captioning sponsored by newshour proctions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonigh >> president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. >> woodruff: ...president trump sides th russia, questioning u.s. intelligence on moscow's election interfence, as vladimir putin clearly states he wanted mr. tmp to win. then, outrage at the president's statemen from republicans and democrats. reakdown the political a diplomatic fallout from the meeting in helsinki. plus, inside the mind of rin williams. a new documentary explores the of the late comedian an his lasting mark on the world. >> he needed comedy. he nded the love from the audience. it was a need. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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or and with the ongoing su of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was madeco possible by thoration for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs yoation from viewers like you. than >> woodruff: president trump is headed home tonight,ing clouds of controversy over his summit with russadn president ir putin. they covered a range of issues in helsii, finland today, but looming over all: russia's role in the election that made mr. trump president. white house correspondent nmiche alcindor is in helsinki.

>> he just said it russia. i will say this: i don't see any reason why it would be. >> alcindor: with that, the president of the united states again dismissed american intelligence findings that vladimir putin ordered russie meddling in 16 election. instead, mr. trump suggested he takes putin at his word. >> i will tell you that president putin was extremely strong and powerful in his denial today. tl alcindor: mr. trump also br at any suggestion that russian actions contributed to his victory. >> there was no collusion. i didn't know the president. there was nobody to collude with. there was no collusion at all. so far that i know, virtually none of it related to the campaigngo and they'rg to have to try really hard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. that was a clean campaign. i beat hillilaryon easily. ed alcindor: even as putin deny interference, he also 20knowledged he wanted mr. trump to win i.

>> ( translated ): yes i did. d s i did. because he talout bringing the u.s.-russia relationship beck to normal. isn't it natural t sympathetic towards a person who is willing to restore the relationship with our country, who wants to work with >> our relationship has never been worse than it is now. however, that changed as of about four hours ago. i really believe that. >> alcindor: the summit came three days after special counsel robert mueller's office indicted 12 russi officials for election cyber-attacks. but thpresident linked mueller's probe to the poor state of u.s.-russia relations >> i think that the-- the probe is a disaster for our country. i think it's kept us apart, it's kept us separated. >> alcindor: putin was questioned about whether he would extradite the 12 military intelligence agents to face american juice. >> ( translated ): as to who is

to be believed and to who's not to be believed, you can trust no one if you take this. we have to be guided by facts and not by rumors. i don't know the full extent of the situation, but president trump mentioned this issue and i will look into it. >> alcindor: putin said that would involve questioning suspects tied to the hacking. then, the russian president said he'd discussed with president trump a unique offer: >> ( translated ): we cay.meet you half we can make another step. ve can actually permit official representaof the united states, including the members of this very commission hear,d by mr. muele can let them into the country and they will be present at this questioning. >> what he did is an incredible offer. woffered to have the people ing on the case come and work with their investigators with respect to the 12 people. i think that'sfen incredible okay? >> alcindor: the pre blamed both the united states and russia for the decline in relations that spiraled after russia's 2014 invasion aim annexation o, its 2015 entry intro syria's war, and the

2016 eleion interference. >> i hold both countries responsible. i think that the united states has been foolish. i think we've all been foolish. we should've had this dialogue a long time o; a long time, frankly, before i got to office. and i think we're all to blame. gn president, i cannot make decisions on forolicy in a futile effort to appease partisan critics, or the media, or democrats who want to do nothing but resist and obstruct. >> ( translated ): after all, i was a intelligence officer myself, and i do know how dossiers are made up. >> alcindor: that statement led naturally to the ongoing nfeculation that moscow might have blackmailmation on mr. trump. >> does the russian government have any compromisinrial on president trump or his family? >> ( translated ): i did hear these rumors that we allegedly mpllected compromising material on mr. then he was visiting moscow.

well, distinguished colleague, t me tell you this: when president trump was at moscow back the i didn't even know that he was in moscow. i treat president trump with utmost respect. well, it's difficult to imagine an utter nonnse of a bigger ale than this. well, please, just disregard these issues and don't think abt this anymore again. >> alcindor: earlier, the leaders strode into the finnish president's palace for two meetings, with no set agenda and, in mr. trump's words, low expeations. the first meeting was the just two men, with their interpreters. >> first of all, mr. president, i'd like to congratulate you on a really great world cup. . alcindor: despite no real plan for the meetitrump said there was much to talk about: >> we have discussions on everything from trade, to military, to missiles, to tclear, to china-- china, to-- we'll king a little about china, our mutual friend, president xi. pothink we have great opunities together as two countries.

>> alcindor: the oet-on-one ing was scheduled for 90 minutes, but went more than two hours, and led to a lunch with senior aides. the meetings also came at the end of an eventful week-long atip that saw president trump berating allies at.. >> many countries are not paying what they should! >> alcindor: ...causing british prime minister theresa may some political heart palpitations. >> i didn't cricize the prime tester. >> alcindor: and yay calling the european union a "foe" of america. after all that, today was what mr. trump said could be "the easy part." he said he was trying to improve relations between historic adversaries. >> i would rather take a tical risk in pursuit of peace than to risk peace in pursuit of politics. >> woodruff: we willn to yamiche shortly, but first, fallout from the president's press conference came swiftly today, as washinon reacted to the historic meeting. before the press conference with the russian presidt in finland had even ended, politicians in both parties were condemning president trump's words.

some were predictably hae h, like senatnority leader chuck schumer. >> what the president did is side with our nuer one enemy who is attacking the u.s. daily and kneecapping our allies and is just appalling and demands an explanation. >> woodruff: the former c.i.a. director under president obama, john brennan, tweeted the president's remarks were "nothing short of treasonous." but there were unusually strong owords from president truwn party, too. tennessee senator bob corker: co i just felt like the president'ents made us look as a nation more like a pushover. and i was disappointed in that. >> woodruff: in a statent, senate armed services chair john mccain called it disgraceful: "no prior president has ever abased himself mor aabjectly befoyrant."

house speaker paulyan was less critical, but said that mr. trump, "must appre iate that russnot our ally." other republicans instead cked up mr. trump's concerns about bias in the intelligence community. >> i think for the president to cast doubt is approp >> to cast doubt on the u.s. intelligence community's assessment? >> cast doubt on the validity of any nuer of these things you know that's fair. >> woodruff: dan coats, the director of national intelligence, also responded, insisting, "we will continue to provide unvarnished and objective intelligence in support of our national secuty." the concerns from the other end of pennsylvania avenue will be waiting for the president when he returns to washington late tonight. we now turn to our two reporters who were there in helsinki: white house correspondent yamiche alcindor. and special correspondent ryan chilcote.

hello to both of you. s miche, you were in the room during tnews conference. do you understand what it was that led the president to say he could not be sure of what his own intelligence community has found about the 2016 election? >> well, president trump equated itu.s. intelligence comms who have said over and over again that rust meddled in u.s. elections with the denial of president putin who says russia had nothing to do with this. th is a stunning moment because president trump was putting on equal playing fields russia saying they did not do anything and u.s. intelligenc agencies, the f.b.i., c.i.a., n.s.a. all sayng russia had something to do with russia meddling in our elections. after the press conference, president trump told cbs news he does not think russimeddled in our elections, he disagrees that russia could meddle in future

elections. dan coates came out with a statement after the press conference saying he believes russia meddled in the elections. cnn said that statement was not clear are the white house so you have some back and forth within the u.s. ainistration. another thing, president trump was tweeting soon after. a cohele of minutes ago, was talking about how he really supports ue. intellige agencies but has this equation with russia who's denying they have anything to do with the election interference. >> woodruff: and, ryan, you have been covering vladimir putin in these kind of settings for the last coue of decades. what struck you about him at today's encounter? >> look, i think his body languageond the sequencf events says it all. president putin showed up late, made president trump late. when the two met, h walked in first, spoke first. so we're in finland, but looked an awful lot like

president putin was the host in fact terms of body language,id prt trump appeared eager, he kind of leaned in the direction of president putin. president putin sat back in his seat, he looked underwhelmed, unconvinced, as they began speaking. but then things changed, as they went away thfor bilateral talks and the the delegation meeting, when they came backfor the press conference, president putin, you know, eaemed to have gone through an evolution and ared energized and i think, you know, president trumca at least opy speaking, it looked like president putin had been won over, and the russians are clearly quite pleased with this summit. in fact, the russian foreign minister tweeted the smi was fabulous, in fact, better than super. >> woodreuff: yamiche, wh all this is going on, the probe, the investigation by robert mueller, the special counsel, goes on. they're aggressively looking what and at the 2016 ,ectio

returning indictments, people have been pleading guilty, butrd we hhe president say today that the probe is hurti u.s.-russia relations. so where does all this go from pre? >> welsident trump has been saying over and over again that the mother probe is a -- the mueller probe is a witch hunt. today he was on a world stage and took that opportunity to attack robert mueller while standing next to the man thaa lot of u.s. intelligence agencies say ordered the hacking of u. elections and the making of political figures in the u.s. ot just that he was angry at the mueller probe but making the statements about vladimir putin soon afterta rudy giuliani ed to the daily news and said president trump should not be calling psident putin a liar. he says he also believes the russian president when he says .e did not meddle in the u.s elections. the former ambassador to

n.a.t.o. says he expec n.a.t.o. allies to work on rounds against the u.s. and try to figure out what to do because he doesn't think those countries will trust the u.s. he also told me there is apo tive to th the meeting. he said n.a.t.o. allies can rest assured president trump did not change u.s. commitments to aia.t.o. at this time. hethere were no troop level changes, that the u.s. will still have same military exercises with n.a.t.o. so said there washi somet positive that came out of this meeting. >> woodruff: ryan, there were some important policy issues that came up during the meeting. what about that? >> there were. there were a lot of things that weren't said. more impotant, there wasno condemnation of annexation of crimea, no condemnation from president trump about that. he didn't mention crimea at all, no mention of sanctions. there was talk of syria but in the context syria, it was more about how to accommodate

israel's interests in syria, both what russia and the united states could do in that sense. and this is vepf hul, perhaps, for president putin, there was an awful lot of pise from president trump in the direction of president putin, idd if you think about it, prt trump, you know -- president putin has been the leader of a country that has really been in the for four years, now, and it is absolutely perfect for m that he can, this evening on state media, air hapraise from a country they like to refer to theirs main adversary. in rsia, that's worth its weight in gold. >> woodruff: ryan chilcot yamiche alcindor reporting from helsinki. thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodrf: let's hear from u.s. lawmakers now on both sides of the aisle: i spoke a short while ago to republican senator rand paul from kentucky, who's a member of both the senate foreign relations and homelandity committees. we started with the crescendo of reaction to today's heeting and hoees it.

you know, i think it's a good idea for us to have conversation even with our adversaries. thu know, aheight of the cold war and the cuban missile crisis, kennedy had a direct tne to cruz chov. it's a good id keep lines of communications open. f-nuclear weapons on both sides conflict in syria where we're in close proximity. it would be nice to have help from russia onorh korea as far as denuclearization. we have thitukraineation. so we won't have progress if we don't have conversations.um ol woodruff: aer of your republican cleagues are agreeing but are arguing the president went farther than that today. senator john mccain called it the most disgraceful performance he'd ever seen by an american president. >> well, john mccain's been wrong on just about everything for the last 40 years.e i'll gu an example. he's such a loose cann and

emotional about issues that, when i opposed the expansion of n.a.t.o., which many have opposed, george kenan amongem the most famous diplomat of the last century exposed toxp thension of n.a.t.o., when i was opposed to the expansion of n.a.t.o., mccain said i s working for president putin. so that kind of comment doesn't deservto be countenance and polite company shoulcodn't anance mccain who calls somebody who h opposition to expanding n.a.t.o. a traitor. so i don't think much of john mccain's opinions on foreign policy. >> woodru: an impression that came across was t president was simply too friendly and too trusting of vladimir putin. >> i think the president is different than many leaders whoa bay will litigate things to death and not meet with people. i think trump is different inth

he's willing to meet with foreign leaders and, actually, i think you may get a breakthrough because of the meetings. i think if this were anybody else, if there weren't such acute hatred for trump and trump derangement syndrome on e left, this could have been president obama and actually could have been president obama early in the first term when they were trying to reset relations with russia, could have had a meeting like this and the left would have had a love fest over president obama. this shows hate for ngesident trump more than anyt >> woodruff: do you think tresident trump was right to accept vladimir 's statement that he did not interfere, yet the tire country says he did. the president was siding with the russians. how do you read that? >> i wouldn't say he's siding with the russians. i think he has healthy

skepticism toward our intelligence community and i share that. tjames clapper came befo senate and lied, said they weren't collecting our information. that's the biggest bold-faced lie we've had in decades and nobody didnything about it. james clapper lied to the u.s. senate about collecting our data. john brennan's first vote was for the communist party now calling president tmp a traitor. these people have really exposed or revealed themselves as great partisans and yet they had the power to snop on any american, to snoop on any person in the world oud, believee, they iore scooping up everybody's inform >> woodruff:, but senator, it's also the current head of intelligence, heads of intelligence who are ying they believe the russians interfered. can coates, the director of national inteligence, said last week there's no question the russians interfered. today put out a statement, will continue to provide unvarnished objective intelligence and

support of natial security an he's on guard for russian interference. >> in all likelihood they did intervene. it was found 81 times in which the u.s. intervened in elections and before times in the soviet union. none of it makes i right but any country that can spy does anany count that can intervene in foreign elections does. we support the pro western party and we paint ours as if ours is alwaup on the up an but we get involved in foreign countries' electio so, yes, we've elevated this russia thing to a degree w are simply deranged about it, resident trump of all kinds of things i do not believe ve's guilty of but did the russians get invin it? yes. and i would tell the russians, if you i thougwas going to

help things, it's actually backfired because there can be no engagemenwith russia because to have the meddling in the election. >> woodruff: so, senator, you don't think vladimi putin got the best of president trump today? >> no, not at all because the thing is i that we dwarf all kther powers now. europe's army i th is 13 times bigger than russia's army. us plus europe, we're probably 30, 40 times bigger. we spend more on the military than the nt ten countries combined. there's not even a real comparison between the two. we are the sole remining superpower. but i still think engagement is good even when you are the sole >> woodruff: senator rand paul of kentuy, we thank you. thank you. >> woodruff: and for a different view, i spoke with senob menendez of new jersey. he's the top democrat on the senate foreign relations ovmmittee. we began with hiall take an the day's developments. >> well, jusncredible moment in which an american president acts more as a

supplicant than the leader of the free world, who, on foreign soil, basically diseutes decisions of his intelligence community, a bipartisan senate intelligence committee vote as well that made it very clearus thatia interfered in our election, and instead of challenging president putin and say i know that you were involved in our electns, you have 12 intelligence officers that have been indicted, there are consequences for that, he basically accepts putin's excuse. it's unimaginable. so putin must be standing there inying to himself, you know, minimustment in 2016 really paid off. >> woodruff: the president did tweet,isenator, later afternoon, among other things, he said, as i said today and many times before, i have great confidence in my intelligence people, but then goes on to say, we can't ex exclusively focus on the past as the wor's two largest nuclear powers, we must

get along. >> well,dehat the presi misses here, of course we'd like to have a good relationship with russia and, for that fact, with any other countris the probleou can only have good relationships if you share values. we do not share the value of undermining democracies not only in the united states but across europe by cyber attacks that the russian federation hased creat we do not ultimately share values when you invade sovereign country like ukraine, take over crimea and continue to disrupt eastern you can through russian forces, we do not share values wheyou are creating a humanitarian disaster in syria by propping up the butcher assad. so those are not ths e value share. so, instead of being chummy with s putin, he ha challenge putin, and i'm seriously concerned that we havenen't even he effects of what this meeting will ultimately bring ssion thatwo-hour we know nothing about.

>> woodruff: what diyou make of president putin saying, well, look, he said, you can send your ople over to pursue th investigation. you can come inside my government and tryhe to get to bottom of this. >> well, first, he s would send people over here and that would be like having, you know, iose who committed the crime be actualolved in trying to investigate it or, for us to send people and wch them interrogate their people, really? really? do we really believe that there's going to be any serious interrogation of russian intelligence ficers that were directed by vladimir putin from my pspective? putin was k.g.b. he is k. hb. atrt. he understands using the new frontier of cyber attacks is the new battle, so for us to think that he's going to actually engagen a transparent process where those who have been indicted by the special counsel

as a representative of the justice department is going to be a way to seek just? no. he needed to say, you need to extradite those 12 individuals and face justice in an american court under the rule of law. >> woodruff: bottom line, senator, do you think long-lasting damage was done today? >> i believe the president did incredible damage to the integrity of our national utelligence agencies, to the credibility of tted states w the western world. t through our allies and gave them all the back of the handand he gave a warm embrace to putin. the western wld must be shocked at what transpired. the message to other entities in the world is you canl vate the international order, and there will be little consequen at the end of the day, and that is a very dangerous message for the united states and for the free

world. >> woodruff: senator robert menendez, we thank you very much. >> thank ay woodruff: so how does t event look to someone with extensive experience in the u.s. intelligence community and with russia? for that we turn to john sipher. a 28-year career in the c.i.a. and was based in moscow during the 1990s. john sipher, welcome back to the "newshour". so as someone with longex rience in intelligence, how did you read what you heard >> like many, i was surprised and shocked. i think our intelligence community, like our diplomats overseas and everybody in e national security structure, had low hopes for this meeting, and the ba&wa pretty low for mr. trump, but hen' still dt get over the bar. for him to say some of the things he said about mr. putin in this situation was very troubling. i think our intelligence

community are resilient and they will do their best to provide him the information he needs to make sensible policies, but i don't think we've seen a presidennlike this who does't seem to take his job seriously. he takes himself seriously bu doesn't focus on the national security issues those in his adminiooration do. >>uff: we took a lot of comments. one in particular, congressman will hurd, said i'veeen russian intelligence manipulate many people over my professional career. d never would have thought the u.s. president wouecome one of the ones getting played by old k.g.ban.s. is that going too far? >> i don't think it's goin too far, but, in a sense, we didn't need vladimir putin as an ex-k.g.b. officer to manipulate mr. trump. mr. trump's foibles and ability to be manipulated a prett clear for all to see. in fact, i think that's why most people, probably in his own administration, didn't want him

to go torelsinki this meeting. y 's the leader of the largest, most powerful coun the history of the world, and he's allowing vlamir putin, who has been sticking his finger in the eye of the united states and allies for a long time, to be seen o an equal stage as a great power with the united states. that's troubling. he probably shouldn't have done that. but then to make the statements allyade following that, actu turning against his own administration and his own intelligence community, i think it was a very sad day for us, frankly. >> woodruff: we hear vladimir putin remarkably at one point out tuned, i was an intelligence agent once myself. wh did you think he had this suggestion that russia could -- thci he would let u.s. offs come to russia, interview russian intelligence officials and then an abou-turn, russian officials could interview americans about the russian interference investigation probe? >> well, i thi it's ludikrus. he has a long history of playing

mes and making it look as if his country follows the rule of law and has normal procedures like western countries do, and, in fact, that's not correct. so i think this was, you know, him sort of playing a clever game to try to make it look like we're on equal footing here which, in fact, is not the case. we don't need the intelelige community to shows what russia has done. they've done it against all ours aland we've seen it quite arearly over the last couple of >> woodruff: what do you think, john sipher, the effect of this is on the u.s. intelligence community? is this somethi they just shrug off and look at it and say, well, what president trump says is what he believes, i'm going to go on and do my job, or does it have some long-lasting effect >> that's hard so say. do i think the intelligence community is quite resilient. they put their head down and do their work, but they take this very seriously. they see the preside as their primary customer and will do almost anything to get president the information he

needs to do his job, but i think it's g very hard for them to stay focused am as a seo exchge with if he equates eladimir putin with his own government, and iflames the f.b.i. and the c.i.a. and the n.s.a. and all these people as much as hepelames thle who are attacking us. so they will do their job, theyc witinue to provide the best support that they can, but he's not making it any easier for them. >> woodruf quickly, finally, john sipher, there was a criminal complaint releasedto y, separate from the mueller investigation, it came out of the department of justice charging a russian national, a woman, withct conspiracy to as an agent of russia in the u.s. it's all about her ssedly trying to get close to a gun rights organization, presumably the n.r.a., get close to the republican partyer. what are we t make of this? why is this outside the mueller g obe? >> what's interestre is

most western intelligence services are focus opened collecting intelligence to provide a policy-maker to make good policy. the russian intelligence services like the soviet intelligence services before them are focused on active measures. this is a thing we saw in 2016 against our own elections. it involves manipulating the media, disinformation, fake news, deception, even assassination, forgeries and the like. what this is clearly parof that process. they are more involved in subversion and trying to use asymmetric means and political war fair to create havoc prd causlems in the west, more than just using spies and means to collect inteligence to help mr. putin. so i think this is part and parcel of aa wider ack by the russians against the west. it's a means of ae weakr power taking on a stronger power by trying toffect and take advantage of its weaknesses. >> woodruff: former c.i.a.ip officer johnr, thank you. >> thank you. appreciate it.

>> woodruff: in the other news, a federal judge in san diego ordered a temporary halt to deportingigrant families that were separated, then reunited. the american civil liberties weion asked for a delay of at least , saying mass deportations were imminent. a.c.l.u. officials welcomed today's move. >> what the judge said is that they should continue with reunifications even if the parent has a removal order, and this way the parent and the child will have some time to talk over whether the child eiould stay in the country to fight immigration case still. >> woodruff: the trump administration opposed the ruling. it is under a court-ordered eradline to reunite more than 2500 ohildren with their parents by july 26th. migrants are still arriving in europe by the hundreds, from africa. about 450 were allowed to disembark in sicily today, after

six european union nations agreed to take them in. italy had refused to l ships dock over the weekend. elsewhere, spanish crews rescued nearly 480 migrants at sea over 1e weekend. ne7,000 have made it to spain th year. one of the european union's top leaders appealed to the u.s., russia and china today to preserve world order, by preventing trade war european council president donald tusk spoke at a summit with chinese leaders in beijing. >> it is our common duty of europe and china, america and russia, not to destroy the order but to improve it, not to start trade wars which turned into hot history, but to bravely and responsibly reform the rules based international orde >> woodruff: meanwhile, china complained to the world trade

organization about a u.s. threat of tariffs on another $200 billion worth of imports from china. in turn, the u.s. complained to the w.t.o. about retaliation by china, the e.u., canada and others for earlier tariffs. syria, state media and ketivists report israeli air sthit near aleppo overnight. nine peothe were killed. target appeared to be an air arse used by iran's revolutionary in support of syrian forces. it would be the latestsun a series o israeli attacks. hundreds of people protested in nicaragua's capiagl today, nst a government crackdown. 12 more people died over the weekend, as police and paramilitaries attacked vists at universities an road blocks. e me 300 have died in the last three months as vernment used force to quash dissent. protesters in chicago are turning out again tonight, over the police killing of a black man on saturday.

late sunda police released body cam footage that showed harith augustus, with a holstered gun at his hip, and apparently reaching towath it. chief said officers had to react. >> you know, these things happen in a split second, and, and officers have to make decisions quickly. they don't have the luxury of looking at video later. when you see the video, take a look at it and come to your own conclusions. >> woodruff: there's no sound on the body-cam video, and activists are calling for police to release other footage of the shooting. saudi arabia today banned dozens of video games that it says lead children to harm themselves. they include versions of "assassin's creed" and "grand theft auto." saere've been reports that two younis, a boy and a girl, committed suicide after playing a social media game. the "blue whale challenge" is said to urge players to perform various tasks, and then, take their own lives.

on wall street today, energy icstocks sagged after the of oil tumbled, and that weighed on the broadew market. the nes industrial average managed to gain 45 points to close at 25,064. but the nasdaq fell 20 points, and the s&p 500 slipped three. and, in france, hundreds of thousands of people celebrated sunday's victory over croatia in the wod cup finals. the vast throng packed the famed champs-elyse in paris to greet the new world champions of soccer. the team showed off the trophy from atop a double decker bus. poill to come on the newshour: outics monday team gauges the fallout from president trump's statements on russia. a new documentary ta inside the mind of the late robin williams. and advice from david sedarion how to deal with offensive comments.

>> woodruff: we return to the s llout surrounding president trump's prnference with russian president vladimir putin. amna nawaz has more. >> nawaz: judy, the president's statements this morning prompted tough words from members of his own party. for analysis, susan page of "usa tofy" and stuart rothenberg inside elections are here. weome to you both. heard the criticism ealier from the president's own party members there. the natural next quesion seems to be, and what are you going to do about it? so, stu, whaare the republicans going to do about it? >> well, this could be the straw that breaks th came's back, but i think it's more likely not the case for republicans. we saw earlier in the program rand paul not really criticizing the president. i have a press release here from ar alexander saying there's no doubt russia interfered in our 2016 presidential election, and that's about it. no specific criticism of the president.

i get the sense tha jeff flake, john mccain, mitt roy issued a statement, ben sasse, these are the outliers in the republican party, and i tnk you're going to find republicans continue to support the .resident, i guess we'll s >> you say mccain and romney from the outliers, they're the last two presdential nominees to have the republican party, but it is no longer thainan republarty. it is now donald trump's republican party and it proved to be very difficult to shake the hold that trump has had in a party that's bdeen ready f in its own image. most notably in attiudes against russia, if there's one thing that characterized republican politics in the past, it's been a pretty hard line on russia. we certainly did not hear that today. >> just to add, terrific points, just to add, i was looking at a pew research center series of surveys from2015 to 2018, and tie attitudes toward vladimir

have changed significantly among republicans. there is less disapproval of vladimir putin and less criticism of russia as a threat to u.s. interests. so it's remaable how the president's attitudes towards putin have filtn red doin the party and really changed the g.o.p. >> there is a consensus, looking ahead to 2018, less than four monthsway from the midterm, there's consensus among both taders, republican and democrat hill, russia interfered in 2016, continued to do so looking forward to future elections, too. how does tmahaer moving forward, hearing what we did from the presint today and republican and democrat leaders agree they are continuing to tterfere. >> i don't this is a huge challenge for americans. it is for democalracy gener, but if you look at things on which people will vote in th midterms, i think it will be

healthcare, the economy and the traditional things that energize people to vote. i think the supreme court is a bigger voting issu in november than russia meddling. go forward two years to the 2020 race where we think ekpresident trump will be ng reelection and then i think perhaps it become a bigger issue. >> what about the ic republan leadership? should they be making a bigger keel deal off the fact rusia continues to interfere in this way? reality should, but the is they're so linked to the president and want to avoid criticism of the president. you're right, they' tre willio criticize russia and the russian interference, but i don't think they want to get io the weeds on this and i think they're looking at other issues theyor hope will be important in 2018. >> i don't think we'll see a big investigation, sone new effort he part of republican congressional leaders. i do think this is a little bit of job security for robert k mueller. i th makes it a little harder for president trump to try to in some way fire the special counsel, and that may be

one effecfromoday' news conference. >> we heard strong language from leaderin both parti, older members in both parties -- shameful, disgraceful, treaso treasonous -- is there anything different about this moment? you talked about him being critical of the presint before, is there anything different about this moment that dou might think would l republicans to launch a challenge against president trump. >> i tnk that's hard to do with this party. his approval rating among republicanlmisst 90%. the only time a republican has had stronger apinoval wiis own party was george w. bush immediately after the 9/11 attacks. so i think it's not that it's impossible there will be a challenge or even a serious challenge, but i thi this is donald trump's republican party for the time being. >> this was a prettyramatic press conference today, a lot of gasps after the fact and, whilee ever seen anything like this -- i keep saying that every tek, i've never seen aing like this -- but i guess i agree

with susan about the nature of p the republicty and their commitment to trump and, no, i don't think it's very clear, at this point, that there is some tort of revolt within i inside e republican p coming. it could happen. in the meantime, democrats just need to win swing voters, turn out democratic voterand any leakage on the republican side t a plus for the democrats. k about dissidence within the administration. you have president trump saying he believes president putin, then his homeland security secretary over the weekend say we know russia is interfering. how do you square those two things, st >> i think donald trump is a bit of an outlier and, yet, he's the president of the united states. i mean, you know, what can you say? he has his own views, and he will be criticized indirec ty, but nobodying him on directly. we can't find very many memberst of his own py that are as

outraged. that's the thing. there's no outrage. even when lamar alexander and john cornyn from texas make statements about the russi interference in the election there's no outra, ge. suu can look at issues, but if the president isn't taking decisive action and doesn't express a sense of anger, i don't think anything gets done. >> the predent cannot be an outlier in his traition. >> right. the president defines his administration. ivision withthe top staffers also on the issue of n.a.t.o. the president came to this news conference, and one of the things that made it so striking is his language and posture toward vladimir putin is so muci frie than his posture . ward our n.a.t.o. allies. after the n.a.tmmit you had administration officials going back to n.a.t.o. allies saying we're still committed to n.a.t.o. but, you know, this is just president trump, and then he doesehe news confrence today

and undermines that message. >> the damage is done. he does the damage and everybody tries to clean up. what the president satters more than anybody else. >> we have to leave it there. susan page, stu rothenberg, thanks for you time. >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, a new documentary takes a closer look at what drove robin williams, the legendary comedian and then actor, on stage and off. the film prenieres on hbo t and as jeffrey brown tells us, the funny maa s public perss often quite isfferent from the private life. >> thi quick impression of a spanish fly. fa brown: madcap, frenetic and lightnin... onstage, robin williams was seemingly impossible to contain, or categorize. >> you ever looked at a

plpatyus? god must be stoned. god's up there going, "lets take a beaver and lets put on a duck's bill, okay?" (laughter) >> brown: the n documentary," robin williams: come inside my mind," tries tpin down the man, through those who knew him. >> in my head my first sight of him is that he could fly, because of the energy it was like observing an experiment. ia brown: and through watching wi himself: his childhood in a well-off family first in detroit and then san francisco. >> nanoo nanoo. an brown: his burst to fame as lien in the tv comedy "mork d d mindy." >> grning vietnam! >> brown: hiwork as an actor such films as "good morning vietnam, "dead poets society," g"d "good will hunti" in 1998, for which he won an oscar for best supporting actor. >> if you speak about my wife

ever again, i will end you. >> brown: and through it all, his own personal ups and downs: substance abuse, womanizing, troubled relationships and a pervasive self-doubt, as characterized by hison, zach. >> his pathos was seeking to entertain and please. and he felt when he wasn't doing that he was not succees a rson and that was always hard to see. because in so many senses he was thmost successful person i know and yet he did not always feel that. >> brown: robin williams took his own life in 2014 as his health began to deteriorate from lewy body dementia, a rare brain disease. director marina zenovich has previously made docuaries about filmmaker roman polanski

and comedian richard pryor.sh says she saw williams as a national treasure. >> he was someone who was immensely talented who achieved fame very early very quickly. and when you see how talented he was. younderstand why that happened. and the film kind of explores hw fame affects you, how it affects your lif it affected him. he always had comedy to goack to. and i think he got-- he needed comedy. he needed the lo from the audience. it was a need in him. >> brown: the question is asked at the beginning of the film about whether his mind just worked faster than everyone else's. >> he had an incredibly quick mind.

he was intelligent. he was well-ad. o was curious. you know it was kilike a mixture of all of those. and the guy could perform. the guy could riff off anything. i mean you know you have to understand there's a difference between acting and doing improv id standup comedy. imprworking off things in f e room. he could work ything. so you kind of combine all of that and you get robin williams. >> brown: but you also show a cun filled with doubt and inties. >> he did have a lot of doubt. i mean a lot of peanormers do. i think a lot of creative people do. it's not a bad thing. we all have doubt. i mean god bless the people wh can show us. you know i think people loved how honest he was. and i think kithe more h of came to terms with his issues of substance abuse and what have you the better his comedy god because the more real it got. >> brown: inevitably there's the

icocking suicide. the es of successful people is something that's been in the news a lot lately. how did you decide to handle this? >> this film was always a celebration of rob's life. of course we were always going to talk about the end. and there is this feeling thugh the joy, through the comedy, through the laughter, through the loneliness, the neediness, the sadness, the tears, the comedy you know that we're going to get to the end. and everybody knows the end. i found it like a portrait of artist told through his own voice trying to understand you know the creative process. it makes people appreciate the creative soul and robin was a creative soul.

i remind myself we must constantly look at things in a different way. >> brown: the new film, "robin come inside my mind" is in theaters in new york and l.a. and available on hbo. >> woodruff: finally tonight, the term "micro-aggression" can be a hot button. it describes indirect or subtle 'rscrimination. and if yon the receiving end, it can be as hurtful as anything overt. if you've been accused of delivering a micro-aggression, you might wonder why, having no idea what is was you said that was so offensive. tonit, noted satirist david sedaris shares his humble opinion on what he ss as an overly-sensitive world. >> i'm the sort of author who travels a lot-- 100 or so cities a year. i read out loud, and then i sign books, for three, four, five hours a night.

so i meet a lot of people. most of them i forget, but every so often, someone will stick. maybe it's their name, or their size. with one guy it's a thumbtack tattooed on his forehead." we've met before," i say. it makes people feel good to be remembered. i know it pleases me when the shoe is on the other foot." david!" my boyfriend of 26 years might say. red i'll just float for th of the day. i like to make people feel good, so often, while signing books, i'll look up asking, "haven't we met?" i get a lot of repeat business, so half the time, thon on the other side of the signing table will say, "wow, you have a od memory! it was last fall in boston." of cours often as i'm right. a young korean american woman came through the line a few years ago."fo we've met , haven't we?" i asked. and she said, "right, because all us asians look alike." if i could do it all over again i'd say, "wait, aren't you kim

and you were in those margpeet cho comedyals, and that cay tan movie you starred in and wrote e you're somehow ming-na wen and amy tan." i am actually very capable of distinguishing one asian person from another. except for my friends matt and john yuan who are identical twins, and have matching haircuts and eye glasses and weigh the same. they dress alike, live together and honestly don't care if anyone can tell them a so i'm not going to feel bad about them. that young woman at the book signing though, give me a break. similarly, i was recently with a friend of mine who is a bit fragile. we were on a dark terrace yooking at the stars when a g woman approached to say she liked my books." how nice of you to tell me that," i said. oe was a college student, and reminded me that ie met her sister, who had since gone back to india to visit their grandparents.d, my friho was standing beside me, then entered the conversation, saying, "i think i waited on you ce at the u.p.s. ore i work at."

the young woman's voice turned stony." no," she said, "i'm afraid that was some other brown person." or some other rude person, i thought, cringinon behalf of my friend. because not everything is a cro aggression. sometimes people make mistakes, and the big thing too, especially when they're t viously fragile, is to say, "i unk and do a lot of blackout shipping, so maybe that was me." or something, just to get through it. my boyfriend and i live in england and whenever we walk into an antique store together the owner will ask, without fail, "are you dealers?"" no," i say, "just homosexuals." they must think, just like i did when i was chided by the young asian american woman, and friend had her head taken off on the dark terrace, "jeez, can't a pers anymore?"hing so i've made up my mind to retire my snide little "just homosexuals" response, and say instead, "i can't believe you don't know who i am!"

>> woodruff: and online, david sedaris shares a few of his iovorite things. find his recommend for what to read, listen to and s.tch on our web site, g/newshour. and that's the 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: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, like spanish, french, german, italian, and more. babbel's 10-15arinute lessons available as an app, or online. more information on babbel.com. >> and by the alfred p. sloan

foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financial literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. re information amacfound.org >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. pd by contributions to yo station from viewers like you. thank you. ns captioning sed by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org ♪ ]

kaiama glover: 5.3:00 a.m., april 27, 186 as the steambobostonia ii heads down the mississippi river toward memphis, its crew sees a mysterious fi in the distance. [ women and children screaming ] then, in the water below, bodies... dead or barely alive, clinging to bits of timber. man: there seemed to be acres then, in the water below, bodies... of struggling humanity on the waters. from all around me rose shrieks, cries, prayers, and groans. the aneambosult is on fire. it's a vision of hell: some 2,000 men, women, and ildren are trapped in an inferno. many are emaciated prisoners on their way home after the civil war. some 1,800 souls would perish that night. it was one of the worst disasts