captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight, former director of national intelligen james clapper-- the latest target of president trump's attacks on the intelligence community on russia's rele in the 2016 tion. >> to me it just exceeds logic and credulity that they didn't e affect tection and its my belief they actually turned it. >> woodruff: then, the n.f.l.'s w policy on taking a knee-- after a firestatorm over nnal anthem demonstrations, the league enacts a new rule punishing players for protesting on the field. and, remembering a literary giant, how philip roth captured american life through history and controversy. >> i don't think about the reader. i think about the book. i think about the sentence, i think

about the paragraph, i think about the page. i go over it and over it and over it. the book begins to make its demands.uf >> woo all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> supporting social entrepreneurs and t solutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. committed to improving lives through invention, in the u.s.

and on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just world.t and peaceful more information at macfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions io your pbs stfrom viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: from president trump today, new demand on the russia investigation. he says he wants "total transparency" from the justice department and the f.b.i. about whether an informant spied on his campaign. at the same time, former intelligence chief james clapper says he now believes russian meddling won mr. trump the white house.

we'll talk to clapper after the news summary. secretary of state mike pompeo insisted today the trump administration will not tolerate russian interference in the 2018 eltions. he told the house foreign affairs committee that therell e "appropriate counter- measures"-- but gave no details. >> whave not been able to achieve deterrence, effective deterrence, with some of these efforts with e russians, but is administration has taken enormous efforts to push back against russiava that't been done in an awfully long time, either here in the united states or, frankly, who are more threatened by russia than we are in europe and elsewhere.oo truff: democrats voiced doubts about thp team's efforts on election interference. new york congressman eliot engel said the administration is "giving russia a pass". a string of southern and border states held primaries on tuesday, and voters made some history. lisa desjardins has our report.d >> desjas: in georgia, an historic primary night.

>> let's get it done! >> desjardins: ...as democrats picked stacey abrams, a former stathouse leader, as the country's fire st femalrican- american nominee for governor from either major party. >> we are writing the nextof chapter georgia's future >> drajardins: ab's strategy notably is not about the middle, and more about the base, increasing registration and voting among minorities and the poor. meanwhile, georgia republicans are moving to the right, with a runoff between two candidates pushing ha on immigration lieutenant governor casey cagle and secretary of state brian kemp. >> criminal illegal aliens are spreading across the country. >> i got a bitrk, just in case i need to round up criminal illegals and take them home myself. rdins: another first last night in texas. lupe valdez became the first latina and first openly-gay person to win a party nomination for governor. overall, it was another banner night for democratic women

including two first-time candidates winning key congressional races in texas and one pulling off an upset in kentucky-- all three seen as take over to republican seats. >> the mid-terms, and his own agenda, were clearly on president trump's mind as he addressed abortion rights opponents in washington last night. >> but if democrats gain power, they will try to reverse these incredible gains. these are historic gains. they will try and reverse many of them. so your vote in 2018 is every bit as i yortant r vote in 2016although i'm not sure i really believe that, but you know. >> desjardins: for the pbs newshour, i'm lisa desjardins. >> woodruff: we'll talk to one of tuesday's big winners, later inhe program. as the 2018 campaign heats up,en prestrump is calling for radical changes in foreign aid,r toillegal immigration. in bethpage, new york today, he talked of slatring aid to

cos whose citizens enter the u.s. illegally. he did not sas y which nati had in mind. there's word that presidentialin soaw jared kushner has now obtained a permanent security clearance. that was widely reported today. kushner is serving as senior adviser on the middle east, but he was temporarily barred from access to secrets as his f.b. background check dragged on. the president is promising a cision soon on whether the u.s./north korea summit takes place as planned. for now, mr. trump is set to meet with north korean leader kim jong-un on june 12th in singapore. he suggested yesterday that the summit might be postponed, and he was asked about it again today. >> it could happen, could very well happen, whatever it is we will know next ek about singapore, an id if we think it will be great thing for north korea. someday a date will happen, it could very well be june 12. >> woodruff: meanwhile, foreign jourlists headed to north

korea's remote nuclear test site today. pygyang has invited them to watch as it demolishes the underground facility. the u.s. state department says a diplomatic staffer in china has reported what it calls "abnormal sensations of sound and pressure." happened at the u.s. consulate in the southern city of guangzhou. the department sayshe symptoms were similar to a mild concussion. the same, unexplained ailment affect a number of americans in cuba last year. on the china trade talks, president trump said today negotiations are "moving along nicely." but, he suggested the des need a different structure to govern trade relations. otherwise, he said, in an early morning tweet: "this will be too hard to get done and to verify results." for now, the u.s. and china have suspended plansor new tariffs. a federal judge in new york ruled today the presidentol es his critics' free speech rights when he

bars them from his twter account he was sued last july by seven omople who'd been blocked viewing the site. the justice department said it disagrees with the court's s considering an appeal. and, on wall street, the dow average gaineda 52 points to close at 24,886. the naaq rose 47 points, and the s&p 500 added eight. still to com on the newshour: i sit down with former national intelligence director james clapper after the president calls him out. new n.f.l. penalties for kneeling during the national anthem. why many patients can't get the cure for hepititis c, and much more. >> woodruff: first, president trums stepped-up campaign to discredit the russia investigation. f the neweus is on claims

that the f.b.i. spied on hisca aign-- something he's now calling "spygate." >> so what i want from rod, from the f.b.i., rom everybody, we want transparency. >> woodruff: leaving the white house, the president pressed agn for full disclosure by the justice department and deputy attorney genoderal rosenstein, h e is overseeing special counsel robert mueller's russia probe. the esident has already demanded justice investigate whether the f.b.i. illegally infiltrated his 2016 campaign. >> all you have to do is look at the basics and you'll see. it looks like a verserious even but we'll find out. >> woodruff: this issue did not come up this afternoon, as the president and rosenstein sat mere feet from each other, at an nroundtable on immigrati new york. but earlier, mr. trump tweeted that elements of the justice department are part of the"c minal deep state... caught in a major spy scandal."

secretary of state and former c.i.a. director mike pompeo, contradicted the president's long-running "deep state" accusations today, while testifng on capitol hill. >> you know this term deep state has been thrown around. i'll say this. the emoyees who worked with me at the c.i.a. nearly uniformly were aed at achieving the president's objectives and america's objectives. >> that's yourir exce also when you interact with colleagues at the f.b.i. and the department of justice as well? >> yes. there are always exceptions to every rule. i've never led an organization that didn't have bad actors, i don't think any government organization xeist from having malfeasance as well. >> woodruff: all of this, af reports that an f.b.i. informant named stefan halper did meet with three trump campaign officials in 2016. at least two, carter page and george papadopoulos, were

already on the f.b.i.'s radar for contacts with russians. tomorrow, republican leaders of the house intelligence and oversight committees receive a rare, classified briefing on the ofsue, from justice department and intelligenccials. >> when they look at the document going to see a lot of bad things happened. i hope it's not so because if it is, there's never been anything like it in the history of our cotry. >> woodruff: but democrats, including congressman joaquin castro on the housintelligence committee, pushed back today, after no democrats were invited to the briefing. >> so this very much is a departure from staprard operatincedure and it makes it seem more like a trump legal defense team meeting than anhing else. >> woodruff: the president today also went aftpper james c, former director of national intelligence,in for s any informant would have likely been looking for russian interferenceec in the 2016 on. >> i mean if you look at clapper, he sort of admitted

at they had spies in the campaign yesterday, inadvertentlybu. i hope it's not true. but it looks like it is.r >> woodruff: s part, clapper disputes that, defends his long career, and offers a tough assessment of presiden trump in his new book: "facts and fears: hard uths from a life in intelligence." and th me now is former director of national entelligence, and retired air force lieutenantal, james clapper. general clapper, welcome to the program. >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: so i want to ask u about the book, b i also want to start with the news of the day because you're right in the middle of it, as we just mentioned. president trump said this morning, regarding allegation that the f.b.i. used anfo ant during the 2016 campaign, he said, i hope it's not so, but, if it is, there's never been anything like it in the history of our country. he went oto say, if you look at clapper, he sort of admitted that they s had sp the campaign inadvertently.

i hope it's not true, but it looks like it is. >> well, i think he's kind of distorted what i was trying to say, which was actually took aversion to the term "spy" whic' i like anyway but particularly it's inappropriate in this context. big gulf between a spy in tradition sense implying spy craft or trade craft and an informant who's open about who he was and the questions he was asking. the intent, though, is the important thing, was not to spy onpa the cn but, rather, to determine what the russians were up to. were they trying to penetrate the campaign, gain access, gain leverage, gain influence? and that was the concern that the f.b.i. had, and i thi they were just doing their job and trying to protect our polical system. >> woodruff: the president, as you know, has been just constantly critical of the intelligence community since he's been in office. today, among other things, he's

saying elements of the justice department are part of the "criminal deep state cght in a major spy scandal." we know secretary of state pompeo somewhat contradicted the president today, said he doesn't think there's a deep state but what is the effect of these cumulative comments by th president? >> well, right now, the heat is kind of off the intligence community, i think. the focus for him, of course, hahas been the departmstt of e and the f.b.i., and i absolutely am concerned about the morale impacts on thosewo organizations, and i'm also concerned from the standpoint of standards and norming of ourha countryhave been followed for decades whereby the independence of the department of justice and the. f.b are respected and, in fact, eorced by presidents. and this one is very different. and, so, when he starts directing investigations and

making these kind of allegations, for me, it's not good for the country. and i said this some time agou that, ow, there's an assault on our institutions botl intey from both internal and external sources. the external source is russia. the internal source is our president, is attacking the institutions that have served this country long and well. you know the's nota whole lot of -- these are actually fragile, and if they're not protected and nurtured over time, we risk losing them, and not all that much different between where wre today and being a banana republic. >> woodruff:wr yoe in the book about your decades-long career working ili intnce, you covered the raid on osama bin laden, the benghazi attacks in libya, and then the 2016 election. and at one point, you note,, james clapphe public history of u.s. intelligence traditionally reads as

narrative of failures and shortcomings certainly dating back to when we get it right, though, we almost never discuss it publicly. i guess my question is, is the college community destineto be undermined, misunderstood, not appreciated? >> well, it appears that, you know, we've had our ups and downs and we've had our failures. i think the important thing about that is that the intelligence community is a learning organization,so when we've made mistakes, we've tried to learn from them an apply lessons learned so they don't repeat themselves. but intelligence is one of the things that makes it interesting. it's also very challenging in that you are attempting to keduce uncertainty with less than a full d of information, and that's almost always the case with intelligence. without it, i think the nation is less safe and secure, and one of the points or themes i try to

make in the book that it's my, belit surprisingly, that intelligence is a noble calling, a noble profession that's important, vital to the safety and security of this country and its people. >> woodruff: you have some very tough questions about the nature of intelligence, wheth the intelligence community has gone too far in some of its tactics and methods. what did u conclude? >> well, this is a function of the current conditions, and it's so -- it underlines the importance of enlightened oversight. it's one of the features that i lived through church pike in the aftermath of the vietnam war, that was my war, and i was ine the intelligemmunity then, and i was around one of the two oversights committat were established. they have a special burden, in my mind, the members of those two committees because they have

to represent the rest of our citizens who, understandably, can't know all the details of intelligence respect to sensitive sources and methods. so the members on those committees have to represe our citizens to make sure that what the intelligence community is doings legal, ethical and moral. we've had cases where, depending on the situation post-9/11, for example, where the intelligence commity did things that, after the fact, peoplebjected to, and that sort of thing happens and it's one of the challenges of serving in the intelligence community. >> woodruff: one of the things you write or have spoken about,i i should sayn addition to writing about it very candidlyou is how have concluded after what happened in 2016 that the russians not only affected -- tried to affect the election,

but yosaid they actually did affect the outcome. >> yes. >> woodruff: what did you ?me w f oelur>>, l, formal intelligence community assessment in january of 2017, d d not make any call at all about whether e russians affected the outcome of the election. we didn't have the authori, charter or capability to do that. since i left the government, ci, it's what i would call my informed opinion that, given the massive effort the russians made and the number of citizens that they touched and the varietynd the multi-dimensional aspects of what they did to influence opinion and affect the election, and given the fact that it turned on lessha me, t,0 it just exceeds logic and cred duality

that they turned the election. >>dr wufoo elections and the next election? >> one of my motivations in speaking out and writing this book is to do my small part i ying to educate the public on what the russians are up to. they areent on undermining our fundamental system here, and when a foreign nation, particularly an adversary nation, gets m involved h as they did in our political process, that's a real danger to this country, and i think educating the public is probably the toughest thing to do, and i fe tt i needed to dot because i think our institutions are under assail here, those which i've spent about 50 years of my life trying to >> woodruff: you are, when all is said and done, quite criticae

of pre trump. you write toward the end of the book, he set a new low bar for ethics and morality, he's caused damage to our societal and political fabric that will be difficult to repair, and you go on. are you concerned, james clapper, that by taking him on so directly that you may cause people to think, well, the intelligence community just has it in for donald trump anyway, therefore, why should we have confidence in anynvestigation, in any of the special counselve igations? >> well, it's a good question and one i've thought about. mean, the alternative, and some people feel i should just nce offstage quietly into the night, and i thought a lot about that, d i thought about poential blowback on the active intelligence community, which i am no longer a partf. i'm now a private citizen, and i have my first amendment rights like everyon else, but i decided that, because i am so concerned about the health and

strength of our institutions and our values that i spent a lot of time defending, that i h to speak out. >> woodruff: and you are comfortable with what you've writte >> yes. >> woodruff: james clapper, the book is "facts and fears, hard truths from a life in intelligence. thank you very muc >> thanks for having me. >> woodruff: s after tsons of protests during the national anthem, and a debate that's been fueled by president trump, the n.f.l. tooa stand today against taking a knee on the field. amna nawaz looks athe reaction and what may be behind the decision. >> naz: judy, some players began taking a knee call attention to police brutality d racial inequality in america. the silent pro btean with quarterback colin kaepernick, who hasn't been sl.ned by an n.eam for two seasons now.

today, n.f.l. owners voted for a new policy, requiring any players or team personnel who are on the field, to "stand and show respect for the flag and the anthem." players who don't wish to do so can stay in the locker room during the national anthem. but if they choose to kneel or sit on the field, their teams will be fined, and the teams cai pe their players. the policy comes after months of public criticism of players who kneel fr president trump. here's how nfl commissioner roger goodell explained the changes today.ea y, our objective as a league and to all 32 clubs which was unimous is that we want people toule respectf to the national them, we want people to stand. we think that we've come up with a balanc pcess here and a procedure and policy that will allow those players who feel that they can't stand for theo anthem stay in the locker room, and there's no penalty for

that, but we are going to encourage all of them to be on the field,e we'd l for them all to be on the field and stand at attention. >> nawaz: thepl n.f.ler's union said it was not consulted by the owners about the new policy, and called it contradictory"t t principles, values and patriotism of our league." we asked the union to appear tonighwell as several players. they declined our invitation as did the n.f.l. some perspective on this from l.z. grandersison, wh co- host for espn's sports nation and a commentator for cnn and abc. l.z., thanks for being here. let me ask you now about the time line. colin kaepernick first took a knee in to 16. president trumparted first criticizing the protests in 2017. why now, in may of 2018, are the n.f.l. owners in the league taking thisecision? >> because they believe there is some corretion between the criticism of colin kaepernick and the protesting and their bottom line.

1/2 is still the juggernaut when it comes to american sports, both financially and a wl in terms of visibility, but it has ownersa little bit, and feel that the protest isn't helping them from a businesspe peive, never mind the fact that the n.f.l. was already tipping prior to the protest, this allows them to point all the issueshe league has been having with fans on this one particular player and issue. >> we know there was concern about the attacks from president trump as well. wa o this politic a business issue? >> i believe itel was p business. many of the owners are multi-billionaires and most of the owner owners finvecially d many of them give donations to both parties, have supported candidates of both parties, so they aren't necessarily married to the republicancr or deic party but they definitely seem to be married to. mon >> there are folks who will say we're not saying the issues the

players want addressed aren't worth addre ging, we'red the owners met privately and agreed to donate tens of millions of dollars to those causes, we just don't want politics on the field. what do you say to those folks? >> stop playing the national anthem. that's simple. the national anthem is politicizing srts, and, oh, by the way, if you really are concerned about respecting or srespecting the flag, then elrhaps you should probably refamiliarize youwith the u.s. flag code because you will see multiple violations that the n.f.l. and other leagues do in rms of how the flag is to be treated. wi aren't supposed to be having football uniform flags on them. we aren't supposed to be having a flag laid down flat, or have the flag on tickets and beer cans andf things o that nature, all things you can find in an n.f.l. staum. so if you want to stick to the rule of law ant disrespecting the flag, then let's be thentic with . i think it's more about what the

players are protesting than the actual protest itself. >> what would have been a better solution or step in your mind r the owners and the league to take? yo>> be honest. know, stop trying to pretend as if you truly care about the p issues that thyers are protesting and tell the truth that we believe these protests are hurting our bottom line, we're a private business and, so, we're making a business policy to make sure our bottom line doesn't suffer anymore. but certainly don't tell us you're doing this out of some respect for the flag or thatu' doing this but we still support what the players are concerned with because you don't issue a ban like this in the same wee we're bracing ourselves to see video of an n.b.a. player tased in milwaukee reportedly for no reason. those two things don't seem to add up to me. >> l.z., it's hard to see the attentions will go down from this. we've seen vice president pence weigh in on twitter with

#winning and a headline about this decision and players wraigingn, chris long among them, saying he will continue to use his platfor to call attention to the things he thinks is important.re the peason starts this summer. do you think players will protest? what do you think the fallout from this will be?el >> amna, two fundantal flaws in the policy. one, there's no clear definition of what it meanso violate or disrespect the flag. two, there's an option for the player to not tome field during the national anthem. now, if you are a reporterok g on the sideline and you happen to notice several players are missing, you're still going to ask the same varied questions being asked the past two seasons about why aren't you there, why are you protesting, and the issue doesn't go away. this isea then the n.f.l.'s cowardice bites them in the butt,ecf you will,se they didn't solve the problem, they problem. a bigger >> l.z. granderson, thanks for your time.

>> thank you for having me. >> woodruff: stay with on, coming up he newshour: the woman trying to become the nation's first african american, female governor. and remembering the revolutionary writer, philip roth. now, the latest on a medical breakthrough that's starting toa an impact on a hidden, deadly epidemic in this country. new drugs can cure up to 95% of patients with hepatitis c, a virus that often leads to debilitating or deadly results. the drugs can ,save liv prevent expensive hospitalizations and liver transfers. t some states are feeling the squeeze of the costs of this medicine. special correspondent cat wise has our report for our weekly series on the leading edge of science. >> repo americans are living with a

potentially dely virus and half don't even know it. it's hepatitis c, alood-borne pathogen which attacks the liver and can eventually cause serioue problems including cirrhosis and liver cancer. three quarters of those with the virus are baby boomers, exposeds from ucranned blood trusions, i.v. drug use, and other blood to blood contact prior to the early '90's. but now the opioid epidemic has led to a 20% rise new infections from 2015 to 2016. one state where the young and the oldbe hav hit hard by the disease is oregon. oregon has the highest hepatitis c mortality rate, per capita, in the country. it's estimated about 100,000eg ians have been infected with the virus and 500 die each ar. it's been a very difficult disease to treat, but over the last four years there's been a revolution in hep c drugs. now, many around thg country are

ured and in oregon many are coming here to the oregon clinic trfor those eatments. >> we never talked about cure of hep c uw ntil the last ars, and now we're all talking about cure of hep c. >> rr orter: dr. kent benne a gastroenterologist and hepatologist at the clinic in rtland. he says people are still dying from the disease, often because they hven't been tested and aren't aware they have virus until they are quite sick. but benner says much has changed since he firsttarted treating tients several decades ago. >> treatment at that time was interferon. this required injections, shots several times a week. quite a few si effects. we felt we were doing well if we could cure 15 or 20 patients. since late 2013, there's been a remarkabldevelopment from a number of different companies. they've developed drug combinations that provide 95% cure rates in patients treat. >> reporter: costly liver transplants aroften the only

tion when the liver becomes too badly damaged. but at earlier disease stages, eae liver often starts to h once the medicines have cleared virus from the body. >> not only are we seeing liver function improve, but patients with more advanced liver disease occasi transplant list.f the >> reporter: 64-year-old rob shinney, who recently had knee surgery, is one of those cured by the new hep c drugs known as direct o acting antivirar d.a.a.'s. like many oth his generation, he doesn't really know how he contracted the virus. under the care of dr. benner, shinney began a three month treatment in late 2016 after his liver showed signs of moderate scarrin fg known asibrosis. tests later confirmed he was virus-free. >> i had a serious, chronic oulness hanging over my head that i knew kill me. and that's gone now. >> repoerwe spoke at a local

pub he visits now and again with his choir friends, something he never did when he had the virus. >> i swear i felt like i waer20 years you i had energy, i cou's do things. reat just to be able to sit aroeeund and have awith everybody and, you know, just enjoy life. >> reporter: the cost of the drugused to cure shinney, who has private insurance, aren't cheap. since sovaldi first hit the markin late 2013 at a whopping $84,000 dollars for ase coof therapy, competitors have steadily lowered the costs and last year a new medication called mavyret was releasefor around $26,000. still, the drugs are expensivar and they 't a vaccine. if someone is cured, they can become reinfected. access to drugs varies widely around the country. a report last year by two national aondvocacy organiza

found, "many public and private choose to limit access t d.a.a.'s due to their cost as well as other concerns." oregon is among a number of states which have had restrictive medictsd requiremenncluding denying coverage to patients in the se andstages of dis those who are abusing drugs and alcohol. but some of those restrictions are beginning to ease. >> in january we just started covering individuals with lower stages, or lower levels of fibrosis. >> reporter: dr. dana hargunani is the chief medical officer for the oregon health authority which oversees the state's medicaiprd ram. she says while the state is starting to expand access, costs are still a significant issue. oregon has spent more than $94 million dollars on the drugs since 2014,overing about 1500 people. >> the newer treatments for hepatitis c have a significant budget impact for our state. we're trying to manage our limitedsu resources to

coverage for those who need it immediately for the hepatitis c treatment, as well as all the other individuals in our medicaid program and t needs >> reporter: hargunani says another reason the state delays corage until patients have mild liver scarring: not everyoncie needs the mes. >> one in five individuals who get infected with hepatitis c will spontaneously clear their infecti right now, the data doesn't help us understand how to know which individuals will need to have a high cost drug to treat and cure their infection. >> luckily he doesn't have any evidence of cirrhosis. >> reporter: dr. brianna sustersic is a medical director at central city concern, a federally-funded health center in downtown portland which serves rga number of homeless individuals, many of whom have substance abuse disorders. 25% to 50% of the patients have hep c. >> the medicaid requirements have limited cess to treatment for many of our patients. from a public health standpoint

if we are able to treat the tipopulation who is contr this, and spreading it, then we can move toward eradicating the disease. reporter: to prove that point, and to meet a big need, the clinic and a local syringe exchange program began a small drug company sponsored study last year to treat patients who otherwise would not have qualified for the medications. 56-year-old kim trano is now virus free thanks to that trial. she says she's felt a lot of stigma being a recovering drug er and it was hard to learn she had initially been denied drug coverage. to those who would question givingexpensive medicines to someone who might become reinfec >> everyone is worthy of a chance. if i were rapse i would take all precautions not to be reinfected. and that's pretty easy to do, most pethople know how to d. rter: the new medicines combined with the big surge in

those seeking treatment has led to a unique care model. chris hulstein is not a doctor. he's a clical pharmacist and part of a new program at portland's providence hospital. over the past year, about 5 patients have been successfully treated by hulstein and his colleagues, another 30 are currently in treatment. >> a lot of the specialists are very busy managing very complex patients, and that is their role.ng haa pharmacist being able to manage the patients gets patients treated faster, and more successfully than we ever ha been able to do before. >> reporter: hep c advocates are now working with the state and private insurers to open up more access to the drugs. for the pbs newshour, i'm cat wise in portland, oregon. >> woodruff: we return now to the historic win in the state of georgia last night. as we reported earlier, the

former minority leader of the georgia house of representative- stacey abrams, became the first afrin-american woman to be a major party nominee for governor in the stacey abrams joins us now from atlanta. congratulations on your win yesterday, d do you see this as history making? >> i do, and first of all, i want to say thank y yes, but it's not just history for me, it's history for chging the face of what leadership looks like in america, and i'm excited to be part of a vanguard. but i also am excited about what this means for the people ofgi ge, having someone who is really ready to look out for their needs and their interests. >> woodruff: why do you think you won? >> because we ran an incredibly ncentrated effort where we were on the ground eleven months ago. we really focused on talking to voters, asking them questions, and putting out bold and detailed plans so they knew why voting for me would matter, and

we werey grateful to see a resounding response. 75, 76% of the vote. >> woodruff: there's a lot of conversations, stacey a yams, about h were able to turn out voters, many of whom had not voted before. asat did you say to them? whathe message? >> i talk about three thi one is educating bold and ambitious children. every family wants now that they have opportunities from cradle to career for their children, and we have ver specific plans about how we can invest and have access for every family. number two, it's about making certain there are good jobs in ery single county in georgia, and we have a lot of them, 159, and really focusing on small business investment bec know those are the jobs that pay the best and stay for the long dterm. the ths making sure government works for everyone, and, at e center of that, is the conversation about expanding medicaid in georgia.pa medicaid ion would cover more than 500,000 people, create more thas,50,000 j and save 15 rural hospitals.

>> woodruff: so, as wenow, that all well be what you said, and you did win the primary,ge gia is still a very red, a very conservative state. donald trump won, beat hillary rodham clinton by 5 percentage points two years ago. can you win, stacey abrams, unlessou turn backome of those democratic voters, independent voters who wt for donald trump in 2016 but maybe who had voted democratic befor >> i want every voter in the state of georgia, i want every independent-thinking voter, but i do think that georgia is actually a bluer state than people realizepp we have antunity to turn out voters who haven't voted in recent years. they vote in the presidential election but not in the gubernatorial election, and we have more than enough of those voters to win without compromising our values and pretending to be moderate to conservative to appeal to a certain segment. there are p where we differ on policy, but, at the core ofbe

g a progressive in georgia, it's about making sure that we're helping families have the freedom and opportunity to threef, and i know from my rsonal experience as a democratic leader that that message resonates across the state. >> woodruff: so the "new york times," of course, covered your race and wrote she has signaled she is not likely to spend much time pleading with rural whites to return to the democratic party. is that accurate? >> that's a mischaracterization of thetate. number one, in the rural communities of georgia, it's a very diverse community, a third of georgia -- a third of rural georgia is african-american, but thety is whether you're rural or urban or suburban, you want your kids to have a good education, u want good jobs and you want your hospitals to stay open. those are all issues that appeal to everyone. what i have said is that i don't intend to prete conservative values that demonize immigrants, that say that we have to put a gun in every counter, that say

that we can have gun safety laws without sacrificing the second endment. i'm not going to pretend to be a conservative to win. i'm going to run the same way i have my entire carr,ith authenticity, honest and clear plans on how to lift up every thorgian. >> woodruff: doe mean you don't talk about those issues? >> oh, no, i talk about them veryggressively. talked about the fact i had only ds and fs from the n.r.a. i'm proud about that. t i'm pro be endorsed by naral and planned pararthood. thesissues that matter to everyone, whether rural georgia or the city of atlanta. the realty is democrats can't win by tending to be republicans, republicans and democrats see through it. i want to win by turning out voters who want t best lives possible, and that's how i ran this cpaign, and that's how we're going to win in november. >> woodruff: another thing, when we were in georgia two years ago to talk to you about the hillary rodha hillary clintp

contest, you said among things t it was goi be a challenge to turn out black voters especially young black voters for the democratorillary clinton to get them engaged. it's two years later. have things changed? >> absolutely. and part of what we were facing when you and i f spoke a years ago is we were nearing the end of the campaign and there hadn't been the investment in voters everywhere, there hadn't been tmat deep invt in lifting up their voices. that's what we've done differently in this campaign, but bev we've not uponlyone that for yon african-americans. we've had one of the highest turn out of latino voters and asian-pdeacific isl in history. for democrats in georgia wetc nearly d republican performance, something that hasn't happened in the last 15 years. those are very stron signals of the energy and enthusiasm available if we have canwidates ing to do the investment of cultivating the voters. that's what i have been doing the last eleven months and what

i will keepoing the next six months till we win. >> woodruff: does it help or hurt youdo inald trump campaigns in georgia? >> donald trump appeals to a very specific rt of the state, and i -- you know, the republic republican electorate is its own beast. my mission is not to beat republicans. my mission is to galvanize and energize democrats independent-thinking voters who understand that our mission and our message are the right ones for georgia,nd i think that what we saw happen yesterday across the state of georgias at, whether you live in rural north georgia near the border of tennessee or down on the coast near savannah, that people heard neour message and they t out in record numbers. le job is to simply scale the message and s the numbers. >> woodruff: stacey abrams, winner of the democratic primary for governor of the state of georgia. congratulations. >> thank you.

>> woodruff: finally tonight, we remember the prolific writer and pulitzzeer pinning novelist, philip roth. he died yesterday of congestive heart freait the age of 85. roth was th 25 books, and a giant in american literature. his worh k evolved throveral distinct phases and often featured roth's fictional alter egos, including his best-known character, nathan zuckerman. e 1969 novel "portnoy's complaint" rocketr him to fame s raunchy, hilarious depiction of a teenage boy's lustful urges and ensuing guilt. roth wocuuld later more deeply on jewish life, mortality, and american history, y,ten setting his novels in newark, new jerhere roth grew up. during a particularly fruitful period in his 60s, roth returned to a number of those themes.e colades and the novels

came quickly, including:c "amean pastoral," "i married a communist" and "the plot against america." in a moment, william brangham talks with a colleague and collaborator of roth's. but first, how roth himself saw his work. jeffrey brown had the chance to sit down with him for a rare interview back in 2004. here are some excerpts. what is it you wa to do when you start a novel? what are you trying to do? >> get to work. ? work.nd i'm empty not very happy, so when i get to work on a nov i begin to do what i'm supposed to do. it's a long process usually it takes between two anh ree years to write a novel for me. i don't think about the reader. i think about the book.

i think about the -- i think about the sentence, i think about thearagraph, i think about the page. i go over and over and over it. the book begins to make its demands. the demands are intellectual, imaginative, they'reesthetic. >> it's interesting because you're often described as something of a provok door, sort of throwing out literary bomb shells. i mean you get a lot of reaction to your work. >> i a very bad judge of how the general reader will respond to my book andlw i'ms prized pre surprised the response a book eless itbookelicits.

>> many readers arepr sed at the reaction to the latest books. what happened? >> i don't know, maybe a consequence of age. but i did feel energetic and i do feel ambitious d i did the work. >> reporter: what was your ndbition? >> to write this f book. to be able to broaden the subject while, at the same time, keeping it a novel, while having e subject enacted by people. >> what is the subject? en i came back to live in america in 1999 i felt enorously energized by being home. also i realized i had in front ofe a new subject that was an old subject which was this couny, that it was brand new

to me in a strange way, yet iew ll about it because i had been brought up here. so being away for ten or twelve years produced a, i think, a burst of running energy. >> and when you think about it now, doou see a different writer, a better writer, a worse lwriting? >>e to think a better writer. a different writer, sure. i began with anrm esly naive day and rawness, ry raw when you bin, and i don't think -- i think i'm only half as naive now and i'm only raw from the hard work, not the way a young fellow would be raw. >> i know you were involved in

eastern european writers at a time when they were a moral voic against a totalitarian society. what do you see as you role or as the role of a writer in our society? >> your role is to wri as well as you can. you're not advancing social causes, as far as i'm concerned. you're not addressing social problems. what you're advancing -- there's only one cause you're advancing, the causef literature, which is one of the great lost human caus. so you doyour bit. you do your bit for fiction, for the novel. >> here the talk now about roth's life and work is max rudin, president of library ofer a a nonprofit that preserves, cebrates and accomplishes america's greatest writing. he was the third writer to have his books enshrined in the laboratory. max rudin, i'm sorry for the

loss of your friend and obviously sorry for the world who doesn't get any more of phillip roth's remarkable works. can you explain to us what made phim so special? >> i think the first thing to say is just the sheer verbal imaginative power of his work. he is, you know, nearly unique a rican letters in the number of different modes and tones. he could write in. he was an amazing ventriloquist from the "ronic cold ironic comedy to portnoy's complain to the contemporaryism of the american trilog books and the chastened elogiac tone of the later books. it's amazing one writer could do

all that and i think, you know, look cg at his entireer as a whole, 31 books, 51 years, together it makes f the most extraordinary literary journeys in americanri.ti wng at times seem like four or five writers compressed into one. he was so funny, he could write about mortality ando sadness well. he could write about his faith. he really could seem to do it all. have a sense from worki with him that he was aware of thatf these different pot he could dip into? >> everyone who knewfhim knew o his extraordinary verbal gifts. i mean, you know, he not only had it the page, he had it talking in person. heas extremely funny and extremely intelligence and a warm person. the thing i could say about h work is after portnoy, especially, portnoy is e first great breakthrough book. philip has a couple of great

breakthrough books during his career but portnoy opens the flood gates fe, the first t and this voice, you know, comes pouring out -- or seems to come e result of, it's hard work, of course, and it hums with intelligence and, you know, energy d humor on the page, and that's what makes him compulsively readable. that's another reason why peoplc hame back to him. >> does the evolution of his career make sense to you when you look back on it now? because if you look at the younger books, they are largely about a younger man and his coming to terms with his own sexuality, then they move into middle age phase and then later in his life they sort of deal with a man growing old and facing his ultimate reckoning. does that trajectory make sense to you? >> it does. i mean,ou know, fundamentally, you know, philip was on kind of two sides at the same time. he was on the side ofit vit

you know, of libido and liberation, a '60s theme, you know, the era where his work ndally begins, yet he was also a ruthlessly honest observer the forces -- the hiorical forces arrayed against that liberation and vitality, and i thi as the work goes on, i mean, thatda er side gets explored more and more. you know, the forces of, you know political violence and the war in vietnam, in american pastoral, the mccarthy area "i married a communist," you know, in a way certain politicau correctness be used as a bludgeon intauman. he's one of the great ironists in our literature. he was at once in sympathy withe

the imp of liberation, yet understands deeply the forces, as i say, that bloc, the liberations of fate and history. >> max rudin, thank you very much. >> thank you for asking >> wood'sruff: and thhe newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again here tomorrow evening. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular understands that not everyone needs an unlimied wireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn more, goo consumercellular.tv >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions and individuals.

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gwen: te we're the history ctives and we're going to investigate some untold stories from america's past. tukufu: this week, did this ventriloquist dummy s challenge americews of race in the early 20th century? gwen: did this dark-ingled house once belong to a woman accused of witchcraft in the famous salem ials of 1692? wes: and could these poems, carved in the wall of a west coast deteion center, offer a unique insight into the lives of chinese immigrants in america? ♪ watchin' the detectives ♪ i get so angry when the teardps start ♪ ♪ but he can't be wounded 'cause he's got no heart ♪