captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight... >> president putin was extremely odrong and powerful in his denial. >> woodruff: ...president trump sides with russia, questioning u.s. intelligence on moscow's election interference, as vladimir putin clearly states he wanted mr. trump to win. then, outrage at the president's statements from republicans and democrats. f breakdown the political and diplomatlout from the meeting in helsinki. plus, inside the mind of robin arlliams. a new documeexplores the life of the late comedian and his lasting mark on the world. >> he needed comedy. he needed the love from the audience. it was a need. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour.

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on and with the ongoing support of these institu and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump is headed home tonight, trailing clouds of controversy ov his summit with russian president vladimir putin. they cover a range of issues in helsinki, finland today, but rlooming over all: russiae in the election that made mr. hoump president. white correspondent yamiche alcindor is in helsinki.

>> he just said it's not russia. i will say this: i don't see any reon why it would be. >> alcindor: with that, the president of the united states agn dismissed american intelligence findings that vladimir putin ordered russian meddling in the 2016lection. instead, mr. trump suggested he takes putin at his word. >> i will tell you that presid strong and powerful in his denial today. >> alcindor: mr. trump also bristled aany suggestion that russian actions contributed to his victory. >> there was no collusion. i didn't know the president. there was nobody to e with. there was no collusion at all. so far that i know, virtually none of it related to the campaign. and they're going tolyave to try reard to find somebody that did relate to the campaign. that was a clean campaign. i beat hillary clinton eily. >> alcindor: even as putin denied any ierference, he also acknowledged he wanted mr. trump to win in 2016.

>): yes i did.d s i did. because he talked about bringing the u.s.-russia relationship back to normal. isn't it natural to be sympathetic towards a person who is willing to restore the relationship with our country, who wants to work with us? >> our relationship ver been worse than it is now. however, that changed as of about four hours ago. i really believe that. ys alcindor: the summit came three dafter special counsel robert mueller's office indicted 12 russian officials for election cyber-attacks. but the president linked iaeller's probe to the poor state of u.s.-ruelations >> 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 extr intelligence agents to face american justice. >> ( 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. bdon't know the full extent of the situatio president trump mentioned this issue and i utll look into it. >> alcindor: 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 can meet stu halfway. we can make anothe. we can actually permit official representatives ofhe united states, including the members of this very commission headed by mr. mueller, we n let them into the country and they will be present at this questioning. >> what he did is an incredible offer. he offed to have the people working on the case come and work with their investigators e.th respect to the 12 peo i think that's an incredible offer. okay? >> alcindor: the president blamed both the united states and russia for the decli in relations that spiraled after russia's 2014 invasion and annexation of crimea, it2015 entry intro syria's war, and the

2016 election interference. >> i hold both countries responsible. i think that the united states has been foolish. lii think we've all been f. we should've had this dialogue a long time ago; a long time, frankly, before i got to office. and i think we're all to blame. as president, i cannot make decisions on foreign polley in a fuffort to appease tsrtisan critics, or the media, st democho want to do nothing but rend obstruct. >> ( translated ): after all, i was a intelligence off myself, and i do know how dossiers are made up. >> alcindor: that statement led naturally to the ongoing speculatn that moscow might have blackmail information on mr. trump. >> does the russian government have any compromising materiru on president or his family? >> h translated ): i dr these rumors that we allegedly collected compromising material on mr. trump whehe was visiting moscow.

well, distinguished colleague, let tell you this: when president trump was at moscow back then, i didn't even know that he was in moscow. i treat president trump with utmost respect. ll, it's difficult to imagine an utter nonsense of a bigger scale than this. well, please, just disregard these issues and don't think about 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 expectations. the first meeting was the just two men, with their r.terpreters. >> first of all,resident, i'd like to congratulate you on a really great world cup. >> alcindor: despite no real plan for the meeting, mr. trum said there was much to talk about: >> we ve discussions on everything from trade, to ealitary, to missiles, to nu to china-- china, to-- we'll be talking a little about .hina, our mutual friend, president xi i think we have great opportunities together as two countries. >> alcindor: the one-on-one

meeting s 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 trip that saw president trump berating allies at nato...s >> many countre not paying what they should! >> alcindor: ...causing british arime minister theresa may some political palpitations. >> i didn't criticize the prime minister. >> alcindor: and yesterday calling the european union a "foe" of america. after all that, today was what mr. trp said could be "the easy part." he said he was trying to improve relations between historic adversaries. >> i would rather take a political risk in pursuit of npeace than to risk peace pursuit of politics. >> woodruff: we will return toch yashortly, but first, fallout from the president's press conference came swiftly today, as washington reacted to the historic meeting. before the press conference with the russian president in finland had even ended, politicians in both parties were condemning president trump's words.

some were predictably harsh, like senate minority leader chuck schumer. >> what the president did is side with our number 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, t'hn brennan, tweeted the presidremarks were "nothing short of treasonous." but there were unusually strong words from president trump's own narty, too. tennessee r bob corker: >> i just felt like the president's comments made us look as a nation more like a pushover. and i was disappointed in that. >> woodruff: in a statement, senate armed services chair john encain called it disgraceful: "no prior preshas ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant."

house speaker paul ryan was less critical, but said that mr. trump, "must appreciate that russia is noour ally." other republicans instead backed up mr. trump's concerns about bias in the intelligence community. >> i think for the president to cast doubt is appropriate. >> to cast doubt on the u.s. intelligence community's assessment? >> cast doubt on the validity of any number 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 security." 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. yamiche, you were in the room during this news conference. do you understand what it was that led the presi to say he could not be sure of what his own intelligence communy has found about the 2016 election? >> well, president trump equated u.s. intelligence communitiesha wh said over and over again that rust meddled in u.s. elections with the denial of president putin who says russia thad nothing to do withs. this is a stunning moment because president trump was putting on equal playing fields russia saying they did not do anything and u.s. intelligence agencies, the f.b.i., c.i.a., n.s.a. all saying russia had something to do with russia meddling in ou elections. after the press conference, president trump toldws cbs e does not think russia meddled in our elections, he disagrees that russia couldeddle in future

elections. dan coates came out with ema stt after the press conference saying he believes russia meddled in the elect.io cnn said that statement was not clear are the white house so you have some backnd forth with the u.s. administration. another thing, president trump was tweeting so aer. a couple of minutes ago, he was talking about how he reay supports u.s. intelligence siencies but has this equation with rwho's denying they have anything to do with the election interference. >>oodruff: and, ryan, you have been covering vladimir putin in these kind of settings decadeslast couple of what struck you about him at today's encounter? >> look, i thinhis body language and the sequence of events says it all. president putin showed up late, made president trump late. en the two met, he walked in first, spoke first. so we're fland, but looked an awful lot like

president putin was the host in fact terms of body language, president trump appeared eager, he kind ofd leane the direction of president putin. president putin t back in his seat, he looked underwhelmed, convinced, as they began speaking. but then things changed,s they went away for their bilateral talks and the the delegation meeting, when they came back r the press conference, president putin, you know, seemed tone have hrough an evolution and appeared energized and i think, you know, president trump, at least optically speaking, it looked like presint putin had been won over, and the russians are clearly quite pleased with this mmit. in fac the russian foreign minister tweeted the summit was fabulous, in fact, better than super. >> woodruff: yamiche, whilel is is going on, the probe, the investigation by robert mueller, the special counsel goes on. they're aggressively looking what and at the 2016 elections,

bturning indictments, people han pleading guilty, but we heard the president say today that the probe ishu ing u.s.-russia relations. fromhere does all this go here? >> well, president 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 tht opportunity to attack robert mueller while stding next to the man that a lot of u.s. intelligence agencies say ordered the hacking of u.s. elections and the making political figures in t u.s. it's not just that he was angry at the mueller probe but making the statements aboutladimir putin soon after rudy giuliani talked to the daily news and said president trumpd not be calling president putin a liar. he says he also believes the russian president when he says he did not meddle the u.s. elections. the former ambassador t

n.a.t.o. says he expects n.a.t.o. allies to work on t rk-arounds against the u.s. and try to figure at to do because he doesn't think those countries will trust the u.s. t also told mhere is a positive to th the meeting. he said n.a.t.o. allies can rest assured president trump did not change u.s. commitments toa. o. at this time. he said there were no troop level changes, that the u.s. will still have same military exercises with n.a.t.o. so said there was something peitive that cut of this meeting. >> woodruff: ryan, there were some important policy issuecas that up during the meeting. what about that? >> there were. there were a lot of things that weren't said. more important, there was no 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 ofyra, 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 very helpful, perhaps, for president putin, deere was an awful lot of praise from presi trump in the direction of president putin, and if you think about it, president ump, you know -- president putin has been the leader of a country that has really been in the cold f four years, now, and it is absolutely perfect for him that he can, this evening on state medi, air praise from a country that they like to refer to theirs main adversary. in russia, that's worth its weight in gold. >> woodruff: ryan chilcote, yamiche alcindor reporting from helsinki. thank you both. >> thank you. >> woodruff: let's hear from u.es lawmakers now on both s of the aisle: i spoke a short while ago to republican senator rand paul from kentucky, who's aheember of bothenate foreign relations and homeland security committees. we started with the crescendo of reaction to today's meeting and how he seeit.

you know, i think it's a good idea for us to have conversation even with our adversaries. you know, at the heht of the cold war and the cuban missile crisis, kennedy had a direct line to cruz chov. it's a good idea to keep lines of communications open. f-nuclear weapons on both sides, conflict isyria where we're in close proximity. it would be nice to have help from russia on north korea as far as denuclearization. we have the ukraine situation. so we won't have progress we don't have conversations. >> woodruff: a number of your republican collengues are agreut are arguing the president went farther than that setoday. tor john mccain called it the most disgraceful performance he'd ever seen by anmerican president. >> well, john mccain's been wrong on just about everything for the last 40 years. i'll give you example. he's such a loose canon and so emotional about issues that,

when i opposed the expansion of n.vet.o., which many opposed, george kenan among them, th dmost famouslomat of the last century exposed to the expansion of n.a.t.o., when i was opposed to the expansion of n.a.t.o., mccain said i was working for president putin. so that kind of comment doesn't deserve to be countance and polite company shouldn't countence mccain who calls somebody who has anopposition to expanding n.a.t.o. a traitor. so i don't think much of john mccain's opinions on foreign policy. >> woodruff: an impression that came across was the president was simply too friendly and too trusting of p vladimin. >> i think the president is different than many leaders who basically ill litigate thing to death and not meet with people. i think trump is different in

that h s willing to meetwith foreign leaders and, actually, i think you may get a breakthrougf becaushe meetings. i think if this were anybody else, if there weren't such acatred for trump and trump israngement syndrome on the left, could have been president obama and actually stuld have been president obama early in the f term when they were trying to reset relations with russia, could have had a meeting like this and the left would have had a loveve festpresident obama. this shows hate for president trump more than anything. >> woodruff: do you thinkum president was right to accept vladimir putin'sst ement that he did not interfere, yet the entire country says he did. the president was siding with the russians. hodo you read that? >> i wouldn't say he's siding with the russians. i think has healthy

skepticism toward our intelligence community and i share that. james clapper came before the senate and lied, said they weren't collecting our that's the biggest bold-faced lie we've had in decades and nobody did anything about it. james clapper lied to the u.s. senate about collecting ourta john brennan's first vote was for the communist party now calling president trump a traitor. these people have really exposed or revealed themselves great partisans and yet they had the power to snoop on any american, to snoop on any person in the world and, believe you me,they we scooping up everybody's information. >> woodruff:, but senator, it's also the current head of intelligence, heads of intelligence who are saying they believe the russians interfered. can coates, the direfor o national intelligence, said last week there's no question the russians interfered today put out a statement, will continue to provide unvarnished objective inteldligence support of national security and

he's on gua for russian interference. >> in all likelihood they intervene. it was found 81 times in whic the u.s. intervened in elections and before times in the soviet union. none of it makes it right but any country that canes spy and any count that canntrvene in foreign electns does. we support the pro western party and we paint ours as if ours i always on the up and up, but we get involved in foreign countries' elections. ss, yes, we've elevated this thing to a degree we are simply deranged about it, accusing president trump of all kinds of things i do not believe he's guilty of bhe did russians get involved in it? yes. and i would tell the russians, if you thought it s going to help things, it's actually

backfired because tre can be no engagement with russia because to have the meddling in the election. >> woodruff: , senator, you don't think vladimir putin got the best of president trump today? >> no, not at all because the thing is is that we dwarf all other powers now. s rope's army i think times bigger than russia's army. us plus europe, we're probably 30, 40 times bigger. we spend more on the military than the next ten countries combined. there's not even a real comparison between the two. are thsole remaining superpower. but i still think engagement is good even when you are the sole remaining superpower. >> woodruff: senator ranpaul of kentucky, we thank you. thank you. >> woodruff: and for a different view, i spoke with senator bob menendez of new jersey. he's the top democrat on the senate forei relations committee. we began with his overall take on the day's developments. >> well, just an incredible moment in which an american president acts more as a

supplicant than the leader of the free world, who, on foreign soil, basically disputes the decisions of his intely,gence commun bipartisan senate intellig well that made it very clear that russia interfered in our election, andf instead challenging president putin and say i know that you were involved in our electio, 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 owsaying to himself, you minimum investment in 2016 really paid off. >> woodruff: the presidentid tweet, senator, later this afternoon, among other things, heaid, as i said today and many times before, i have great penfidence in my intelligence le, but then goes on to say, we can't ex exclsively focus on the past as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along.

>> well, what the president misses here, of course we'd like to havod a relationship with russia and, for that fact, with any other country. the problem is you can only have good relationships if you share values. do not sharehe value of undermining democracies not only in the united states butos a europe by cyber attacks that thu ian federation has created. we do not ultimately share values when y invade a sovereign country like ukraine, take over crimea andt cinue to disrupt eastern you can through russian forces, we do not share values when you are creating a humanitarian disaster in syria by propping up the butcher assad. so those are not the values we share. so, instead of being chummy wi putin, he has to challenge putin, and i'm seriously concerned that we haven't even seen the effects of what this meeting will ultimately brg with the two-hour session that we know nothi about.

>> woodruff: what did you make of president putin saying, well, look, he said, you can send your people over to pursue this investigation. you can come inside my government and try to get to the bottom of this. >> well, first, he said he would send people ove ar here that would be like having, you know, those who emmitted the crime actually involved in trying to investigate it or, for us to send people and watch them interrogate their people, really? really? do we really believe thatto there's goine any serious interrogation of russian intelligence officers that were directed by vladimir putin from my perspective? putin was k.g.b. he is k.g.b. at heart. he understands using the new frontier of cyber attacks is the new battle, so for us to think that he's going to actually engage in a transparent process where those who have been indicted by t special counsel

as a representative of the justice department is going be a way to seek justice? 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 integrityof our national intelligence agencies, to the credibility of the united states in the western word. he went through our allies and gave them all the back o the hand, and he gave a warm embrace to putin. the western world must be shocked at what transpired. the message to other en the world is you can violate the international order, and thee will little consequence at the end of the day, and that is a sary dangerous m for the united states and for the free

world. >> woodruf senator robert menendez, we thank you very much. >> thank >> woodruff: so how does today's event look to someone with extensive experience in the u.s. intelligence community and with russia? for that we turn to john sipher. he had a 28-year career in the c.i.a. and was based in moscow during the 1990s. john sipher, welcome back to the "newshour". wso as someoh long experience in intelligence, how did you read what you heard today? >> like many, i was surpriseded and shock i think our intelligence community, like our diplomats overseas and everybody in th tional security structure, had low hopes for this meeng, and the ba& was pretty low for mr. trump, but he still didn't get over the bar. for him to say some of the things h said about mr. putin in tons situaas 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 president like this who doesn't seem to take his job seriously. he takeshimself seriously but doesn't focus on the national security issues those in h administration do. >> woodruff: we took a lot of comments. one in particular, congressman nill hurd, said i've s russian intelligence manipulate many people over my professional career. hnever would have thoughte u.s. president would become one of the ones getting played by old k.g.b. hands. is that going too far? >> i don't think it's going too far, but, in a sense, we didnt need vladimir putin as an -k.g.b. officer to manipulate mr. trump. mr. trump's foibles and ability to be manipulated are prettyl clear for to see. in fact, i think that's why most people, probably in his administration, didn't want him to go to helsinki for this

meeting. he's the leader o the largest, most powerful country in the history of the world, and he's allowing vladimir putin, who has been sticking his finger in the eye of the unitestates and allies for a long time, to be seen on 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 made following that, actually turning against his own enministration and his own intell community, i think it was a very sad day for us, frankly. >> woodruff: we heard vladimir putin remarkably at one point ligenceed, i was an intel agent once myself. what did you think he had this suggestion that russia could -- that he would let u.s. official come to russia, interview russian intelligence officials and then an about-turn, russian officials could interview americans about the russian interference investigation probe? >> well, i think it's ludikrus. he has aong history of playing

games and making it look as if his couny follows theule of law and has normal procedures like western countries do, and, in fact, that's not correct. so i think this wayou 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 intelligence community to shows what russia has done.ne they've t against all our stlies and we've seen it quite clearly over the louple of years. >> woodruff: what do you think, john sipher, the effect of this is on the u.s.ll igence community? is this something they just shrug off and look at it and say, well, what president trump says is what he believes, i'm going to go onand do my job, or does it have some long-lasting effect? >> that's hard so do i think the intelligence community is quite they put their head down and do their work, but they take this very seriously. they see the president as their primary customer and will do rlmost anything to get the president the inftion he needs to do his job, but i think

it's going to be ver hard for them to stay focused and treat him as a serio person to exchange with if he equates vladimir putin with hiswn government, and if he blames the f.b.i. and the c.i.a. and the en.s.a. and all thes people as much as he blames the people who are attacking us. so they wildo theirob, they will continue to provide the best support that they can, but he's not making it any easiemer for >> woodruff: quickly, finally, john sipher, there was a criminal complaint released today, separate from the mueller investigation, it came out of the department of justice charging a russian natiol, a woman, with conspiracy to act as an agent of russia in the u.s. it's all about her supposedly trying to get close to a gun rights organization, presumably ane n.r.a., get close to the republartyer. what are we to make of this? why is this outside the mueller probe? >> what's interesting here is most western intelligence

edservices are focus ope collecting intelligence to provide a policy-mar to make good policy. the russian intelligence services like the soviet fintelligence services e them are focused on active measures. this is a thing we saw in 2016 against our own elections. it involves manipulating the media,ak disinformation, news, deception, even assassination, forgeries and the like. what this is clearly part of that process. they are more involved in subversion and trying to use asymmetric means and political war fair toreate hav and cause problems in the west, more than just using spies andmeans to collect intelligence to help mr. putin. so i think this is part and parcel of a wider attack by the russians against t west. it's a means of a weaker power taking on a stronger power by trying to affect and take mevantage of its weaknesses. >> woodruff: fr c.i.a. officer john sipher, thank you. >> thank you. appreciate it.

>> woodruff: in the day's other news, a federal judge in san diego ordered a temporary halt to deporting migrant families that were separated, then reunited. the am union asked for a delay of at least a week, saying mass l.portations were imminent. a. officials welcomed today's move. hat the judge said is th they should continue with reunifications even if the parent has a removal order, and this way the parent and the child talk over whether the child should stay in the country to fight their immigration se still. >> woodruff: the trump administration opposed the ruling. it is under a court-ordered deadline to reunite more than 2500 older children with their parents by july 26th. migrants are still arriving in europe by the hundreds, from 0 rica. about re allowed to disembark in sicily today, after

six agreed to take them in. italy had refused to let the ships dock over the weekend. elsewhere, spanish crews rescued nearly 480 migrants at sea over the weekend. nearly 17,000 have me it to spain this year. one of the european union's top naaders appealed to the u.s., russia and coday to preserve world order, by preventing trade wars. 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 order. >> woodruff: meanwhile, china complained to the world trade

organizati of tariffs on another $200 billion worth of imports from china. t turn, the u.s. complain the w.t.o. about retaliation by china, the.u., canada and others for earlier tariffs. in syria, statmedia and activists report israeli air strikes hit near aleo overnight. nine people were killed. the target appeared to be an air se used by iran's revolutionary guard, in support of syrian forces. it would be the latest in a series of such israeli aacks. hundreds of people protested in nicaragua's capital today, against a government crackdown. 12 more people died over the weekend, as police and paramilitaries attacked activists at universities and road blocks. some 300 have died in the last three months as the government used force to quash dissent. protesters in chicago are orning out again tonight, over the police killinga black man on saturday.

late sunday, police released body cam footage that showed harith augustus, with a holstered gun at his hip, and apparently reaching toward it. the chief said officers had to react. >> you know, these things happen m a split second, and, and officers have e decisions quickly. they don't have the luxury of idoking at video later. when you see the, 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. gudi arabia today banned dozens of vides that it says lead children to harm themselves. they include versions of "assassin's creed" and "grand theft auto." there've been reports that two young saudis, a boy antea girl, commsuicide after playing a social media game. the "blue whale challenge" is said to urge players tform various tasks, and then, take their own lives.

on wall street today, energy stocks sagged after the price of oil tumbled, and that weighed on the broader market. the dow jones 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 sands of people celebrat sunday's victory over croatia in the world cup finals. the vast throng packed the famed champs-elysees in paris to greet the new world champions of soccer. the team showed off the trophy from atop a double decker bus. still to come on the newshour: our politics mondateam gauges the fallout from president trump's statements on russia. ofnew documentary takes us inside the minhe late robin williams. and advice from david sedaris on how to deal with offensive comments.

>> woodruff: we return to the fallout surrounding president trump's press conference with russian president vladimir putin. amna nawaz has more. >> nawaz: judy, the president's statements this morning prpted tough words from members of his own party. for alysis, susan page of "u today" and stuart rothenberg of inside elections are here. welcome to you both. we heard theriticism ealier om the president's own party members there. the natural next question see to be, and what are you going to do about it? so, stu, what are the republicans going to do about it? >> well, this could be the straw 's back,aks the camel but i think it's more likely not the case for republicans. we saw earlprier in thram rand paul not really criticizing the president. i have a press release he from omar alexander saying there's no doubt russia interfered in our 2016 psidential election, and that's about it. no specific criticism of the president. i get the sense that jeff flake,

john mccain, mitt romney issued a statement, ben sasse, these are the outlers in the republican party, and i think you're going to find republicans continue to support the g president,ss we'll see. >> you say mccain and romney from thehe outliers, they're last two presidential nominees to have the republican party, but it is erno lo thain republican party. it is now donald trump republican party and it's proved to be very difficult to shake the hold that trump has had in a party that's been ready find in its own image. most notably in attitudes against russia, if there's one thing that characterized republican politics in the pa, it's been a pretty hard line on russia. we certainly did not hear that ustoday. >>to add, terrific points, just to add, i was looking at a pew research center series of surveys from 2015 to 2018, and the attitudes toward vladimir

putin 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 remarkable how the president's attitudes toward putin have filtered down in the party and really changed the g.o.p. there is a consensus, looking ahead to 2018, less than four months away from e dterm, epere's consensus among both leaders,lican and democrat on the hill, russia interfered in 2016, continued to do so looking forward to futurele tions, too. how does that matter movinea forward,ng what we did from the president today and republican andoc drat leaders agree they are continuing to interfere. >> i don't think this is a huge challenge for americans. it is for docracy generally, but if you look at things on which people will vote in the midterms, i think it will behe thcare, the economy and the

traditional things that energize people to vote. i thiak the supreme court i bigger voting issue in november than russia medding. forward two years to the 2020 race where we think president trump will be seeking reelection and then i think perhaps it become a bigger issue. >> what about the to republican leadership? should they be making a bigger keel deal off the fact russia continues to interfere in thiswa >> they should, but the reality is they're so linked to the president and want to avoid criticism of the president. you're right, they're willing t criticize russia and the russian interference, but i don't think they want to get into the weeds on this and i think they're looking at other issues they hope will be more importa in 2018. >> i don't think we'll see a big investigation, some new effort on the part of republican congressional leaders. i do think this is a little bit of job security for robert mueller. i think it makes it a little harder for president trump to try to in some way fire the special counsel, and that may be one effect from today' news

conference. >> we heard strong language from leaders in both parties, older , mbers in both parties -- shamefsgraceful, treaso treasonous -- is there anything different about this moment? you talked about himeing critical of the president before, is there anything different about this moment that you might think would lead republicans to launch a challenge against president trump. > i think that's hard to do with thisparty. his approval rating among republicans is almost 90%. the only time a republican has had stronger approval within his 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 think this is donald trump's republican party for the time being. >> this was a pretty dramatic fess conference today, a lot of gasps after thct and, while i've never seen anything like this -- i keep saying th every week, i've never seen anything like this -- but i guess i agrei

susan about the nature of the republican party and their commitment to trump and, no, i don't think it's very clear, att this poithat there is some sort of revolt within inse the republican party coming. it could hapinen. he meantime, democrats just need to win swing voters,turn out democratic voters and any leakage on the republican side is a plus for the democrats. >> talk about dissidence within the administration. you have president trump saying he believes president pin, then his homeland security secretary over the weekend say we know russia is interfering. how do you square thosewo things, stu? >> i think donald trump is a bit of anye outlier and he's the president of the united states. i mean, you know, wha can you say? he has his own views, and he will be cticized indirectly, but nobody's taking him on directly. we can't find v many members of his own party that are as

outraged. that's the thing. there's no outrage. even when lamar alexander and thn cornyn from texas make statements abo russian interference in the election there's no outrage. sure, you can look at issues, but if the president isn'tta ng decisive action and doesn't express a sense of anger, i don't think aonthing gets. >> the president cannot be an outlier in his traition. >> right. the president defines hi administration. but you see the division with top staffers also on the issue of n.a.t the president came to this news tnference, and one of the thint made it so striking is his language and posture toward vlahmir putin is so muc .riendlier than his posture toward our n.a.tallies. after the n.a.t.o. summit you had administration officialso going back n.a.t.o. allies saying we're still committed to n.a.t.o. but, you know, this is justum president and then he does the news conference today and undermines that message.

>> the damage is done. he does the damage and everybody tries to clean up. what the president says matters more than anybody else. >> we have to leave it there. susan page, stu rothenberg, time. for your >> thank you. >> woodruff: now, a new documentary takes a closer look athat drove robin williams the legendary comedian and then actor, on stage and off. the film premieres on hbo tonight and as jeffrey brown tells us, the funny man's public persona was often quite different om the private life. >> this is a quick impreion of a spanish fly. >> brown: madcap, frenetic and lightning fast... onstage, robin williams was seemingly impossible to contain, or categorize. pa you ever looked at a

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

ever ain, i will end you. >> brown: and through it all, personal ups and downs: substance abuse, womanizing, troubled relationships and a pervasive self-doubt, as characterized by his son, zach. >> his pathos was seeking to entertain and please. and he felt when he wasn't doing that he was not succeeding as a person and thawas always hard to see. because in so many senses he was the most 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 n eviously made documentaries about filmmaker rolanski

and comedian richard pryor. she says she s williams as a national treasure. >> he was someone whwas immensely talented who achved fame very early very quickly. and when you see how talented he was. you understand why that happened. and the film kind of explores how fame affects you, how it affects your life, how it affected him. he always had comedy to go back to. and i think he got-- he needed comedy. he needed the love 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. mi he had an incredibly quick .

he was intelligent. c was well-read. he wious. llu know it was kind of like a mixture off those. and the guy could perform. the guy could riff off anything. i mean you know you have to understand there's arence between acting and doing improv and standup comedy. improv is working off things in the room. he could work off anything. so you kind of combine all of that and you get robin williams. >> brown: but you also show a man filled with doubt and insecurities.>> e did have a lot of doubt. i mean a lot of performers do. i mean i think a l of creative people do. it's not a bad thing. we all have doubt. i mean god bless the people who can show us. you know i think people loved how honest he was. and i think the more he kind of came to terms with hues of substance abuse and what have you the beer his comedy god because the more real it got. >> brown: inevitably there's t

shocking suicide. the suicides 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 robin's life. of course we were always going to talk about the end. and there is this feeling through the joy, through the comedy, through the laughter, edrough the loneliness, the hes, the sadness, the tears,omedy you know that ow're going to get to the end. and everybody the end. i found it like a portrait of an artist told through n voice trying to understand you ow the creative process. it makes people appreciate the ve soul and robin was a creative soul.

i remind mysf we must nstantly look at things in a different way. >> brown: the new film, "robin williams: come inside my mind" isndn theaters in new york a l.a. and available on hbo. >> woodruff: finally tonight, the term "micro-gression" can be a hot button. iteescribes indirect or sub discrimination. and if you're on the receiving end, it can be as huas 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. s night, noted satirist david sedaares his humble opinion on what he sees 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 toe remembered i know it pleases me when the shoe is on thether foot." david!" my boyfriend of 26 years might say. and i'll just float for the rest 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, the person on the other side of the signing table will say, "wow, you have a good memory! it was lasfall in boston." of course, i'm wrong just as often as i'm right. a young korean american woman came through the line a few years ago." we've met before, haven't w" 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 margaret cho comedy specials, and that amy tan movie you starred in and wrote because 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 whare identical twins, and have matching haircuts and eye glasses and weigh the same. they dress alike, live together and honestly don't care if oiyone can tell them apart. so i'm not to feel bad about them. that young woman at the book signing though, givebreak. similarly, i was recently with a friend of mine who is a bit fragile. were on a dark terrace looking at the stars when a young woman appre ched to say ked my books." how nice of you to tell me aid.," i e was a college student, and reminded me that i'd once met her sister, who had gone back to india to visit their grandparents. my friend, who was standg onside me, then entered the conversasaying, "i think i waited on you once at the u.p.s. store 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, cringing on behalf of my friend. because not everything is a micro aggressi. sometimes people make mistakes, and the big thing to do, especially when they're obviously fragile, ito say, "i get drunk 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 person say anything anymore?d" so i've p my mind to retire my snide little "just homosexuals" response, and say instead, "i can't believe you n't know who i am!"

>> woodruf sedaris shares a few of his favorite things. find his recommendations for what to read, listen t watch on our web site, pbs.org/newshour. that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. join us online and again hnie tomorrow e. for all of us at the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding forbs 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 10-15 minute lessons are 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 e 21st century. >> support catherine t. macarthur foundation. committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. re 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 to your pbs yostation from viewers lik thank you. captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

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