of us think about. the high commissioner at the united nations for human rights zeid ra'ad al-hussein, we u,ank you. >> thank youdy. woodruff: stay with us. coming up on the newshour: mark shields and reihan sal analyze the week's news. and, from the "newshour bookshelf," a blind poet details

his life-altering connection with his guide dog. but first, thousands of students walked out of schools nationwidi this m, in the latest mass protest against gun violence. the events marked the 19th anniversary of the massacre at colorado that killed 13. lisa desjardins reports on t day's events. >> we are now going to pause to honor the victims of columbine. >> reporter: the scenes were repeated across the country. moments of silence in placesna like indiapolis... students and teachers in a houston high school, forming a paper chain of names of people slain by gun violence. and everywhere, as ihaven, connecticut, protests and appeals for action to stop mass shootings. >> we as a nation cannot afford routine mass murders. we need action now. we need to remind our

politicians that this isous. these are r children who are dying.n >> reporter:shington, students staged a sit-down protest in front of the white house. >> all of these are columbine victims. we stopped saying their names a long time ago, so until the ntd of this mof silence, i will continue to repeat their names so you guys don't forget them. rachel scott, daniel rohrbough, dave sanders, kyle velasquez, >> reporter: from there, they marched to the capitol and demanded action on gun legislation. >> they deserve to live in a place where you don't have to be worried about going to c.v.s. or going to school or walking down the street just because of what you look like or because someone had a bad day. >> reporter: students at parkland's marjory stoneman douglas high school, where 17 weo killed in february, als walked out. they've led a push fonger background checks and bans on

bump stocks and assault-type rifles. that push is national, again today up to the steps of the capitol. shortly after the last studema walkouts ih, congress did pass two gun measures. they were to shore up theba currenground check system, and also get more funding to states. but neither of those changed a current law, there is no expectation that congress willre rn to the gun issue anytime this year. present trump has said the mental health system needs g provement, and he's supported the idea of lettinteachers carry guns aschools. >> this would only be, obviously, for people that are very adept at handling a gun,ge you would no lhave a gun- free zone. gun-free zone to a maniac-- because they're all cowards-- a gun-free zone is "let's go in and let's attack because bullets aren't coming back at us." >> reporter: the president also formed a school safety commission, led by education secretary betsy devos. but students at the u.s. capitol today demaed more concrete action to address their generations' fears.

>> we want people to have that sense of comfort again and be able to walk around the street and not put your hands up when you see a cop car. enough of violence, enough of killing, enough of being scared. >> reporter: this as today, in rion county, florida, another school shooting left one student wounded. sar the pbs newshour, i'm desjardins. >> woodruff: and one postscript to lisa's report: students at columbine did not walk out toda siasses are never held on the anniversary of the shooting. but, they are encouraged to participate in a day of sefiice. and let'sh our look at cis day with the story of a student who survivumbine 19 years ago. the newshour's student reportin lab at legrly college high school in greenville, south carolina, inrviewed physical education teacher lindsey e donnell. she describes how me to see mental health and mindfulness as tg. keys to heal >> my name is lindsey o'donnell. i am a physical education teacher at legacy early college in greenville, south carolina.

i was 17 years old during e columbine shooting. it was my senior year of high- school. my initi reaction was, i thought it was a fire drill. someone might have pulled it. i thought it might have been a. senior pra we really didn't know. >> 20 wounded. >> it was just chaos. people were running, just crying, hysterical. it was just shocking. ♪ ♪ it was just unheard of, 19 years ago. i coped with the columbine shooting mostly through the support of my friends and family, and also through fitness. i became a physical education teacher and a soccer coach. when i was at columbine, i wish i would've known more about ldndfulness-- not only for me,

but my friends wave coped with the situation differently. a lot of them coped with ior through druglcohol. columbine was, like, the first big mass shooting. nowadays, we have to practice lockdowns. d with that, students ar stressed. they come to school scared. they'ranxious. every single day, with my students, we start our day with a five-minute mindful moment. and by practing mindfulness, it's not going to eliminate school shootings. however, fitness, mindfulness, and mental health can help. >> woodruff: it was another news-packed week, and we have shields and salato un-pack it. that's syndicated columnist mark shields, and "national review" executive itor

reihan salam. david brooks is away. gentlemen, welcome on this friday. so, mark, i want to point out we'v ajust learned there post-story just moving that the attorney general let the white house kn wow lasteekend that, if the president were to fire the deputy attorney general rod rosenstein, that he, attorneyje genera sessions, would have to step down. i guess the language is "mivet o leave his job." so it looks as if there's still worry, concern about the president's intentions, even though he said he doesn't pn to fire tse people. >> it's a happy, productive elace to work, the trump administration, a g of trust, congeniality and mutual sense of mission. i mean, as a personnel director, the president is univaled as a fession -- inhe pro the profession. people who work for him work so in terror, anxiety, unsure of

what he wants to do and wht they're supposed to do and whether they will be there two weeks from now. >> woodruff: reihan, just another element in is ongoing saga? >> i can't say we know where th. story is her were with we to hear there was a move to fire the deputy attorney general, that would be big news and tense resistance with republican lawmakers and other figures in the senior ranks tove he white house. so i'm not sure there is a story yet, but certainly it's a sign there are many people in the white house who would strongly discourage the president fro selfng a step and he him said he had no intention of pursuing it. we'll see what happens. >> woodruff: it wal-in the sevey period when we were hearing the president was upset and thinking about or talking about firing, but, as you said, nothing's happened yet. so let's move, mark, to the story tod. democratic national committee announces it is filing a lawsuit against a trump campan,

against high russian officials, russian government and wikileaks for hacking into the democratic national committee eml system and essentially for stealing, they're saying, corrupting the election in 2016. we heard tom perez a few minutec ago thehair of the party saying one of the reasons we're doing this is the statute of limitations, we think there is evidence to believe ts a conspiracy. is it a smart move on their part?t >> we'll find it's a smart move, judy. partef the problem is it ds atve echoes of watergate and without, right nowleast the persuasive proof that the same soviet facwhts operatee the president was intimately, deeply invoed in a criminal act. i would say this, part of it is, i think, bricks has become litigation, politics has become laers and depositions and

you're going to testify and, you know, if that sense it's not -- at least initially -- exhilarating to those of us who care about politics and policy and legislation and righting wrongs and bringing justice.n you know, i honestly say i don't know. woodruff: wht do you make of it? what's the significance? ingwell, politics is bec litigation, certainly, p but it is also fundraising. that is especially true if c you're tir of the democratc national committee. one thing important to understand is american politics is very decentralized. typically, candidates raise their own money, have their own networks. the d.n.c., for it to be influential and important, it has to raise money, and one way to rai t the profile iso do things that fires up the base nand small-dollar doors, many who are passionate about the russian story. susan hennesseyarlier on the program explained they are setting a very high bar for themselves. it's hard to see they're really going to prove these allegations

in court, but the litigation is definitely going to get the d.n.c. and d.n.c. chair tom perez in the news and i think it's goingo fire up a ton of people to open their checkn oks, soat sense i think it is a very sh rude move for the -- shrewd move for the d.n.c. >> woodruff: all this coming, mark, in a week where we're hearing so much about james yomey, his book and then toda or last night, i guess, after urging by repnsublin capitol hill the comey memos thahe wrote after his conversations with the president before comey was fired haveow been made public. both of you have had a chance to look at them. do they change anything? >> other than perhaps your opinion of the threeai chan who pushed for their publication. they in no way conflict, at least in my reading of them, th james comey's own testimony. theyeinforcewhat he has said

and has written. i think congressman gowdy has said their exhibit a for the defense for the white house fors any e of obstruction of justice on the part of the president, there is certainly not -- they're certainlyot complimentary of the president, they're not inspiring, buthey reinforce what comey has said. >> woodruf what do you see reihan and with the coming out of the boo most people say they are affirming what's in the book. >> i agree with mark's remarks. i think that, basically, this is entirely consistent with what mes comey said before. clearly, james comey had serious misgivbout president trump long before he was elected and also, you know, now he's opening campaigning against president trump's reelection. he's telling people he wants american voters to throw him out, and the trouble here is this, if you are james comey and you really want to convinc

folks that president trump should be voted out of office,et etera, the thing is you have to find persuadable people. you have to nd people who might be favorably disposed to the presi nt andrsuade them not to be. i'm not sure why he's doing that. we know hes always had misgivings about the president and i think it intends to reinforce the narrative that he was not favorably disposed. >> reporter: how do you see that? >> i will say this about james bemey and he's certainly gotten criticism from a nof quarters and earned it by including the snide remarkssi about the prnt's appearance and suntanning and hair color and all the rest of it whch was petty, mud wrestling, getting down where donald trump mud wrestle. by his statement uncontradicted in any way before the election, herevealed that hillary clinton's personal emails were going at be reopene time

when he and virtually everhody ine leather and a majority of people in the trump campaig firmly blieve that hillary clinton was going to win and he put that election n some suspense. the clinton people blame him for it, the trp people acknowledge what he did, and i have to say, it certainly was not -- it was an act of some integrity, professional integrity for him to do that. bethe safe thing would havn eo not say anything at the tim and, in fact, let it happen and be reappointed. he was certainly putting at leopardy his own position, if, in fact, hillarynton did win, that he had tried to sabotage and sub ma a rein her chances in the last week of the campaign. so i think right now, judy, what we've seen in the first week is the two tribes havre fomed, on the one side those who don't believe james comey dod those wh i don't know how many people are persuadable on this issue at

this point. >> woodruff: you i want to ask u both finally about former first lady barbara bush who was remarkable figure, somebody with a sense of humor, passed away this week. her funeral tomorrow.e reihan, tre would have been, of course, been a lot of attention, but why do you thi there is particular attention right now? >> well, i have a little theory which is a looof us havemen in our lives, particularly mothers and grandmothers, who came at age at a time when women's contributions weren'tlu necessarily and women made a mark by serving familiesa putting otheead of themselves, and i think people looked at barbara bush and saw a very sharp, formible woman, with an as id tongue and sharp width and who helped build an incredible dynasty and who might have not gotten the spotlight

she would have had she come of e at a different time. i think this is a major talent who had a dep effect on the country. >> woodruff: she was te wife and mother of a presroent. we foud her over decades. so she -- we folwed her ovr decades. she played the traditional role but did it with ve much her own identity. >> she did, and her deathhi touched som in the nation that surprised me. i think the response has been national. i think there's a couple of factors, judy. at a time when the debate about character and fitness for office and the president rages and contues to ragin the country, she reminds us, as does her husband, of a time when tha sense of moral obligation of those of advantage, those of privilege to act generously and compassionately toward those not so gifted, not so blessed was

essential to our national leadership. at the same time, and reihan's point about she did have an acio ue, she was capable of that, but i remember the act of courage, a time when the aids epidemic that we were by fear that if you shook hands with somebody with aids you could contract it. her predecessor, the reagans, had been more than arm's length on this issue. she left the white house and went to a hospice of infantsic afd with aids and held and caressed and comforted chianldrn it was an act of enormous courage. it was a yearning for what they represented -- the marlyriage, e fathe sense of duty, the sense of responsibility that each of us has to our country, and i think she just touched itw

>> woodruff: ahave gotten away from that, haven't we? >> we certainly have. >> woo think of her and the entire bush family at this moment. thank you both. reihan salam, mark shields. >> thank you, judy. >> woodruff: finally tonight, story about the power of man's best friend. in a new memoir, poet and author tiephen kuusisto details his life-altering conn with a guide dog. and as jeffrey brown discovered, it was a change th impacted him both as a blind and as a writer. 's the latest from our "newshour bookshelf." >> brown: on the campus of syracuse university, a brisk wind, and a very brisk walk. >> you know, most of my friends- - even my wife, who's vey athletic-- tn't keep up

with this. >> brown: it's a perfect match man and dog. 63-year-old stephen kuusisto, poet and professor, and caitlyn, a four-year-old yellow trained as a guide dog. >> brown: kuusisto was born with a condition that left him legally blind. he describes his vision as having vaseline smeared on a lens. the author of two volumes of poetry, his new memoir, "have dog, will travel," traces his own path, one thatchegan as a d whose mother wanted his blindness hidden. >> my job was to really justut live withe kinds of assistance and accommodations that i needed, and to make it seem okay. >> brown: but the way you write it, at least, came off as a little worse than that. as in, she made it feel shameful. >> she did. and, you can't emerge with a

good sense of self-regard and become your own self advocate in that kind of dynamic. "the kid who couldn't see he flew right ups rents came they banged on pots and pans they hoped to get him back to earth but they were far below and the boy was in thef esrities." >> brown: he descr limited, "small" life-- a fear of anything new, including new places. it wasn't until his late 30s, after losing a job, that he came to a realization. >> i'm not going to make it in the larger world unless i knowho to actually navigate the larger world, and this is really a crisis. >> brown: the opening came through a new yo-based training school, where kuusisto was introduced to hifirst guide dog, corky, and embarked on a weeks-long process of learning to work together. >> at first i thought, well, this will be easy. you show up, they give you a smart dog, and it's like picking

up a car and then you ave, right? that's what i thought, and i didn't realize that you learn more about dogs than you ever knew possible, one.e and two, they ilding you up, the trainers, to feel not only that you can do this, but that this was the life you were always meant to have. >> bro: as kuusisto writes in his book, the benefits of guide dogs arose from the horrors of war. the first world war. think of the famous john singer sargent painting, "gassed," showing a line of soldie, their eyes bandaged. a german doctor, gerhard stalling, seeing how dogs had performed undepressure on the battlefield, began training them to help blind sot iers. the fiide dog school in fre u.s., "the seeing eye," was started by morrik in 1929. the movement transformed many lives, including kuusisto's. you describe when you were just getting coy, your first guide

dog, going into manhattan. >> that defied mcapacity as a writer to fully explain. that feeling was so mense, so meaningful, so beautiful, that i'm still not sure i really engaged it, right? >> brown: in the harness, caitlin is all business, but the moment it comes off at home, she's all play. look at this!et >¡em! get ¡em! >> brown: in addition to his writing and teaching, kuusisto is also a strong advocate for disability rights, working at syracuse's famedsturton blatt ute. he regularly meets with other faculty and students to discuss issues of the day. >> people with disabilities

doesn't mean they're not capable of doing something. >> brown: one topic during our visit: the terminology associated with disabilities. >> this is why i don't believe in the term "assistive technology." it's not just technology for the disabled-- all technology is assistive technology. >> brown: kuusisto himself uses a computer program when he ites. a voice reads his words back to him. and, hrecognizes a clear connection between his poetry and the new rld he found with guide dogs. >> we all know, i ink, those of us who read and love poetry, that one of the things poetry does well is to chart awakenings. there's thatpiritual aspect to poetry that is slowing down and a coming to real clarity about something, and as this bookoc ded, as i'm writing about what corky and i did together, ght, i began to realize, this is about my opening up and becoming a larger, more

courageous, open, curious, flexible and outgoing person. a person who i did not know existed. >> brown: caitlin is kuusisto's fourth guide dog in "have dog, will travel," he writes movingly of the death of corky, his original four-legged companion, who dd at age 13 in 2005. >> this is one thing i'm proud of, that when she was lying there on the gurney in the vet's office and it was the final moment and i was about to burst into tears, i realized this is a dog who has cared for me and been concerned for me at every turn. h and i he and i sang to her our favorite little walking song. so, she died while hearing that, and en i fell apart.ro >>: for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in syracuse, new york.

>> woodruff: oh, my. thank you. eric greitans has been charged with felony data tampering in his 2016 campaign. he used the donor list from charity mission conti pes withourmission. h he's facing invasion of privacy for taking a nonconsensual nude photo of ao woman with he was having an affair. later tonight on "washington week," robert costa here and he and his guests will discuss another wild ride of a week in politics. and that will be followed by "in principle," where president george w. bush recalls his mother, barbara bush, and discusses his ongoinagwork nst aids in africa, as well as whether "compassionat conservatism" still has a place in today's republican party. tomorrow on pbs nehehour weekend,ave of women

running for public office-- many of them as republicans. and finally tonight, we want to welcome a new addition to the extended newshour family. npr's tamara keith, part of our "politics monday" team, delivered a newborn son early this morning. welcome to the world, gibson. we cannot wait to meet you! congrats to tamara and the mily. and that is the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been p:rovided >> kevin. >> kevin!in >> k >> advice for life. life well-planned. learn more at raymondjames.com. >> babbel. a language program that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more.'s babben to 15 minute lessons are available as an app,

or online. more information on babbel.com. >> bnsf railway. >> consumer cellular.>> upporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's mostng pressi problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these ins tutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was madeth

possible bcorporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> you're watching pbs.

welcome to the future. st wes: this week, are these fragments from a deadly kamikaze attack that almost sank one of the navy's ip most powerful war elyse: is this corroded badge eecdence of a sret british plan lu to win the revoonary war? [ gunshots ] tukufu: does this letterrgelebrate a footten hero behind the historic t nsatlantic flight tukufu: does this letterrgelebrate a footten hero of charles lindbergh? ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardrops start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪