captioning sponsored by newshour productions, ll >> nawaz: good evening. i'm wna nawaz. judruff is on vacation. on the newshour tonight: we sit down with a top state department official who recently traveled with secretary of state mike pompeo to north korea. then, president trump nounces a new plan to curb rising prescription drug costs. what these measures could mean for consumers.ro plus, a viewtehran. how iranians are responding to president trump's decisiono pull out of the nuclear deal. >> reporter: to many iranians, mr. trump's decision wuge blow. many here are tired of bad news; tired of struggling, tired of waiting for things to ge better. >> nawaz: and, it's friday. david brooks and ruth marcus discuss president trump's controversial c.i.a. pick,pe gina h and how the president's economic message is playing in a city stillm

recovering fe great recession. all that and more, on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving ourconomy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects us. >> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use.

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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 abroad, on iran annorth korea. but tonight, there's a new swirl of questions about statements from withihis own team.e white hocorrespondent yamiche alcindor has our report. >> reporter: the white house schedule was all business: >> we have at this table the biggest car manufacturers in the world. >> reporter: a morning meeting with president trump and auto industry >> reporter: a morning meeting with president trump and auto industry c.e.o.s, and an afternoon announcement on 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.s. temporarily, and, "be on a path to citizenship." but kelly went on, with aat statement aised eyebrows:

>> the vast majority of the people that move illegally into the united stapes are not bad le. they're not criminals. they're not ms-13. but, they're also not people that would easily assimilate into the united states.th 're overwhelmingly rural people. in the countries they come from, fourth, fifth, six-grade educations are kind of the norm. >> reporter: meanwhile, the department of homeland security deniedhat kelly's successor as secretary, kirstjen nielsen, had en close to resigning th week. the "new york times" had reported that nielsen almostre quit after thedent "berated" her for falling short on immigration enforcement. mr. trump took the opposite tack today on his e.p.a. administrator, scott pruitt. he is still under fire over potential ethical lapsesnd spending issues. >> mr. president! do you still have confiden in administrator pruitt, mr. president? >> yes, i do, thank you. ca reporter: white house aide kelly sadler als under criticism today. she reportedly dismissed senator john mccain's opposition to c.i.a. nominee gina haspel.

mccain has brain cancer, and several news accounts quoted sadler as saying: "it doesn't matter, he's dying anyway." mccain's daughter, meghan, responded on "the view." i on't understand what kind of environment you're working in when that would be acceptable t and you can cowork the next day and still have a job. >> reporter: the white house today refused to confirm sadler's comment, but did sayl she strks 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' yamiche alcindor. >> nawazin the day's other news, violence erupted again at gaza's border with israel. gazan health officials said one palestinian was killed and more than 140 wounded. thousands of palestid,ans protesteome hurling stonesba and ripping ed wire from fences. israeli troops respo with live fire and tear gas. israel and iran traded tough talk today, after a military confrontion in syria this week. the israelis released video of thnir air raids on iranian uts in syria.

the strikes came after the iranians fired rockets at the israeli-controlled golan heights. at friday prayers in tehn, 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, at if it does anything foolish, we will raze tel aviv and haifa to the ground. >> nawaz: in turn, the israeli defense minister demanded that syrian president bashar al-assad cut his ties with iranian forces cking his regime. >> ( translated ): i have a message for assa get rid of the iranians. they are not helping you, they are only harming. we are not looking for friction or further confrontation with anybody. we did border.o the iranian they came here. >> nawaz: overnight, the secretary-general of the united nations, antonio gut called for a halt to "all hostile acts" between the two sides. in afghanistan today, taliban fighters attacked bases in the untry's southwest, killing

more than 30 police officers. the attacks ocrred in a region with major opium smuggling routes into iran. fighting is expeed to intensify in the coming weeks, once the harvest of opium poppies is finished. back in this countryw success for spacex today, as it tms for a manned mission future. the private company launched an upgraded version of s "falcon 9" rocket from cape canaveral. it carried aommunications satellite from bangladesh. later, the firsttage booster landed on a ocean platform, and will be re-used. and, on wall street, 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 gained more than 2%. still to come on the newshour: what to expect from the upcoming summit between president trump and north kores kim jong-un. the president's plan to curb the rising cost of prescription

drugs. how iranians are responding toe ths. withdrawal from the clear deal. and, much more. >> nawaz: in the last week, president trump dealt with two mar international security issues, north korea and iran, in vastly different ways. f noeign affairs and defense correspondent nick schifrin geti an insid from a top state department official deeply involved in both decisions. >> reporter: amna, thank you. with me is brian hook, senior policy advisor to the secretary of state, and director of policy planng. he went to pyongyang earlier this week with the secretary of and, he led negotiations with the europes ahead of the president's decision to withdraw from the iran dewi. let's star iran and talk about pressure. the administration has talked about wanting a better deal with iran, a bigger deal wih iran that covers other issues, but

iran says that it doest want to negotiate anything. before the iran deal,e efe jcpoa was signed, there was a lot of pressure, sanction regimes from the u.s china, russia. today russia, europe's feeling a little resentful about the last week. china is willing to push back on the u.s. how do you create pressure on iran when there is no consensus internationally to have a pressure regime? >> i actually think we do have decent consensus eespecially with our european allies. we have the same threat assessment, shared values, we have a shared commitment to nonproliferation and to ensur iran never becomes a nuclear state. so none of that goes away. so much of e work that we have been doing over the last three or four months with the europeans, we think can be generated in a new context to get a much better deal. >> schifrin: with due respect, i spoke to senior european officials today and they said while you were very serious in your negotiations with them,

they feel a ttle resentful about what's happened, they feel like we're not going to keep on negotiating, as one put it, you know, it's potry barn time -- you broke it you gotta fix it. how can you actually get the europeans to do in the next few months they couldn't do in the last few mont>>. think we have a good foundation going forward. we spent the last three or four nths trying to address the efficiencies of the iran deal. we made great progress in a lot of areas around restrictions around iran's nuclear program, adding intercontinental llistic missiles which is e mething permitted, a stronger inspections reg felt tried to take a comprehensive approach to the range of treats iran presents with the europeans. when you look at pre macron's approach, he is taking a very 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 dayligh so the president, secretary pompey, are going to be --

secretary pompeo will be putti together a new effort to put together a comprehensive deal to address an's threats. >> schifrin: europeans are shing iranians to stay within the deal l. you give any incentives for the europeans to r ep doing that? >> just speaking he united states, the president has decided to leave the deal. other members of thn deal are going to have to make their own decision. the president s decided to no longer wave sanctions that were in plce during the life -- our sort of par oticipati the jcpoa. so there will be a wind-down period those sanctions but we will be pressing ahead. the president's goal is to have a new deal, and s how thrt of all gets sorted out, were in ose consultation already with our european allies. >> schifrin: wh to have the increased pressure? to change iraenianavior or regime change and have you already been in touch with

opposition groups? >> the president is open to working and negotiating with iran. we're happy to sit down and have a broad coalition of countries who share the same goal bu one thing is that iran is the leading sponsor of terrorism in the world. they have not earned the trust to he a nuclear program, they have lied over ny decades over their nuclear program being peac hul. we know s prior military dimensions and we would like to get to a point whreeran no longer presents a nuclear threat, a terrorist threat and the likely has rlly ended so much of its destabilizing activity in the region. iran has launched proxy wars across the arab world. so there's a range of things iranian conduct has to change in a number of material ways. >> schifrin: does changing that conduct require a change in the regime? s >> from where tand, we need to achieve our national security objectives, those are organiz

around nuclear missile and the whole range of terrorist activity that iran is currently engaging in and that's our focus. >> schifrin: why hasn't president trump agreed to meet meini lieme leader kho he has kim jong un? >> he's left the old teal and we're focused on getting a new deal. the president already said he's very happy to negotiate with the d anians. >> schifrin: wo meet with the supreme leader and negotiate with him? >> he has said he will negotiate with the iranians. >> schifrin: you talked about north korea an ireversible steps toward denuclearization. what does that look like and how long does it take? can it b done before the french's four years is up? >> it can be and that depends on the will of the north koreans to make it possible. it is the denuclearization

north korea. that's what they will discuss. >> schifrin: north korea makes it clear they're willing to talk about denuclearization. what is the u.s. willing to offer? had one south korean official joke to methey should open trump tower pon pyongyang. wh is the u.s. wanting to offer. >> they have to dismantle the nuclear program. >> schifrin: what do the bright future look like? what will you actually offer? >> i think this is gpung to be those of really the summit between the leaders is to discuss and listen carefully to what kim jong un has to say and have him hear m the president and what our goals are, but he is hopiul that ths meeting will be a big success. if it isn't, that's perfectly 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. diplomacy in north korea. it failed to achieve our national security objs, 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. >> you've talked aboig success, the president talked optimistically. 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 of the clip. this cpaign achieved a lot of good earnldly results. north korea's halted nuclear tests, halted missile tes, they've released thee americans in the last few days, so these are early positive results, but this is just the early stages of our pressure campaign. we hope the summit goes well, but we are very prepared that if it do wesn't, becauhave a diplomatic strategy in place to achieve our national security goals. >> schifrin: and the president will walk out to have the summit

if he doesn't feel it's going well? >> the president is prepared to walk out to have the summit at any point which is hopeful itwi 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. but as john yang reports, therem wadiate criticism that he hacked off what would be the most significantes. >> yang: in the rose garden, ident trump revealed his blueprint to lower prescription dr prices, as he railedag ainst the pharmaceutical industry for making them unaffordable. >> we're ao increasing competition and reducing

regulatory burdens, so drugs can be gotten to the market quicker and cheaper. we're very much eliminating the middlemen. e drug lobby is making an absolute fortune, at the expense of american consumers. >> yan called "american patients first," the president proposed to increase competition by making it eier for cheaper generic drugs to enter the market. bring down drug prices by inquiring drug makers to list prices in advert use trade deals to force foreign governments to pay more for prescription drugs. the president argues that would lead to lower prices here. >> in some cases, medicines that 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 genericss for low-incomeeniors, and requiring insurers to share drug rebates with patients. lthose require congressio approval. mr. trump has long championed lowering drug prices, and assailed drug makers.re >> theetting away with murder, pharma.ca >> yang: as idate, 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:he president has dropped that idea-- persuaded, critics say, by the aggressive lobbying of the pharmaceutic industry. alex azars, mr. trump's health and human servic secretary, is a former head of drug maker eli lilly's 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.an the coc.e.o. said yesterday, it was a mistake. p >> msident, if you are serious about lowering drug prices... >> yang: yesterday, liberal lawmakers called on the president to make good on his campaign pledges. vermont's bernie sanders: t ...tell the republican leadership to suppe 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. t >> yans all comes as government data shows the growth rate for prescription drug yending jumped from nearlo 3% last year talmost 7% this year. and, a senate report released in mch found that prices for 20 of most commonly prescribed brand-name drugs for seniors under medicare part d increasedr 12% every or the last five years. the president's plans likely to take months to implement.

there are a lot of groups affected by it. for the perspective of an advocate f patients, we're ined by david mitchell, the president and founder of patients for affordable drugs. he was dgnosed with multiple myeloma in 2010, and depends on continuous and expensive medications. david, thanks so much for joining us. what was yourioverall rea to what you heard from the prident and from secretary azar today, how much difference will this make? >> it's going to make some difference for some people, but the president promised us a home run, a grand slm home run. we've got a bunch of sines and a couple of whips. there are some things in this set of proposalshat will sae money for some people, especially people on medicare who are using very high-cost drugs. but the president promised that he would lower list prices, and if you loork at the poposal, the shortest part is about lowering list prices, and we really have

to get at list prices t by the drug companies if we're going to drive down prisce overall. >> yang: we're going to get to the details but let me ask aout something that wasn't there, something he talked about in tha campai in the transition. allowing medicare to negotiate directly with pharmaceutical companies on drug prices -- >> well, the presidensaid repeatedly on the campaign trail that he supported direct negotiations by medicare with the drug copanies, completely missing. we were hoping they'd dat ast a demonstration project to allow states, five states to try stronger negotiating tactics with the drug companies. that was in a proposal earlier this year from the white house, but that didn't show up heathe t we believe direct medicare price negotiations are important as part of th long-term solution to lowering drug prices. we can some progress with what

was in the proposals today, but there's more that will have to be done including that. >> the pharmaceutimpanies don't like that ide 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 taxpayers are doing most 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 acadixy of sciences about 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 tilhe drugs show promise, swoop in, acquire the i.p. and charge crazy prices, $400,000, $500,000. the other thing is drug companies 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 the pact is there's plenty of room, is is a very profitable industry, there is plenty of room to lower prices and maintain a pipeline. i have an incurable blood cancer. i need them to deelop drugs or i will die sonar than i want to. but we need for them to pay fors it taxpayers. >> the way they want the do this in the trump administration i have the f.d.a. require drug ngmpanies to save the price in the adverti do you think that will make a temperatures? >> no, it's insufficient. it's a good thing, ful, but that's not going to lower list prices. they going to do other things. they say they are going to provide incentives to companies through part d medicare that will incourage companies to hold the line on pricing.

but none of those things, so far, from what we can read, add up to a real effort to raningfully lower listices. they're stepping us in some useful directions.n i don't to lose that fact in this discussion, but there much more that will have to be done. >> one thing the president hit hard 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 of that? >> the president and secretary azar say that foreign companies ee loading. they're not free loading. they're netiotiating effly for their citizens, which is 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 about the idea a child with cysbrosis should have to pay more for her drugs in

britain so i coyuld pa less for my cancer drugs. we disagree completely with that notion >> yang: the president hit hard on the pharmacy benefit managers. who are they and will this help? >> pharmacy benefit managers run your prescription drug prtram and dhe negotiating on behalf of medicare beneficiaries under medicare part they are secret, they negotiate all thr deals in secret, they negotiate rebates but no one knows how much of ree bate they keep, how much they give to tin scheuer, what ifa any rech mess as a patient. p trying to get greater transparency froms, insisting that pbms actually act to the bnefit of the patient, which is in their proposals, tse 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 people.

>> yang: the administration also wants to require drugpl s, prescription drug plans to pass on the discounts and rebates directly to the patients. what do you think of that? >> well, there is come from that. the actual proposal, i think, is that 30% of the rebates, the discounts would behared wit patients at the pharmacy that'sful. sunter. they also proposed a cap out of pocket for medicare beneficiaries o are taking very expensive drugs and that can be helpful to about a million people. that isn't nothing but it isn all we require to bring the hard work that require to bring down prices in this country. >> david martin, thank you very much. >> tnk you. >> nawaz: stay with us.

coming up on the newshour: david brooks and ruth marcus break down a packed week of politics. the story of a syrian man stuck in limbo inside a malaysian airport. and, rediscovering the art ofra photy, through techniques from the 1800s. but first, president trump's withdrawal from the iran nucleac deal wered in some quarters, and jeered in manysp others--ially inside iran. the deal was supposed to bring economic benefit, a bounty that hasn't arrived. now, iranians wonder, what's next? from tehran, special correspondent reza sayah reports. reporter: these are iran's hardliners, the rock-ribbed religious conservatives of the islamic revolution.th but is a diverse country. 80 million people, more than

half under 40. among them, college-educated modern youth. at tehran's paradiso cé, where goth girls and grunge guys meet to eat, the walls are adorned with rock and roll memorabilia and the air with american music ump doesn't have any fans here, either. >> ( translated ): when you see the world's reaction, you seego that he's not person. the whole world is against him. >> 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 resolve a decades-long nuclear crisis between iran and the west. the u.s. and world powers agreed to lift economic sanctions against iran. in return, iran rolled back its nuclear program, deemed a threat by the west.

ten times, the u.n.'s nuclear wahdog verified iran's compliance with the agreement. but mr. trump said he wanted a better deal, to curb what washington calls iran's destabilizing activies in the middle east, and its ballistic missile program. >> you have to understand there's a lot of mistrust in iran regarding the unid states. >> reporter: political analyst hamed mousavi says iran will not negotiate a second deal, when washington would not abide by the first. why not restrict your miiles? why not open missile program for inspection? >> no country in the world isun r any obligation of having their missiles inspected. >> reporter: washington saysen iran is diff >> okay, but we can say the same thing about them. i mean, does the u.s. allow inspections on thei military 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 lot ever based ic. >> reporter: the u.s. pull-out is a hammer-blow to iranians who hoped the deal would both boost iran's economy and improve relations with the west. >> we all knew at some point trump was going to pull out of the deal. r orter: 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 where he says tourists see the real iran, not thene 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 n.economic sector in i i feel like the effects of iran deal exit by trump will affect all sectors of economy. >> reporter: ir'snergy

sector may be hit hardest.an young high-tech sector is bracing for impact, too. you can't be smiling because you're happy. >> deedown, i'm not happy, b 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 in iran's tech scene that followed the nuclear deal. >> some of them were iranians who had lived abroad for 30, 40 years. they were just like, we want too back and contribute and help the community. >> reporter: azali and jafari say the impending return of u.s. sanctions hurts. nevertheless, iran remains an attractive market. >> it's a gold mine. it's the last untapped market. >> reporter: not 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. ar life is day by day more >> reporter: mojtaba keshavarz sells persian carpets. new u.s. sanctions wkely hurt exports, he says, but he doesn't blame washington for all of iran's strues he says decades of official corruption and oppression by iran's government are to blame, too. >> before, we used to drink in the streets and pray at home. now, we pray in the streets and drink at home. no life. >> reporter: what's the solution? how do things t better? shali turn off the mic? >> you know, we don't have the freedom to talk about evything.

i don't care who wants to govern. but they must care about the people. >> reporter:he man who has to answer to the roople is hassan ani, the moderate president who promised that a now- endangereduclear 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 a 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 laylaz says if iran can 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.y >>will support the regime be sure i am sure.te >> rep you don't thinkn they will turne regime? >> they understand the situtsion. iran didest in atomic deal. the responsibility is in the ited states. and you will see that people will support their government.or >> reporter: bow, what many iranians say ey won't support is a new round of negotiations with washington, and the trump administration. few here are in the mood. i'm reza sayah, for the 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.h thanks so m for being here. let's jump in.

earlier this week, one of the biggest stories, david, obviously, the president makingp good on homise to pull out of the iran nuclear deal despite the protest a lot of u. allies. ipolitically, buzz that a sma move? >> i think so. one thing you notice with the president, he comes from a background where he works with a lot of thugs and cultivated thugs isn't a thuggish himself, but it h helpsim understand thugs. so north korea, he understood being tough with a thug produces results and we'reern a be situation with north korea than we were otherwise. he's been much tougher on the chinese in trait trade and a lot of people thinks he's adopted the right policy because a lot of times you have to stand up people. iran, i have mixed views, whether trump did the right thing. president obama, the deal he made is iran would be more moderate an has turned out to be

false. they a are, enocidupport terror around the earth, soum standing up to them has legit mas is so sometimes he understands people better like that tn people with higher s.a.t. scores. >> nawaz: how do you bre from a deal like this one then go into negotiations wirt korea and say we're going to stick to a deal we agree to? >>i ood question. nsnk, in general, there's legitimate questbout the iran deal both whether it was the best deal that could have been gotten and whether it had the hoe for effect on iran's behavior. but thioe que is really, is pulling out of it -- and i was a supporter of the iran deal, so despite those concernt even if you weren't, is pulling out of it better or worse than staying , and not just because to have the impact on iran, because of the impact on ourwi relationship our allies,

thugs are gonna thug, but we're not thugs, and we have to continue to maintain 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, and then you have this question about if you've proven that yo a woa country can't be trusted beyond the course of a single prsident, doesn't that get priced into the price of negotiating with north korea? and he'll say, well, yes, you, but he, kim jong un -- yes, you say this, but what haxtppens ne time around? so giving a little bit less. so all in all, i tnk yo asked about whether it was better for him politically, hite promise, it may make his base happy to see him thugging around, but i think, as a strategic matter of the u.s. national interest, not 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 abomiut ecogrowth, on his watch here, he talked about the case for elemoctin republicans, too. but two years ago, the "newshour" held a town hall int elkhth president obama. we actually revisited some of the participants there. here are somugof their thos about the trump administration soar. >> my hometown is going through anincredible transformation >> my hometown is going through an incredible transformation right now, and i believe the changes prident trump has made 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. this has allowed our economy to grow at an incredible rate. in addition, our downtown is going through a ansformation that simply was not possible just a few years ago. >> we've gone from a 20% unemployment ratto a 2% unemployment rate. it's one of the best in the country. the stock market has do very well. and i think donald trump can take some credit for both of ose. though perhaps the groundwork

was laid earlier, under president obama. on the negative side-- and i have to say i'm a fierce independent-- on the negative side, i am both embarrassed and 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 lie frequently. >> i'm old enough to remember the assassination of martin luther king, jr., and in the immediate aftermath of his assassination, republican and democratic lawmakers said they uld work to end discrimination and promote equality.tu i ly believed that this country might someday be rid of racism, but i don't believe that anymore, since the election of donald trump.mm latinorants feel they're no longer welcome in this country. latino immigrants in indiana no longer feel safe in their own

communities, places where they've lived dr decades. th't feel there will ever be a path to citizenship for them, and ny of them are losing hope. >> nawaz: the few range of viewers from voters in elkhart, indiana, how do you square e message thesident has been delivering on these kind of campaign rallies when we're hearing from voters like these on the ground? >> three radically difpoferent tions and i think what every single person said is true. it is true if unemployment in elkhart has gone down, it's astounding, and towns all aroun untry are reviving. many people object to his views on race and immigration and basic manners. i was struck bya survey which must have been old but i hadn't seen it till th week, whi is in the last election 65% of americans thought he was unfit to be president and 20% voted for him anyway. i think we saw that in the middle gentleman the blue blazer, really offended by him, but some of the results are the results. so people are making this calculation, if i can get a bett economy, better society,

am i willing to tolerate a lot lation? vio i personally would not make that choice but a lot of people do and i sort get it. >> everybody always tends to overestimate the impact the president on the economy and, in this case, yes, it's fantastic, and elkhart, is by the way, the kind of poster child for the resurgence of the manufacturing economy because thy build loft recreational vehicles there. but the -- at its worst, indeed, the unemployment rate in elkhart was 20 but guss what it was when donald trump took office? it was 3.2%. now it's 2.2%. if you'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 elkhart. everyone goes 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 primary pictuid. the prt made clear he wants to get out there, right that's correct he wants to keep hitting the road.

>> he loves a campaign rally. adey are now looking ah ten states where democratic senators are on the ballot, that president trump won, how does he calibrate his message in those >> not just ten states where they're on the ballot tbhurks five of those states, hillary ckdham clinton didn't even cra 40%. that's a pretty big chal for democrats. you know,emocrats, 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 facing a daunting map, 26 democrats up for -- 26 democrat seats up versus 89bl rean-held seats, and then you have, within that group, is group of ten and the even harder group of five. so expect to see the president back in indiana, campaigng against joe donnelly. i think he called him sleepy joe the other day. campaigned in montana,

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

a lot of people are opposed to donald trump, run an anti-trump campaign, the president's approval is the number one issue in the fall, and just gofter him and after him. you may not get the senate in the red saates but tht will do well in the house and that should be the targ of opportunity. >> nawaz: the presidents' nominee to lead the ci.a., gina haspel took a lot of tough questions, largely on torture, and her overall viewsowards it. she pledged not to restart the same interrogation programs in place but she alsoefused to condemn them. does it hurt her? >> it hurt her with me, and it may hurt her further with democrats, some of whom wereme wavering, f whom had already expressed their opposition to her. and itt hurr most obviously with senator mccain, who came out with a tweet and a conclusion that i thought was

the right one that wh did in terms of enhanced interration, torturing of detainees was wrong, and it was disqualifying for gina haspel not to be willing to say that. but let's be clear about this. we've got a situaon where the president's party controls the senate. where the's already a thumb on the scale as there should be en you're confirming executive brande nominee the pre should get his choice. otherwise, what she did regarding torture and destroying tapes, i know it's a big otherwise, and remember i'm opposed to her, so i'll send all your emailo brooks, she's otherwise qualified in an administration where we doh't always getbest and brightest. i think we're having torture fatigue. the country went through a wrenching debate about this and is not willing and the senate

doesn't have the great energy there to go through this torture 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 we know about her, she's possibly the most experienced person ever put upjo for th. >> 33 years in the service. extremely admired apeople across democrat and republican lines. she made it clar the c.i.a. will not be doing enhancedin rrogation or torture. so the argument about what she said i2003 when 'n sync was at its peak, that's aa debate wen have and i would agree with ruth on the merits of tortu but don't have a lot of great people running agencies aroundrnhe gont now, she seems to be a great person, we're not going to torture, so i don't need an academic debate when this real sue is in front of us, so i lertainly admire and agree with senator mccain onost everything including this issue, but i think it's worth it to get a good purpose. >> nawaz: is this about qualifies cases ovr judgment,

then? is that the argument? >> if you went through the transcripts of thestions, they were asking her very simple minded questions and she was saying we can't tell whether it worked. we kn we got information out of al quaida, it's an academic, noblunknowable question. she didn't want to trash her agency. >> john mccain said waterboarding was reprehensible and shouldn't be done. gina haspel couldn't bring herself toay that for whatever reason. that is moral problem, and though we wo't be torturing again, i certainly hope there will be other moral judgments she's called to weigh in on as d c.i.rector, how you deal with civilian casualties, how you use s drorikes, and i thought her unwillingness to condemn this was a big narc against her. >> nawaz: we expect the vote next week. david brooks, ruth markss, thor your time.

>> nawaz: the crisis in syria has affe but one unusual story is making rhcent headlines. as the newshour'a 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 in m airport for over 60 days. >> reporter: sck in legal limbo because of his immigration status, the 36-year-old has taken to video-blogging life inside the airrt. >> reporter: his story draws parallels to the 2004 tom hanks film "the terminal," about aaian stuck in aort after a war erupts in his country.re >>ou headed for home? >> no, i am delayed long time.

>> reporter: and like hank's character, al-kontar must be resourceful. he spoke to via skype. >> reporter: al-kontar showerspo in the a bathroom, and sleeps in this stairwell. >> reporter: when the syrian wa be 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 illegally in the u.a.e because he feared returning tod syria woan forced military service.

>> reporter: in 2017, al-kontar was deported to malaysia, one of the few countries that grants syrians an entry visa. but that visa soon expired. he then bought a ticket to ecuador, a country that would also allow him entry, but the airline would not let him board because thatlight 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, recognized consttly by passengers. >> reporter: now, a volunteer imgroup is trying to bringo 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 ac l permit so he can enter canada immediately. laurie cooper is one of thoseee volu. >> he has lost his life.re as a syriagee, he has lost his homeland, he has lost his family, his friends. so i just hope that we can convince the canadiarnment to give this guy the chance to come to canada and build a life in a safe countr >> reporter: but al-kontar's immigration nightmare may be far from over. canada's mintry of immigration tells the newshour that "the requet is under reew." for the pbs newshour, i'm rhana natour. >> nawaz: photography has made mind-boggling advances over the 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,n

one womaisconsin has rediscovered the art of taking photographs and developing film using 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 anra old po lens. these machines are really ofmple. really, it's kind ust a box with a lens on it, so it's not a complicated machine at all. that's what's amazing them. even though they're so old, you know, i'm using them, over a hundred years later. and i love that about them, because most of our modern technology doesn'tork after two three years. ( liquid being poured ) the first me i saw a tintype appearing in the fixer, i felt like i had seen ghost. i got goosebumps, and i was

just, my eyes watered because it was so spooky and so butiful. and i thought, how did that 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 every time i tpicture. i'm always surprised by what i see.rn it always out differently than i imagined. the wet-plate process is an old photographic 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 serie of chemical steps. it sits in a bath of silver nitrate, where it becomes light sensitive in the darkroom.

and then i use developer that i make myself, and an old varnishe pe that's a civil war-era recipe. this process really attracted ms because little bit f polished. so, the image's messy, there's lots of artifacts that show up, little schmears, fingerprints. and i like t look of that. i really like photographing people. someone by themselves is really, like, my ideal subject. i really like to be able to focus on every aspect of someone's face, lighting them perfectly, and then developing them perfectly. this process is fulfillingca e 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 challenged 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.un >> majorng for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> kevin. >> kevin! >> kevin. >> advice for life. life well-planned.ym learn more at djames.com. >> babbel. palanguage program that teaches language, like ssh, french, german, italian, and more. >> consumer cellular. >> leidos. >> 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 supporting 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 pbs station from viewers like you. ank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh

tonight on kqed newsroom, the opioid crisis. what bay area is doing to tackle dependey and overdoses. the iran nuclear deal, we get an expert's take o what this means for foreign r ations. plus, how three u.c. berkeley students are using their expertise to combat terrorism. i'm uy vu. we begin with the opioid crisis. marin county will sue a dozen companies for highly addictive opid medications. they're suing drug companies to recoup taxey dollars th spent responding to the drug crisis. they include prescription painkillers and illegal drugs like he