captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> nawaz: good evening. i'm amna nawaz. judy woodruff is on vacation. on the newshour tonight: we sit down with a top state department official cently traveled with secretary of state mike pompeo to north korea. then, president trump announces a new an to curb rising prescription drug costs. what these measures could mean for consumers. plus, a view from tehran. how iranians are responding to president trump's decision to .ll out of the nuclear de >> reporter: to many iranians, mr. trump's decision was a huge blow. many here are tired of bad news; tired of struggling, tir of waiting for things to get better. >> nawaz: and, it's friday. david brooks and ruth marcus discuss president trump' controversial c.i.a. pick, gina haspel, and how the president's economic message

is playing in a city still recovering from the great recession. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ ving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans shouldnt reflect the amf talk, text

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broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. >> nawaz: for president trump, it's been a week of big news, abro iran and north korea. but tonight, there's a new swirl of questionsbout statements om within his own team. white house correspondent yamiche alcindor has our rort. >> reporter: the white scdule was all business: >> we have at this table the biggest car manufacturers in the world. >> reporter: a morning meeting with presidentrump and auto industry >> reporter: a morning meeting with president trump and auto industry c.e.o.s, and an afternoon announcement prescription drug prices. but a series of other issues intruded, including chief of saff john kelly's comments on immigration during an npr interview. he said there should be a way for certain immigrants to be allowed to work and live in the u.a temporarily, and, "be o path to citizenship." but kelly went on, with a

statement that raised eyebrows: >> the vjority of the people that move illegally into the united states are not bad people. ey're not criminals. they're not ms-13. but, they're also not people at would easily assimilate into the united states. they're overwhelmingly ruralop . in the countries they come from, fourth, fifth, sixth-grade educations are kind of the norm. >> reporter: meanwhile, the denied that kelly's successor as secretary, kirstjen nielsen, had been close to resigning this hek. the "new york time reported that nielsen almost quit after the president "berated" her for falling short on immigration enforcement. mr. trump took the opposite tack today on his e.p.a.ni adrator, scott pruitt. he is still under fire over potential ethical lapses and spending issues. >> mr. president!e do you still hnfidence in administrator pruitt, mr. president? >> yes, i do, thank yo >> reporter: white house aide kelly sadler also came under iticism today. she reportedly dismissed senator john mccain's opposition to c.i.a. nominee gina haspel.in

mccain has bancer, and several news aounts quoted sadler as saying: "it doesn't matt, he's dying anyway. mccain's daughter, meghan, responded on "the view." >> i don't understand what kind of environmentou're working in when that would be acceptable and you can come to work the next day and still have a job. >> reporter: the white house today refused to confirm sadler's comment, but did say she still works for the white house. it did previously put out a statement saying, "we respect senator mccain's service to our nation." for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> nawaz: in the day's other innews, violence erupted at gaza's border with israel. gazan health officials said one palestinian was killed and more than 140 wounded. thousands of palestinians protested, some hurling stones and ripping barbed wire from fences. israeli troops responded withte live fire an gas. israel and iran traded tough talk today, after a military confrontation in syria this week. raelis released video of their air raids on iranian units

in syria.th strikes came after the iranians fired rockets at the israeli-controlledig golan s. at friday prayers in tehran, a hard-line iranian cleric called for destroying israeli cities. >> ( translated ): the holy system of the islamic republic will step up its missile capabilities day by day, so that the nightmare will constantly haunt israel, that if it does o ything foolish, we will raze tel aviv and haifae ground. >> nawazin turn, the israeli defense minister demanded that syrian president bashar al-assad cut his ties with iranian forces backing his regime. >> ( translated ): i have a message for assad: get rid of the iranians. they are not helping you, they are only harming. we are not looking for friction or further confrontatih anybody. we did not go to the iranian border. they came here. >> nawaz: overnight, the secretary-general of the united nations, antonio guterres, called for a halt to "all hostile acts" between the two sides. in afghanistan today, taliban fighters attacked bases in the

country's southwest, killing more than 30 police officers. the attacks occurred in a region with major oum smuggling routes into iran. fighting is expected to s,tensify in the coming we once the harvest of opium poppies is finishe back in this country, a new acex today, as it aims for a manned mission in the future. the private company launcher an upgradedon of its "falcon 9" rocket from cape canaveral. it carried a communications satelle from bangladesh. later, the first-stage booster land on a ocean platform, an will be re-used. and, on walltreet, the dow jones industrial average gained 91 points to close at 24,831. the nasdaq fell two points, and the s&p 500 added four. for the week, all three indexes gaed more than 2%. still to come on the newshour: what to expect from the upcoming summit betwe president trump and north korea's kim jong-un. the president's plan to curb the rising cost of prescription

drugs. how iranians are responding to the u.s. withdrawal from the nuclear deal. and, much more. >> nawaz: in the last week, president trump dealt with two major international security issues, north korea and iran, in vastly different ways. now, foreign affairs and defenso espondent nick schifrin gets an inside view from a top state department official dely involved in both decisions. >> reporter: amna, thank you. with me brian hook, senior policy advisor to the secretary of state, and director of policy planning. he went to pyongyang earlier rythis week with the secref and, he led negotiations withth europeans ahead of the president's decision to withdrae fromran deal. let's start with iran and talk about pressure. the administration has talked about wanting a better deal with iran, a bigger deal with iran

that covers other issues, but iran says that it doesn't want to negotiate anything. before the iran deal, before the jcpoa was signed, there was a lot of pressure, sanctionom regimes he u.s., china, russia. today russia, europe's feeling a little resentful about the last week. china isk illing to push bac the u.s. how do you create pressure on iran when there is no consensus internatiolly to have a pressure regime? >> i actually think we do have decent coensensupecially with our european allies. we have the same threatnt assessshared values, we have a shared commitment to nonproliferation and tonsuring iran never becomes a nuclear state. so none of that goes away. m h of the work that we have been doing over the last three or four months with e europeans, we think can be generated in a new context to get a much better deal. >> schifrin: with due respect, opeanke to senior eur officials today and they said while you were very serious in

your negotiations with them, they feel a little resentful about what's happened, they feel like we're nooing to keep on negotiating, as one put it, you know, it's potery barn time -- you broke it you gotta fix it. how can you actually get the europeanto do in the next few months they couldn't do in the last few months. >> i think we have a goo foundation going forward. we spent the last three or four months trying to address theci efcies of the iran deal. we made great progress in a lot of areas around retrictions around iran's nuclear program, addingntercontinental ballistic missiles which is something permitted, a stronger inspections regime we felt tried to take a comprehensive approach to the range of threats iran presents with the euopeans. when you look at president macron's approach, he is takingr a y comprehensive approach. when you look at the broad strategy, what we need to do to counter the range of threats iran presents, there isn't any sort of daylight. so the president, secretary pompey, are going to be --

secretary pompeo will be putting together a new effort to put together a comprehensive deal to address iran's threats. >> schifrin: eupeans are inshing iranians to stay with the deal l. you give any incentives for the europeans to keep doing that? >> just speaking for the united states, the president has decided to leave the deal. other members of the iran deal are going to have to make their owprdecision. thident has decided to no longer wave sanctions that were in place during the life -- our sort of participation of the jcpoa. so there will be a wind-down pectod those sans but we will be pressing ahead. the president's goal is to have a new del, and how that sort of all gets sorted out, werin close consultation already with our european allieif >> sn: what's the goal to have the increased pressure? to change iranian behavior or regime change and have you

already been in touch with opposition grps? >> the president is open to working and negotiating with iran. we're happy sit down and have a broad coalition of countries who share the same goabut one thing is that iran is the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world. they have not earned the trust to have a nuclear program, they have lied over many decades over their nuclear pro peaceful.g we know it has prior military dimensions and we would like to get to ai pont where iran no longer presents a nuclear threat, a terrorist threat andk the ely -- has really ended so much of its desta ilizing activithe region. iran has launched proxy wars across the arab world. so the's a ran of things iranian conduct has to change in a number of mterial s. >> schifrin: does changing that conduct require a change im the reg >> from where we stand, we need to achieve our national security objectes, those are organized

around nuclear missile and the whole range of terrorist acvity that iran is currently sgaging in and that's our focus. hifrin: why hasn't president trump agreed to meet the supreme lea kderhomeini like he has kim jong un? >> he's left te old teal ad we're focused on getting a new deal. the president already sa hepy te iranians. >> schifrin: would me meet with thee uprader and negotiate with him? >> he has said he will negotiate with the iranians. >> schifrin: you talked about nortkorea and irreversible steps toward denuclearizatatn. what does ook like and how long does it tan e? t be done before the french's four years is up? >> it can be and that depends on the will of te north koreans to make it possible. it is th denucleization of

north korea. that's what they will discuss. >> schifrin: north korea makes it clear tho y're willinglk about denuclearization. what is the u.s. willing to offer? had one south korean official joke to me they should opeon trumpwer pon pyongyang. what is the u.s. wanting to offer. >> they have to dismantle the nuclear program. >> schifri what does the bright future look like? what will you actually offer? >> i think the purpose of really the summit between the leaders iso discuss and listen carefully to what kim jong un has to say anda have him from the president and what our goals are, but he is hopeful thathis meeting will be a big success. if it isn't, that's pelyfe fine. our campaign of global maximum

pressure will continue, and, so, we are just taking a different approach. we've had 27 years of u.s. omacy in north korea. it failed to achieve our national security objectives, and so we're taking a new approach. we are not going to repeat the mistakes of the past. we're going into this eyes wide open but hopeful.lk >> you've about a big success, the president talked. optimistical seems that the risk of the summit, it could be near the edge of the cliff what happens if the summit doesn't go well? >> we don't view it as it being near the edge i the clp. this campaign achieved a lot of good earnldly results. north korea's halted nuclear tests, halted missile tests, they've released thee americans in the last few days, so thes p are earsitive results, but this is just the early stages of our pressure campaiwe. ope the summit goes well, but we are very prepared that if it doesn't, because we have a diplomatic strategy in place to achieve our national security goals. >> schifrin: and the president

wim walk out to have the mit if he doesn't feel it's going well? >> the president isto prepare walk out to have the summit at any point which is hopeful it will be a success. >> schifrin: brian hook, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> nawaz: then-candidate trump separated himself from other republicans on the campaign trail, with harsh words for drug-makers and a pledge to tackle high drug prices. more than a year after he was inaugurated, the president came out today with his most extensive list yet of ideas to deal with the issue.bu as john yang reports, there was immediate criticism that he backed off what would be the most significant changes. ve yang: in the rose garden, president trump reed his blueprint to lower prescription drug prices, as he railed against the pharmaceutical indust for making them unaffordable. >> we're also increasing

competition and reducing regulatory burdens, so drugs can be gotten to the market quicker and cheaper.e wery much eliminating the middlemen. the drug lobby is making anne absolute forat the expense of american consumers. >> yang: called "ame patients first," the president proposed to increase competition by making it easier for cheaper generic drugs to enter the market bring down drug prices by requiring drug makers to list i pricadvertising. use trade deals to force foreign governments to pay more fo prescription drugs. the president argues that would lead to lower prices here. >> in some cases, medicines th cost a few dollars in a foreign country cost hundreds of dollars in america, for the same pill with the same ingredients, for the same package made in the same plant.

it's unfair, it's ridiculous, and it's not going to happen any longer. >> yang: these moves add to initiatives already offered in the administration's latest budget proposal-- free generics for low-income seniors, and requiring insurers to share drug rebates with patients.co those requirressional approval. mr. trump has long championed lowering dasg prices, and iled drug makers. >> they're getting away with murder, pharma. y g: as a candidate, he supported democratic ideas to let medicare negotiate drug prices directly with pharmaceutical companies, something now prohibited by law. >> we don't do it. why? because of the drug companies. >> yang: the president dropped that idea-- persuaded, critics say, by the aggressive lobbying of the armaceutical industry. alex azars, mr. trump's health and man services secretary, is a former head of drug maker eli lilly'u.s. operations. this week, novartis admitted

to paying $1.2 million to mr. trump's former lawyer michael cohen to gain insight into the president. the company c.e.o. said yesterday, it was a mistake. >> mr. president, if you are serious about lowering drug prices... >> yang: yesterday, liberal lawmakers called on the president to make good on hisgn campledges. vermont's bernie sanders: >> ...tell the republican leadership to support the medicare price negotiation act, so that we can do what every other country on earth is doing, and that is negotiate prices with the industry. >> yang: this all comes as government data shows the owth rate for prescription drug spending jumped from nearly l 3%ast year to almost 7% this year. prd, a senate report released in march found thaes for 20 of most commonly prescribed brand-name drugs for seniors undedmedicare part d increase 12% every year for the last five years. the president's plan is likely to takmonths to implement.

there are a lot of groups affected by it. for the perspective an advocate for patients, we're joined by david mitchell, the president and founder of patients for affordable drs. he was diagnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010, and depends on continuous and expensi medicatis. david, thanks so much for joining us. what was your overall reaction to what you heard from the president and from sec azar today, how much difference will this make? >> it's going to make some difference for some e, but the president promised us a home run, a grand slam home run. we've got a bun of singles and a couple of whips. there are some things in this set of proposals that will save money for sompeople, especially people on medicare who are using verhigh-cost drugs. but the president promised that he would lower lit prices, and if you look at the proposal, the shorart is about lowering list prices, and we really have

to get at list prices set by the drug companies if we're going to drive down prices overall. >> yang: we're going to get to the details but let me as abo something that wasn't there, something he talked about in the campaign and in the transition. allowing medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies on drug prices -- >> well, the president said repeatedly on the campaign tra that he supported direct negotiations by medicare with the drug companies, completely missing. we were hoping they'd do at least a demonstration project to allow states, five states to try stronger negotiating tathtics he drug companies. that was in a proposal earlier this year from the white house, but that didn't show up heat ei. we believe direct medicare price negotiations are important as part of the long-term solution to lowering drug prices. we can some pros grth what

was in the proposals today, but there's more that will have to be doe including that. >> the pharmaceutical companies don't like that idea. they say it would eat into their money they would spend on research and development. what do you say to that? >> well, the fact of the matter is maxpayers are doist of the research and development for new drugs in this country. it was just -- there was just a piece accomplished by the -- published by the national academy of sciences about six weeks ago that said every single one of the 210 drugs approved by the f.d.a. from 2010 to 2016 were based on science paid for by taxpayers through the n.i.h. drug companies wait till the drugs show promise, swoop in, acquire the i.p. and charge crazy prices, $400,000, $500,000. the other thing is drug compans spend more on advertising and marketing than they do on r&d.

and when they got the big tax wind falls from the tax cut they used it to do stock buybacks. so theact is there's plenty of room, this is a very profible industry, there is plenty of room to low prices and mainin a pipeline. i have an incurable blood cancer. eed them to develop drugs or i will die sonar than i want to. but we need for them to pay for it as taxpayers.ay >> thehey want the do this in the trump administtion is have the f.d.a. reieire drug compto save the price in the advertising. do you think that will make a temperatures? >> no, it's insufficient. it's a good thing, useful, but that's not going to lwer list ngices. they go do other things. they say they are going to provide incentives to companies through part d medicare that c will incourampanies to hold the line on pricing.

but none of those things, so far, from what we can read, add up to a real effort meaningfully lower list prices. they're stepping uoin sme useful directions. i don't want to lose that fact in this discussion, but there's much more that will have to be done. >> one thing the president hit rd on today is he wants to use trade negotiations to get foreign countries to pay more for u.s.-made drugs. what do you think oft? >> the president and secretary azar say tat foreign companies are free loading. they're not free loading. they're negotiating effectively for their citizens, whi what i want my government to do for me and all the other patients in this country. as pa patient, it's -- as a patient, it's very hard for me to think abouthe idea a child with cystic fibrosis should have to pay more for he drugs in

britain so i could pay less for my cancer drugs. we disagree completely with that notion. >> yang: the president hit ha on theharmacy benefit managers. who are they and will this help? >> pharmacy benefit managers run your prescription drug program and do the negotiating on behalf of medicare beneficiaries under medicare part d. theyare secret, they negotiate all their deals in secret, they negotiate rebates but one knows how much of the rebate they keep, how mch they give to tin scheuer, what if any reach mess as a patient. so trying to get greater transparency from pbms, insisting that pbms actually act to the benefit of the patient, which is in their proposals, those are good things, and the bpm process is open to too much abuse and tightening it up and having greater transparency will be

good for : ople. >> yae administration also wants to require drug plans, prescription drug plans to pass on the discounts and rebates directly to the patients. what do you think of that? >> well, there is good that can come from that. the actual proposal, i think, is that 30% of the rebates, the discounts would be shared with patients at the pharmacy counter. that's useful. they also proposed ap out of pocket for medicare beneficiaries who are tak eg veensive drugs and that can be helpful to about a million people. that isn't nothing but it isn't all we reqre to bring the hard work that require to bring down prices in this cou>>ntry. avid martin, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> naw: stay with us.

coming up on the newshour: david brooks and ruth marcus break down a packed weekf politics. the story of a syrian man stuck in limbo inside a malaysian airport. and, rediscovering the art of photography, through techniques from the 1800s. but first, president trump's withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal was cheered in some quarters, and jeered in manyot rs-- especially inside iran. the deal was supposed to bring economic benefit, a bounty that hasn't arrived. now, iranians wonder, at's next? from tehran, special correspondent reza sayah reports. >> arreporter: these iran's hardliners, the rock-ribbed religious conservatives of the islamic revolution. but this is a diverse country. 80illion people, more than

half under 40. among them, college-educated modern youth. at tehran's paradiso café, where goth girls and grunge guys meet to eat, the walls are adorned with rock and roll memorabilia and the air with american music. mr. trump doesn't have any fans here, either. >> ( eanslated ): when you the world's reaction, you see that he's not a good person. the whole world is against hi >> reporter: for many, mr. trump's withdrawal from the iran nuclear deal was the final straw. the agreement, signed in 2015 under then-president barack obama, appeared to peacefully leresolve a decades-long n crisis between iran and the west. the u.s. and world powers agreed to lift economic sanct.ns against ir in return, iran rolled back its nuclear program, deemed a threat by theest.

irn times, the u.n.'s nuclear watchdog verifie's compliance with the agreement. but mr. trump said he wanted a better deal, to curb what washington calls iran's destabilizing activities in the middle east, and its ballistic missile program. >> you have to understand there's a lot of mistrust in iran regarding the united states. >> reporter: political analyst hamed mousavi says iran will not negotiate a second dl, when washington would not abide by the first. why not restrict your missiles? why not open missile program for inspecon? >> no country in the world is under any obligation of having their missiles inspected. >> reporter: washington says iran is different. >> okay, but we can say the same thing about them. i mean, does the u.s. allow inspectioniton their my sites? you can't expect iran to limit its military programs when saudi

arabia is buying billions in arms, which actually, the united states is selling to them. it's not ever based on logic. >> reporter: the u.s. pull-outr- is a hamow to iranians who hoped the deal would both boost iran's economy and improve relations with the west.e >>l knew at some point trump was going to pull out of the deal. >> reporter: navid yousefian is a ph.d student at u.c. santa barbara. last year he returned to tehran to open "see you in iran," a hostel wheree says tourists see the real iran, not the one normally portrayed in western media. on a u.s. map in the lobby, a note from an american guest reads "save the iran deal." what mr. trump did cannot help you in your business. >> oh, of course. tourism is just one part of economic sector in iran. i feel like the effects of irani dealby trump will affect all sectors of economy. >> reporter: iran's energy

sector may be hit hardest. iran's young high-tech sector is bracing for impact, too. you can't be smiling because you're happy. >> deep down, i'm not , but i can't do anything else. reporter: mohamamd reza azali and hamed jafari are co-founders of techrasa, a news site that reports on iran's tech industry. the two say they launched their site because of the interest inn iran's tech that followed the nuclear deal. >> some of them were iranianab who had livead for 30, 40 years. they were just like, we want to come back and contribute and help theommunity. >> reporter: azali and jafari say the impending return of u.s. sanctions rts. nevertheless, iran remains an attractive market. >> it's a gold mine. it's the last untapped market. >> reporter:ot everyone here is feeling resilient and defiant. to many iranians, mr. trump's decision was a huge blow.

many here are tired of more bad news; tired of struggling, tired of waiting for things to get better. some statistics say unemployment is at 40%. the cost of living is up. the value of iranian currency is cratering. >> life is day by day more hard. >> reporter: mojtaba keshavarz sells persian caets. new u.s. sanctions will likely hurt exports, he says, but he doesn't blame washington for all of iran's struggles. he says cades of official corruption and oppression by iran'sovernmenare to blame, too. >> before, we usth to drink in streets and pray at home. now, we pray in the streets and drink at home. no life. w >> reportet's the solution? hew do things get better? shall i turn offic? t> you know, we don't have the freedom to talk ab

everything. i don'care who wants to vern. but they must care about the people. t reporter: the man who h answer to the people is hassan rouhani, the moderate president who promised that a now- endangered nuclear deal would deliver a better economy that has yet to arrive. voters re-elected him last may. this past january, his government faced angry street protests from people fed up by flatlining economy. and now, his stiffest test-- how to reassure a restless population, hold back hardline opponents at home, and fend off increasingly emboldened enemies abroad. analyst saeed la caz says if ir get guarantees of oil exports and benefits from europe, iran will salvage what's left of the agreement, and rouhani will keep enough support

to rescue his presidency. >> they will support the regime be sure i am sure. reporter: you don't thinkil theyturn on the regime? >> they understand the situation. did its best in atomic deal. the responsibility is in the united states. and you will see that people will support their government.te >> rep but for now, what many iranians say they won't support is a new ratnd of negotins with washington, and thtrump administration. few here are in the mood. i'm reza sayah, for e pbs newshour, in tehran. >> nawaz: and now to the analysis of brooks and marcus. that's "new york times" columnist david brooks, and "washington post" columnist ruth marcus.ha s so much

for being here. let's jump in. earlier this week, one of the biggt stories, david, obviously, the president making good on his promise to pull out of iheran nuclear deal despite the protest of a lot of u.s. allies. ipolitically, buzz that amart move? >> i think so. one thing you notice with the president, he comes from a background where he works with a loanof thugs cultivated thugs isn't a thuggish himself, but it helps him understand thugs. so north korea, he understooit being tougha thug produces results and we're in a better situation with north korea than we we oetherwise. he's been much tougher on the chinese in trait trade and a lot of people thinks's adopted the right policy because a lot of times you have to stand up to people. iran, i have mixed views, whether trump did thright thing. president obama, the deal he made is iran would be more modete an has turned out to be

false. they a are genocidal, support terror around the earth, so trump standing up to them has legit mas is so sometimes heeo understands ple better like that than people with higher s.a.t. scores. >> nawaz: how do you break from a deal like this one then go into negotiations wi north korea and say we're going to stick to a deal we agree to? >> good question. i think, in general, there'ste legitiuestions about the iran deal both whether it was the best deal that could have been gotten and whether it had the hope for effect oiran's behavior. but the question is really, is pulling out of it -- a i was a supporter of the iran deal, soe despite thncerns, but even if you weren't, is pulling out of it better or worse than staying in, and notust because to have the impact on iran, because of the impact on ourla onships with our allies,

thugs are gonna thug, but we're not thugs, and we have to m continue intain doesn't relations with our allies. now we're talking about threatening them, betraying the agreement that they agreed with and going after their companies with secondary sanctions, d then you have this question about if you've proven that your word as a country can't betr ted beyond the course of a single president, doesn't that get prthiced intprice of negotiating with north korea? and he'll say, well, ye, you, but he, kim jong un -- yes, you say this, but what happens next time around? so giving a little bit less. so all in all y, i thiu asked about whether it was better for him politically, he promised it, it may make his bse happy to see him thugging around, but i think, as a strategic matter of the u.s. national interest, no better. >> nawaz: let's talk about the base now. to the primaries, last night the

president held a rally in elkhart, inn irn, a city known as the symbol of the recession. he talked about economic growth, on his watch here, he talked about the case for electing more republicans, too. but two years ago, the "newshour" held a town hall in elkhart with president obama.t we aually revisited some of the participants there. heo are some of their thughts about the trump administratio so far. >> my hometown is going through incredible transformation >> my hometown is going through an incredible transformation right now, and i believe the s changes president trump de in our government has fueled it. president trump has kept his promises to help businesses grow through de-regulation, simpler tax laws and lower taxes. tis has allowed our econo grow at an incredible rate. in addition, our downtown is going rough a transformation that simply was not possible just a few years ago. >> we've gone from a 20% unemplment rate to a 2% unemployment rate. it's one of the best in the country. the stock mart has done very well. and i think donald trump can take some credit for both of those.

though perps the groundwork was laid earlier, under president obama. on the negative side-- and i have to say i'm fierce independent-- on the negative side, i am both embarrassed d ashamed of donald trump. i think our standing with the rest of the world, particularly the world leaders, has been diminished. we have a president that we're talking about, who lies frequently. >> i'm old enough to remembe the assassination of martin luther king, jr., and in the immediate aftermath of his assassination, republican and democratic lawmakers said they would work to end discrimination and promote equality. i actually believed that this country might someday be rid of racism, but i don't believe that anymore, since the election of donald trump. latino immigrants feel they'rer no lonlcome in this country.nt latino immigin indiana no

longer feel safe in their own communities, places where they they don't feel there will ever be a path to citizenship for them, and many of them are losing hope. >> nawaz: the few range of viewers from voters in elkhart, indiana, how do meu square the age the president has been delivering on these kind of campaign rallies when we're hearing from voters like these on the ground? >> three radically different positions and i think what evera single perso is true. it is true if unemployment in elkhart ha gone down, it's astounding, and towns all arou the country are reviving. many people object to his viewsn on rac immigration and basic manners.tr i was k by a survey which must have been old but i hadn't seen it till this week, which is in the last election 65% of americans thought he was unfit to be preside and 20% voted for him anyway. i think we saw that in the middle gntleman in the blue blazer, really offended by him, but some of the results are the. resu so people are making this calculation, if i can get a

better economy, beociety, am i willing to tolerate a lot of norm violation i personally would not make that choice but a lot of people do and i sort of get it. >> everybody always tends to overestimate the impact of the president on the economy and, in is case, yesit's fantastic, and elkhart, is by the way, theo kind oster child for the resurgence of the manufacturing economy because they build lofti recral vehicles there. but the -- at its worst, indple, the unment rate in elkhart was 20%, but guess what it waswh donald trump took office? it was 3.2%. now it's 2.2 y%. u're going to give credit to a president, the bulk of the credit goes to a different president than donald trump. >> we have too much elkhartne everoes to cearlt. there are a lot of towns in this country. >> you're going to get a lot of viewer mail from people in elkhart now. (laughter) >> let me talk about the larger prime y picture. esident made clear he wants to get out there, right that's correct he wants to kee

hitting the road. >> he loves a campaign rally. they are now loong ahe ten states where democratic senators are on the ballot, that president trump won, how does he calibrate his message in those places? >> not just ten states where they're on the balot tbhurks five of those states, hillary rodham clinton didn't even crack 40%. that's a pretty big chal for democrats. u know, democrats, in order to win back control of the senate, it looks easily achievable because they only would need to win two seats, but they are d facingunting map, 26 democrats up for -- 26 democrat seats up versus 89 republican-held seats, and then up, have, within that gr this group of ten and the even harder group of five. so expect to see t president back in indiana, campaigning against joe donnelly. i think he called him sleepy joe the other day. campaigned in montana,

campaied against senator tester. the one thing we know about this president, he holds a grudge. he was not happy with senator teer going after dr. ronny jackson, his choice for v.a. secretary in missouri with claire mccaskill and in north dakota with heidi hide k56r7, those have to behe -- heidi heitkamp. those have to be the top targets. >> he's putting himself on the front line, trying to fend off congressional and state house losses that often come in midterms for the republicans in this case. can he do it?wi he make an impact on the ground? >> i think so. in the primaries this week, republicans got their best possible candidates. e party didn't go crazy in west virginia, nominated a good guy braun, in ohio. the republicans look better than fore. so he'll do well with the senate race. if i were a democrat, we should go tore the house and make

donald trump the issue. a lot of people are opped to donal trump, run an anti-trump uampaign, the president's approval is thember one issue in the fall, and just go after him and after himt you may et the senate in the red states but that will do well in the hod that should be the target ofit opport >> nawaz: the presidents' nominee to lead the c.i.a., gina haspel took a lot of tough questions, largely onorture, and her overall views towards it. she pledged not to restart the same interrogation programs in place but she aso refused to condemn them. res it hurt he? >> it hurt her with me, and it may hurt her further wih democrats, some of whom were wavering, some of whom had alreedy expreheir opposition to her. and it hurt her most obviouslyto with semccain, who came out with a tweet and a conclusion that i thought was

the right one that what we did in terms of enhanced interrogation, torturing of detainees was wro, and it was disqualifying for gina haspel not to be willg to say that. but let's be clear about ths. we've got a situation where the olpresident's party con the senate. where there's already a thumb on the scale as there shoueld're ce branch nominee the president should get his choice. otherwise, what she did regarding torture and destroying tapes, i know it's a big otherwise, and rember i'm opposed to her, so i'll send all your email to brooks, she's otherwise qualified in an administration walre we don't ys get the best and brightest. i think we're having torture fatigue. the country wenthrough a wrenching debate about this and is not willing and the senate

doesn't have the great energy there to go throughhis toture debate again. looks like she's going to be confirmed. >> nawaz: david, do you agree? o, i don't think so. one of the things w know about her, she's possibly the most experienced person ever put up for the job. >> 33 years in the service. extremely admired apeople across democrat and republican lines. she made it clear the c.i.a. will not be doing enhanced interrogation or torture. so the argument about what she said in 2003 when 'n sync was at its peak, that's a deate we can have and i would agree with ruth on the meritof torture but we don't have a lot of great people running age government now, she seems to be a great person, we're not going to torture, so i doan't need academic debate when this real issue is in front of us, so i certainly admire and agree with senator mccain on almost everything including this issue, but i think it's worth it to get a good purpose. >> nawaz: is this about qualifds cases over jugment,

then? is that the argument? >> if you went through theof transcripthose questions, they were asking her very simple minded questions and she wasng sae can't tell whether it worked. we know we got information out of al quaida, it's an academic, unnoblunknowable question. she didn't want trsh her agency. >> john mccain said waterboarding was reprehensible and shouldn't be done. gina haspel couldn't bring herself to say that for whatever reason. that is mal problem, and though we won't be torturing again, i cethrtainly hope will be other moral judgments she's called to weigh in on as c.i.a. director, how you deal with civilian casualties, how you use drone strikes, and i thought her unwillingness to condemn this was a big narc against her. >> nawaz: we expect the voe next week. david brooks, ruth marcus,

thanks for your time. >> nawaz: the crisis in syria has affected millions of people, but one unusual story is making recent headlines. as the newshour's rhena natour explains, a syrian man is stuck in limbo in an airport, unable to leave. >> reporter: hassan al kontar, a syrian national, has been living mpin malaysia's kuala airport for over 60 days. >> reporter: stuck in legal limbo because of his immigration status, the 36-year-old haslo taken to videoing life inside the airport.>> eporter: his story draws parallels to the 2004 tom hanks film "the terminal," about a man stuck in an airport after a war erupts in his country. >> are you headed for home? >> no, i am delayed long tim

>> reporter: and like hank's character, al-kontar musbe resourceful. he spoke to us via skype. >> reporter: al-kontar showers in the airport bathroom, and sleeps in this stairwell. >> reporter: when the syrian war began in 2011, al-kontar was living in the united arab emirates, where he was an insurance marketing manager. when his syrian passport expired, al-kontar says he stayed illegallycan the u.a.e e he feared returning to syria would mean forced military service.

>> reporter: in 2017, al-kontar was deported to malaysia, one of se few countries that gra syrians an entry visa. but thatisa soon expired. he tn bought a ticket to ecuador, a country that would also allow him entry, but the airline would not let him board because that flight stopped in turkey-- a country he is not allowed to enter. all the other flights go to countries that could send him back to syria. he has become a fixture in this small transit terminal, recogned constantly by passengers. >> reporter: now, a volunteerg group is try bring him to canada, raising over $16,000 to sponsor him, but the application takes more than two years to process. the group is asking the canadian

government to grant al-kontar a special permit so he can enter canada immediately. laurie cooper is one of those volunteers. >> he has lost his life. a yrian refugee, he has lost his homeland, he has lost his family, his friends. so i just hope that we can convince the canadian government to give this guy the chance to come to canada and build a lifef in acountry. >> reporter: but al-kontar's immigration nightmare may be far from over. tinada's ministry of immig tells the newshour that "the requets under review." for the pbs newshour, i'm rhana natour. >> nawaz: photography has made mind-boggling advances over e last century and a half-- so many of us now have a camera in our smartphones. but in a story that comes to us

from pbs station milwaukee pbs, one woman in wisconsin has rediscovered the art of taking photographs and developing film ing techniques from the mid-1800s. >> i use a lot of old cameras, old lenses. the one i use the most is an 8x10 camera from 1903 with an old portrait lens. these machines are really simple. really, it's kind of just a box with a lens on it, so it's not e complicamachine at all.az that's what'ing about them. t evenugh they're so old, r.u know, i'm using them, over a hundred years la and i love that about them, because most of our modern tenology doesn't work afte two or three years.qu ( being poured ) the first time i saw a tintype appearing in the fixer, i fel like i had seen a ghost.

t goosebumps, and i was just, my eyes watered because it was so spooky and so beautiful. d i thought, how did tha happen? how can this image be before my eyes, which is something we don't think about when we're looking at images on a screen. so there's complete magic there, and i still feel that way everyi i take a picture. i'm always surprised by what i see. always turns out differently than i imagined. the wet-plate process is an oldt raphic method that uses wet chemistry to make an image instead of, say, film or negatives. i use aluminum plates and glass plates. so then i use a collodion, which is a liquid emulsion that i pour onto that plate which becomes light sensitive through a series of chemical steps. it sits in a bath of silverni ate, where it becomes light sensitive in the darkroom. d

and then i useeloper that i make myself, and an old varnish recipe that's a civil war-era recipe.ea this processy attracted me because it's a little bit unpolished. so, the image's kind of messy, there's lots of artifacts that show up, little schmears, fingerprints. and i like the look of that. i really like photographing people. someone by themselves lly, like, my ideal subject. i really like to be able to focus on every aspect oce someone's fa, lighting them perfectly, and tn developing them perfectly. this process is fulfilling because it still really challenges me, i think, because i have so much to learn yet. i'm still really hooked and it hasn't let me go, you know, because i really am chnged by it constantly.

and i want to master it. >> nawaz: that's the newshour for tonight. i'm amna nawaz. have a great weekend. thank you, and good night. major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin.r >> advice fofe. life well-planned.n lere at raymondjames.com. >> babbel. a language program that teachesa lang, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >>eidos. >> supporting social entrepreneurs and their solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and pporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and friends of the newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbt n from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsoyed newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group captioned by

elyse: we're the history detectives, and we're going to iestigate some untold stories from america's past. gwen: in this episode, we uncover the moving story behind this revoluemonary war era po "come pitynihe downfall of poor goodhue. in prison he is cast d therefore to stay." "come pitynihe downfall of poor goodhue. wes: we discover if this watch once belonged to one of ameri 's greatest writers, wes: we discmark twain.s watch i learned a good lie can travel twice around the globe before the truth gets its boots on.