captioning sponsored by newshour productio, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour tonight: >> we've accomplished an economic turnaround of historic proportions. woodruff: president tru touts strong economic growth in the u.s., and credits his administration's policies on taxes and trade. then, a potential black eye at cbs. legations of sexualmi sconduct, including by its c.e.o. les moonves. i ans friday. n rk shields and david brooks are here to takeother full week of news. plus, hip-hop on display. curating decades of local culture, and the musical impact of oakland's hip-hop scene. >> for those of us who are ort of the first generati hip-hop artists, i don't think

any of us er imagined it in museums. >> woodruff: all thaonand more on tight's pbs newshour. or >> major fundinghe pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellar understands that not everyone needs an unlimited wireless plan.u. ou-based customer service reps can help you choose a pla based on how much you use your phone, nothing more, nothing less. to learn me, go to consumercellular.tv >> financial services firm raymond james. >> leidos. >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language.>> he ford foundation. working with visionaries on the

frontlines of social change worldwide. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: t and friends newshour. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for blic broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers likyou. thank yo >> woodruff: a banner economic report out today showed the strongest quarterly growth in the united states since 2014. the commerce department's initial estimate said the u.s. gross domestic proct grew by

4.1% in the second quarter this year. that is up from 2.2% last quarter. the president hailed the report standing outside the white house this morning, and insisted the trend would continue. >> these numbers are very, very sustnable. this isn't a one-time shot. i happen to think we're going to do extraordinarily welur next report, next quarter. i think it's going to be outstanding. >> woodruff: many economists, however, question whether that ce is sustainable. we will look at what is behind wae booming growth, and how the president's tradcould affect it, right after the news summary. president trump is pushing back against claims that he knew in advance of a 2016 meeting between his son and a russian lawyer. according to cnn, the president's former personal attorney, michael cohen, saysn- that tndidate trump approved the meeting, for mpich donald tr. had been promised "dirt" on hillary clinton. the president denied the accusa saying, "i did not know of the

meeting," and that cohen w "trying to make up stories." we will look at what the latest revelations mean for the russia pre, later in the program. president trump and russia's president putin are mang plans for round two after last week's explosive helsinki summit. putin said this morning that he had invited mr. trump to moscow. the white house responded that the president is "open" to the meeting, and looks forward to hosting putin in washington next year. defense secretary james mattis also said that he is considering talks with his russian counterpart. flying from north to south korea today, an american plane carried precious cargo, said to be the remains of u.s. soldiers killed in the korean war. it coincides with the 65th anniversary of the armistice drawing down that conflict-- although it never officially ended.th transfer could mean a major prise delivered by north korean leader kim jong-un. yachime alcindor has our report.

>> alcindor: a promise seemingly kept with 55 boxes. today, at an american airbase in south korea, service members loaded what are believed to be the missing remains of american soiers. some 36,000 u.s. soldiers died in the korean war. the remains returned today are just some ofhe 5,300 still said to be in north korea. >> these incredible american heroes will soon lay arest onsa cred american soil. >> alcindor: hours later, at the white house, presidentherump welcomedove. mr. trump thanked north korean leader kim jong-un. heaid kim delivered on a commitment he made during their summit in singapore last month. >> i want to thank chairman kim for keeping his word. we have many others coming. but i want to thank chairman kim in front of the media for fulfilling a promise that he made to me, and i'm sure that he

will continue to fulfill that promise as they sech and search and search. >> alcindor: earlier this week, secret state mike pompeo said the u.s. believes that north korea is dismantling a missile engine testing site. the administration celebrated these two developments. they say that it is proof that north korea is turning the page, and that it will hopefully lead to north korea giving up its nuclear weapons. >> this humanitarian act obviously is atep in the right direction. >> alcindor: today, defense secretary james mattis echoed that sentiment. so, the singapore agreement had only one specific commitment from the north korean side, which was to repatriate remains. and so, it's pretty clear to meo that they t want to be responsible for a breakdown in this process. >> alcindor: frank jannuzi is a former state department official. he was part of the u.s. delegation during the clinton administration's talks with north kore >> it's a good sign of their determination not to see the

inocess fail, that they are now sending these rehome. however, it may not have any bearing on their willingness to denuclearize. >> alcindor: following the vietnam war, the return of u.s. soldier remains was key to normalizing u.s.-vietnam relations. that is something the north koreans are well aware of, says januzzi. >> they know that the recovery of the remains of u.s. soldiers was actually the central plar of the normalization process. >> alcindor: for now, u.s. w experts wik to identify the remains. for e pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor. >> woodruff: pakistan has officially elected a new prime minister. the country's election commission declared populist imran khan the winner, after two days of ballot counting and allegations of vote rigging. khan's party must now seek partners in order to form a governing coalition. a european monitoring team deemed the elections credible, but said the campaign was teddled with intimidation. the u.s. separtment also cited "flaws" in the process. on wall street today, markets

were down after more signs of trouble at tech companies likean twitter d intel overshadowed proming economic growth. the dow jones industrial average lost 75 pots to close at 25,451. the nasdaq fell 114 points, and the s&p 500 dropped 18. still to come on the newshour: the strong u.s. economic growth over the past three months. we break down these latest numbers. what president trump says he knew about his son's meeting pwih west. and, much more. >> woodrf: today, the commerce department released its latest snapshot of the american econy. as amna nawaz explains, the report showed that the u.s economy-- measured by the country's growth domestic

w at an, or g.d.p.-- g annual rate of 4.1% from april to june of this year, the strongest quarter of growth since 2014. >> nawaz: judy, that growth cams he president was threatening to impose more tariffs and in the wake of tax cuts from the past year. joining me now to dig into what this all means and why it isha ening is david wessel. he is the director of the hutchins center on fiscal and monetary poly at the brookings institution. he is also a contributing correspondent to the "wall street journal." welcome back to the "newshour"wi >> good to b you. put that number into context. we heard the president touting it earlier.d. 4.1 growth. what does it mean? >> it means we produced a lot more stuff and there was a lot more income in the se quarter. it's a very good quarter. almost everything we care about in this report was pointing up with the only exception of housing construction. it's not quite as unprecedented as the president likes to suggest. we actually had four quarters in the obama administration where growth was more than 5%, bu

it's undoubtedly good news. >> so presidents before have hit nit administrations but this time let's talk about 'vntributing factors. trade. heard a lot about the president's trade wars. exports surged up 9.3%. how should we understand that? >> presidents always get re edit or blame for the economy than they deserve. in this case i think the prident gets credit for two parts, one the tax cuts are boostingdipen in the economy, maybe boosting business investment, that's what you expect. but you're absolutely rht looks like there was a big surge in u.s. exprtorts, ularly soybeans to china because importers there are trying to avoid the tariffs china's imposing to counter trump's tariffs.s so ts an unsustainable quarter boost in exports particularly farm that won't repeat >> china placed a 25% tariff on soybeans, up% up may of this year from the previous year.

is tre a counterbalancing dip on the back end. >> absolutelke it's heil l that will not continue, the trade will be a drag in the third qurter. >> talk to me about the tax cuts. government spending was also up in this last quarter. what kind of factor did that play? >> the tax cuts play some factor. we know when you cut pethople's taxes,ey spend more money. business investment spending has not been great but it's up a little bit and probably in part scause of the tax cuts. federal governmending is up, you're right. that was mostly defense, and defee tends to bounce around quarter to quarter. what's interesting, state and local government spendings, more money than the federal government, is not increasing. it's very sluggish. >> household savings, we know gese are estimates we get when the g.d.p. numbers, they ten revise them. household savings is something we've had a recent revision on. what does that tell us?th >> i thin may be one of the most striking things in the report.v the nment reestimated a lot

of numbers over the past couple of years as they get more data from tax returns. they say americans saved twice as much in 2017 as previously estpate. and that mes there was a lot of concern if consumers of households hadn't saved much money, they would be reluctant to spend in the next six months or fear. but that's gone away. housolds have built up eir savings a little bit, upper end households, and that gives us confidence consumer spending could continue. >> for the households. the gapped conversation can be so abstrafnlgt what are these new numbers, this 4.1%? what does it mean? >> when the economy grows strongly, businesses tend too hire, meaning people get jobs, and the unemployment rate has some down to a 17-year low. but the g.d.p. report does not tell us how the pie iss ced. it tell us the pie is getting bigger, if pies can get bigger,o bun't tell us how it's being sliced wearntiond know

from other data it's not sliced evenly. most of the growth recently haso dispropotely gone to people at the top and wages of average pe up with inflation. >> at the same time the president deserves credit for this stronggrowth so far. >> no, i would stay president gets credit for it, and the perverse reaction to his trade war boost r, boosted growth in the second quarter and the tax cuts probably helped. >> david wessel, thank you s much for youime. >> you're welcome. >> woodruff: there were more questions today about what president trump knew about alleged russian involvement in the 2016 election, and new details about vulnerabilities in oufelection systems ahead o this fall's midterms. nick schiffrin joins me to discuss what we ow. hello, nick. so the president's former attorney, former so-called fixer, mike coin, is

reported -- michael cohen is saying the president ahead of time that this meeting that took place between donald trump, jr. and a rur ssian lawin the month leading up to the election in 2016, the president knew abt t it, the presidis saying today it didn't happen, he didn't kn. so, if it's true, what's the significance of it? t >> this goes to the he whether the president knew or did not know that russ wanted to get him elected and his actually meddling in the election, and that is hing he specifically said he did not know at all about. so this meeting took place, asi you saidn july 2016, between the president's son, donald trump, jr., thpresident's son-in-law jared kushner, theai ca manager at the time, paul manafort, and a russian lawyer natalia veselnitskaya, and we know veselnitskaya had connections to senior russian government officials and russian intelligence and was offering "dirt" fast forward to last sum when were this meeting was revealed and donald trump, jr.d

specifically sat he never told his father of the events. >> a lot of people are going to want touknow this aboutr father. >> mm-hmm. did you tell your father anything about this? >> no. it was such a nothing, there was nothing to tell. i wouldn't even rember it until you scoured true the stuff. it was literally a waste0of 2 minutes, which is a shame. >> now koehn is saying donald trump, jr. did let hs father know about that meeting in advance, and that could mean that the predent knew russia was trying to help him get elected and he consistently denied that, and that dit line of russian interference anr thident has never been proved before. the president denied it in a tweet today saying i did not know of the meeting with my son don, jr., goes on in tht tweet to accuse cohen of lying to get out of consi trouble, and we should understand that cohen is in legal trouble. he's under investigation by the

f.b.i. and the u.s. attorney's office, so he does have incentivwto play nice h prosecutors, he has not introduced any evidence and said in the past the president didn't know about this meeting. so he said-he said, but a the least a big break between the presidt and a long-time fixer and someone who frankly knows a lot about his history., >> of courhe other part of this investigation going on that the special prosecutor is looking at is the role russia played in the 2016 election. the intelligence agencies in this contry say t interference is ongoing right now and, today, yesterday, we got oufirst confirmation that russians are still interfering. >> absolutely. russian intelligence has always tried to do a few things in the u.s. -- osow discord, two, assist actors russia lieves can help, and, three, oppose actors who oppose rsia. so 2016, helping donald trump and hacking in order to

discredit hillary clinto one of the first targets in 2018 is claire mccaskill. she's close with hillary clinton, very ti-donald trump, and she's vulnerable, one of te democrats e running in states that elected donald trump and, four, she is vociferously anti-vladimir putin and, today, acknowledged that, yes, her office was hacked and targeted and put out this statement -- she saynurussia conti tone gauge in cyber warfare againstm our ocracy. while this attack was not successful, it is outrageous they think they can get away with this. i ll not be intimidated, i will say it before and again, pun is a thug and bully. what happened her, mccaskill received e-mails that looked legitimate from hike soft, they were fake, told to inse passwords on a separate page, called fishing. last week microsoft revealed that the very hackers doing this

were the same hackers tied to russian intelligence. >> that organization was registering fake microsoft domains and using them for a variety of purposes, d by using fake microsoft domains, it made the whole scam that they used to infiltrate and control their targets look more. legitima >> and this is one technique that worked in 2016 but, as wee, know this tiidn't work, but it does prove russia continues its efforts to hack and influence the 2018 elections.uf >> woo quickly, nick, we know monday, connected to all this, the president's former campaign manager paul manafort goes on try. what should we be looking for? >> so this is the first test for special council robert mueller, he accused manafort making millions as registered agent of ukraine, hinding it, laundering in the u.s. and lying about it to f.b.i. manafort denied wngroing.

miewrt miewrt says he will have 35 witnesses including bitell the special counsel is putting pressure on manafort hoping perhaps in the future that hee will provinformation on the larger investigation. >> woodruff: because he worked so closely with presidtr >> absol >> woodruff: nick schifrin, thank you very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: stay with us. coming up onlehe newshour: tions of sexual misconduct at cbs. okmark shields and david b take on another busy week of news. and, hip-hop culture wre you don't often see it: in a museum. but first, wildfires are burng across a big section of the country and have been for weeks. fires are a problem, as we know, most summers, but the severity and scope of what is happening

in the west and southwest this year is posing big problems for officials, for residents and for firefighters on the line. and as miles o'brien reports, climate change may be magnifying the problem in california and elsewhere. >> o'brien: firefighters are battling rapidly expanding wildfires across california, facing high winds and triplees digit temperats authorities race against the clock, while mass evacuations are underway in some areas.an ors at a local television in northern california were esacuated on the air while reporting on the f >> we've been here live, and right now, we are being kiacuated. that's why we are nd of closing out right now. i are going to leave the station because now unsafe to be he. >> o'brien: one big blaze, known as the carr fire, crossed overto the sacramiver into redding, a city of 91,000 residents.

two firefighters were killed. it wiped out at least 65 homes. chris anthony is a division chief with cal fire. >> we're going to continue to see these large and esry damaging fhat travel extremely fast and have huge impacts on communities throughout the state. the trends are clear that fire are increasing in size and severity, as well as with the destructive nature of the fires as well. >> o'brien: ndatory evacuations expanded as high teseratures and dry conditi made it easier for wildfires to spread across the central and southern sections of the state. poor air quality and visibility have limited the ability of helicopters to help fight the flames in valleys and low-lying areas. earlier this week, the ferguson fire even shut down yosemiteth national par week. >> this is a full suppression fire and we are fully engaged.av we heven authorized dozer line inside yosemite, which is hardly ever done.

>> o'brien: it was the first time the park had been shut dowi e 1990. >> get yourself out of here if you can. >> o'ben: 3,400 firefighters are working to contain the blaze just two m >> we're very, very dependent on tourism, just like tt of the community, and this is our ak season. >> o'brien: and the relentless cranston fire, which started on wednesy, also exploded overnight in southern california, forcing thousands to flee mountn towns 100 miles east of los angeles. >> when we left, it was last .inute yesterday, around 1:00, that we finally le and my husband was taking pictures of the planes and said, it is time to go. >> o'bri: california has gotten much of the national attention, with five large fires at the moment, but there are other states facing even more severe situations. there are 89 large fires burning more than 870,000 acres across 13 states, mostly in american west.

oregon and alaska are each dealing with 15 fires. larry sutton is with the u.s. forest service and pa the national interagency fire center.ua well, so, y, for us, when we have a lieutenant of apres all over the country and all over the land the exercise is a little bit like spreading not enough peanuter buon too much bread. you know, we have a lot ofmi resources to c but, once we have a certain level of activity, it becomes all about prioritization of resource erlocation. >> scientists say are many factors in play including human encroach meant deep into forest prone to grow naturally and fire

suppression that greatly increased the fuel. researchers say climate change is part of the picture, hotter and dryer conditions make fires more likely. they say all is a perfect storm that leads to bigger fairs that are harder tocontain. park williams studies climatology at columbia park williams studies climate and ecology at lamont doherty earth observatory of columbia university. >> the place where we reallyee a strong link between climate change and increase fires is in forests. and the reason for that is because in forests, there'spl ty to burn, so all you need to do is dry that stuff out and it will burn more. what we've seen especially in forested areas is that as we turn up the temperature even by one or two degrees, then fire responds and it pretty-- in a large and measurable way, because the vegetation dries out.

>> o'brien: and the impact of climate change can be seen in active fires, such as in thesw edish and greek wildfires that contin to spread amid brutal temperatures. but for now, fire officials in cawfornia say, this is the normal. i'm miles o'brn, with the pbs newshour. >> woodruff: now, new allegations of sexual harassment and misconduct at cbs at the highest levels, and the culture that allowed the behavior. that is the focus of an investigation by the "new yorker" magazine that is out this evening. it reports that leslie moonves, the c.e.o. of cbs and one of the most powerful people in entertainment, allegedly kissed and uched women against thei will.

the cases go back to the 1980s. the article also alleges that moonves physically intimidated two women, or threatened to derail their careers. uae article also alleges s harassment at its famed program, "60 minus," and said that its executive producer, jeff fager, allowed it to go on there and at cbs news. moonves has denied any assault, and said he never misused hispo tion to harm anyone's career. cbs said there had been no misconduct claims or settlements against moonves. ronan farrow, the writer, is orain the reporter on the and he joins me now. ronan, are the main allegations against les moonves? >> over the course of eight months, jud six woen did an incredibly tough thing overcoming what they describ as profound fear of retaliation to tell me about a range ofal seisconduct up to and including two cases that both of those women described as sexual assault in which they both said they were pinned down and had to

struggle to escape anun encor. what's important here, judy, is they're speaking about this because they are concerned there was a culture of impunity around les moonves and dozens of other emoyees, former and current across cbs, backed up that account ad said that company knew about charges of harassment and retaliation and from moonves continued to promote some of the men at the heart of thneosele tiations. >> woodruff: what can you tell us about who is making these arges? >> so these are obviously ugurces who went through a long process of string of whether to come forward and what the ramificaons would be for their careers. they include for the women making allegations against mr. moonves specifically, the actress and writer illiana douglas, writer janet jones, the producer chrispeters, you know, people with prominent careers in hollywood who e formidable in their own rights, but they all said that they feated thheir careers had

ufen profoundly damaged after they rd mr. moonves' advances. >> woodruff: let me share with our dience a statement at we just received from les moonves and i believe we're going to put it up on the screen. heaid, i rognize that there were times decades ago when i may have made some women uncomfortable by making advances. buose were mistakes and i regret them immenselyi always understood and respected and and abided by thenoprinciple tha means no, and i have never misused my posion to harm or hinder anyone's career. so he is saying, yes, that there may have been actions that were misunderstood, but not what your reporting suggests. >> and, obviously, anytime there's a story like this, the commitment here is to fairness, and that statement from mr. moonves is prominently in that article and, you know, weor ex every aspect of his response to this and cbs's response. these are women backe in

unme cases, multiple eyewitnesses acc, multiple people they told at the time, trails of paper.ou in illianaas' case, there was a settlement with cbs after thiinthiscident. she said she was fired for the incident. so this does appear to be aind s described by sources as a pattern and expends to mr. moonves and some of his executives he chapioned and promoted like jeff fager who now ns "60 minutes." >> woodruff: in the acialtion you say 30 current and former cbs staffers saithe behavior extended beyond moonves to the corporation including cbs news and "60 minutesand, of course, its executive producer was jeff fager. so whadid you find about the corporate culture, the culture at cbs news? >> oover and over again,ng individuals g from assistance up to -- assistants up to powerful executives at the company said they kn of instances in which people hadco

lained of harassment and there had been no negative repercussions for perful men who were the subject of the allegations and the women making the allegations were managedobut of their . so when you talk to dozen and dozens and dozens peopl around a corporation, you get all the sides of the story, and there are certainly peep at this company who have had good experiences and divisions not affected by these kof allegations, but there are a significant number ofe occurrences heand manifested in litigation and internal processes and a string ofa. n.that we obtained and recruit that suggests that y evvel of this company people were complaining about a culture of impunity. woodruff: so what does that say? what are you saying you believen based op your reporting, was going on there?rd that the as going out from people at the very top that this kind of behavior is acceptable? >> i think, you know, you and i both worked in larg organizations in the news

business and in media. it is rarely that overt, judy but, certainly, people said that, by example, there were powerful men who were engaged in this kind of behavior, who were subjecto allegations widely known and who were continually promoted in spite of that, and that does have a powerful effect corporate culture. we talked to multiple experts sexualwyers who try harassment cases who said, you know, the culture at the top really does set the ontand really can have echoes everon hout a large corporation such as cbs. we're careful not to dra speculative inferences, but i can say there are a large number of cases across this country and it apordz us to look not just as a falcen prolike harvey weinstein, someone who used to be in a position of apex p but a company that still is in a position of primesy and is aly reimportant institution, judy. >> woodruff: finally, ronan, i

see that cbs corporate put out a statement that the independentor direhave committed to investigating these claims. is it your understanding that they are going to follow up on your reporting? >> they say that in that hattement, and i think that will be a source of cautious optimism f a lot of the sources in the this story, but also the source of some skepticism because these are claims that in some cases people have been trying to report within this company and without for years. >> woodruff: right now les moonves occupies the position of c.e.o., is that right? >> that's correct. >> woodruff: all right, fonan farroronanfarrow with the "new " thank you very much. >> thank you, judy, always a pleasure.

>> woodruff: so, from the russia investigation right to the strong economy, it's been a busy week for the president. we turn now to the analysis of shields and brooks. i thsyndicated columnist mark shields, and "new york bmes" columnist david brooks. it is so good to sh of you together! >> thank you. >> woodruff: sometime in the summer -- >> i have been here, judy. i haven't en missing. (laughter) >> woodruff: so, david, we're going to start with you, because you have been away with the economy, our lead story tonight, blockbuster numbers for the past second quarter of the year, growth off the charts. the president said today several times that he deserves theed for this, his policies have led to a turnaund in e american economy. does he deserve the credit? what's the significance for them? ieval would be back in med economy if not for donald trump. (laughter) no, it's just a truism that presidents get the blame when it's going down and the credit when it's going up, but their

affect on the economy is generally in the long term, not sht term or a quarter by quarter thing. if you look at the economic data, there is a lot of consumer spending and tat probably is because to have the tax cuts, as david wessel said earn the program. i think the business investment is not as high as you think it. would the whole idea of the corporate rate cuts is you hand ago lot of money back to corporations and they're going to blow out the ceiling. it's fine, but not wha would expect. earlier, you know, i thought the tax cut really was having an effect in inducing corporations to invest. that seems not to be the case. not bad, but not fantastic. so i ould say the tax cut gets u me credit, but not a lot. >> mark, how do ok at these numbers in the president's role in all that? >> i look at it, judy, that donald trump is capable of convincing people of just abt anything. i mean, recall, if you will,en november 2016 e got elected, he convinced enough aters that the country was the brink of desolation and destruction.

we, at that point, were in a point of 8ve9 consecuonths of economic growth, 80 months historic hi in the country of job growth consecutivively. >> woodruff: when he was elected. >> when he was elected in november 2016. he somehow was able, a at time when longevity were at an all-time highr, graduatioes were at an all-time high, pollution, greenhouse gases were at an all-time low, it was a good era, yet he's able to say it was the darkest time in t americ darkest moment. and david's right, the president does either get credit or blame. >>s oodruff: point out, a cautionary note, the last time the economy grew at a ter rate was third quarter of 2014 when barack obama waspredent, grew at 5.2%, and that election of 2014, the democrats' numbers in the house of representatives lost to the point where they had

their lowest numnber si 1928, held fewer state legislators than at any time prior to the civil war.so you know, when the economy is bad, the economy is the onlys e. when the economy is good, the elections are oftentimes about other issues. >> woodruff: well, while the economy has been doing what it's en doing, david, the president has been stirring up trade policy, he's en getting into -- he doesn't want to call it a trade war but a trade dispute with china and the european union and now we see some of the consequences. he's shaken up much of the agriculture sector, there are mplaining. he went out and talked to some of them this week, made speeches, said just be patient, it's all going to be okay. how patient should they be? >> i think they should be upset right now. this is one of those casesere 90% of economists sort of think what donald trump is doing is wrong,robably 99.9%, and no one seems to defer to the

economists. we're in an era where deferring to expertise is not what one does. so whether climate, trade, anything else, experts say we don't care about at stu. when you ask the donald trump voters wt's causing the economic stagnation, they give two answimers,igration and trade. i feel that's wrong bans that is their belief. d and so wheald trump declares a trade war a lot of voters say, hey, it'gog to hurt me, i'm a farmer, working in a factory in indiana, it wil hurt me, but i am willing to take the hit for the country, because they believe that's ther lem. he's right to go after china, they're unfthair, bute way he's doing it in a manner while attacking every other ally we have also with a tra wath canada and the the european union is just craziness. >>oodruff: and as david said, mark, he's going against the republican orthodoxy, that

free trade is a good thing. >> he's repe ed therepublican orthodoxy, let's give him credit. there's no loger republican orthodoxy, it's what donald trump says the republican party ands for, and republicans jen you neglect ijen -- genuflect if him. i think he felt pressure from hill republicans. i had a ading republican s to me today exactly what david said, a war or contest with china, totally understandable, justifiable politically, not unwise at all, but to take on the world... the problem is dald trump is putting at risk republican majorities in both t heuse and the senate, and that's what he was persuaded this week. and i asked the republican wise man why can't he understand

this? he says donald trump has spent 72 years thinking uninterruptedly only about donald trump, and the idea tht miraculously at the age of 72 he would now start thinking others, but he's been persuaded it's in his selinterests to back off on the wall and others. >> you notice talking to people in the business community from around the world, the first is the u.s. is now becoming like this black hole they just don't want to get involved, and there is plenty of ways to invest in china, africa, asia, so why get involved in the u.s.? as a result, foreirect investment is plummeting. controversy?have the >> they just don't want to be involved with trump. they get the sense america is no longer the central nation, u.s. is imploding, and we should be seeing surges of people wanting to invest in our economy but we haven't seen it. and we'veee n trump making an an attack, then bktrack and ve

a peace deal. that's the drama he likes. itnteans you can never couon him. if he does good or bad, there will always be a backtrack, so permanent instability in the u.s. presidency. >> even if he cuts a deal wth the e.u., which he says he's done to come up with some trade agreement, it may not alleviate some of these hard feelings thta have already built out. >> the hard feelings don't go away, judy. obviously, his attacks on political leaders of independent e.u. countries and n.a.t.o. countrie it has rer repercussios for them at their owpolitical constituencies. they then have to establish their independence from him and their unwilling necessary toer coe with everything he wants. it robs america of its leadership role, robs america of its coalition power that it's had. but, no, i don't thhere is any question that the anxiety -- i mean, we began the week, he

war with iran was in the offing. almost invented, again, to diverse attention from what was and continues to be a negate story on helsinki. >> but it's a distant memory now. >> i guess. so russia, i would have to ask you both about, i guess, a number of developments in the ek.sia investigation this david, i guess the one getting all the attention now is the report that the president knew before donald trump, jr. met with that russian lawyer at trump tower in the middle of 2016, the. 's denying it.t we talkenick schifrin about it earlier, but are we lookingat serious political jeopardy? the meme who believe the president are stiinll beli w m, everybody else is saying ah-ha? we look at this? >> i'm looking at e allegations against michael cohen, whether he's believable,

if youe you wera journalist you wouldn't want to say it definitely was true. on the other hand i ve been a skeptic of the russia thing, so from 0 to 10 i have be a 3 because i think there was no campaign to collude, and i'm moving up to 5 or 6 these days st because there have been clouds of behavior that does begin to smell fishy, clouds of behavior surrounding whether russians actually got analytics from the democrat's computer and handed it to the trump weird timings with the russian at all times connected to the trump tweets and statements. then on the obstruction of justice side, mueller loking over the tweets and constellation of things. so there's no one thing whereca yo say they clued, that seems to elude us, but there are clouds of behavior that make it seem more plausible. >> woodruff: clouds of behavior, mark? i would say so. faceoff between donald trump and michael cohen isot to be confused with mother theresa ad

abraham lincoln. both starts with obstanacled impediments to believability.an but the former rudy giuliani who has become the flack for donald trump said last night -- i said actually earlier that michael cohen is an honorable man, a man of integrity and an honest lawyer, and last nig he's been lying for years, lying all his life, according to mr. giuliani. this is from mr. trump who said he was gng to bring nothing but the best people, at least half of om have left since they got here. most of all, judy, i think the question about russia remains why is donald trump this assertive alpha male turned into thisbmissive cloying, almost eager to please person, a suiter

around the real -- a suitor around the real alpha male putin. why, if you're a republican in a year where republicans are very much on the defensive, four dozens republicans running in a house district up for grabs turning democrat from republican, why -- you want to talk abt e economy, you want to talk about that and why donald trump wants to hae another summit meeting where it gets nothing but bad press. >> wodruff: well, what about that, david? >> it's the axis of test t testosterone. they're the same kind of guys.pl some pthink putin must have something on trump, black, mamething like that. maybe that's true. so me it totally makes sense that trump admires the cut of putin's jib and he has along history of business ties with russia, ideologally they have some similarities, if you look at the european parties populist like trump, they all are pr putin, they just think i like

strong men, that guy's a stron man, my kind of guy, and bullies can sycophantic toward better bullies. i take the psychologicale cultural mthan black male. >> i'm more base. the "wll street journal" pol says do we have favorable or unfavorable feelings in july of this year toward major dividuals and institutions. vladimir putin, 2% very favorable among the american voters, favorable, 65% unfavorable, 46% vey unfavorable. so by a margin of 23 to his very unfavorables to very favorables. why the donald trump hangg around with him? david, i have been suspicious all the way through. m t have something, there's some reason. donald trump is not a man env to great loyalty to individuals. you know, his hero worship is

finite. it does raise serious questions about what's gng on he. >> woodruff: it's the cut of his jib. >> it's the cut ohis jib. bat poll numbers. >> do jibs even have cuts? i've never seen an uncut jib. w >>oodruff: we'll have the answer to that question next friday. mark shields, david brooks, thank you. >> woodruff: finally t, hip-hop goes high art, and gets the full museum treatment. trffrey brown takes us on to oakland, california for an exhition that captures the local, and now international, spirit of the music, and much more. >> brown: sounds, colors, fashions of the street: it's where hip-hop has always lived. but w, it's also in a museum

e guzman is curator of t exhibition, "respect: hip-hop style and wisdom," athe oakland museum of california. >> it's a culture that's been around, approaching 50 yrs, and it's established a centrality not only in american culture but world culture. you can't think of any culture, high or low or in-between, that is so pervasive. >> brownand therefore it belongs in a museum. >> yeah, well, it belongs in a museum because it's reached this status where it's a mature,so isticated complex culture, if you think about it.wn >> bthe exhibition traces decades of history: artifacts, like handbills for block parties in the bronx in the late '70s, and a handwritten essay by a young tu black men to american volutionaries. we see hip-hop's entry into

mainstream tv shs. dj gear, including this turntable used by grandmaster flash.an graffiti's rise from underground to art galleries. and, of course, music everywhere, including in a large first room that offers hands-on experienc today, of course, hip-hop is a global industry and culture-- but one, this exhibition argues, still rooted in the local. eric arnold is a longtime bay area music journalist and writer.s >> placend of very central to hip-hop. i mean, hip-hop in general is about identity. it's about establishing, kind of like an alternate identity, that

if you think of hip-hop as a nation comprised of thousands o triben you're kind of getting the idea. >> brown: for the exhibition,re arnolded a hip-hop "atlas" of the bay area, showing key sites in local history.ri "earby aretes to oakland- based artists liketoo short," photos of the scene here. and a 1964 chevy impal representing calcuornia's car ure, and its impact on hip- hop music. another local figure the meum worked with to shape the exhibition is mandolyn ludlum, better known as "mystic," a grammy-nomined hip-hop artist who's long worked with young

people and is now about to begin a masters program at oxford university. >> for those of us who are part of the first generation of hip- hop artists, i don't any of us ever imagined it in museums. so my interest was immediate. and also wanting to be part of making sure that, as a woman, that the exhibit would be inclusive to some degree of women's roles within hip-hop. >> brown: that role has been ane uneasy o she sayshe had to fight hard for her own place, and she's very aware of the violence and misogyny in much of rap music.gh >> it exists, >> brown: it exists. >> i've always said hip-hop is a microcosm of that does not justify what we hear and the demeaning of women. but when we talk about the demeaning of women, do we also emphasize and promote artists that help pave the way like queen latifah, right?

do we talk about the art that they were creating? and also, do we amplify the male artists, the male hip-hop artists who are creating music that honors women? >> brown: accentuating the positive is very much the focus here, including one perhaps lesser-known aspect of hip-hop culture. >> when you look at young black males in the inner city, one of the last things you think about is that these dudewill wreck you on a chessboard. >> brown: adisa banjoko heads the hip-hop chess federation, an non-profit aimed at empowering young people through music, martial arts and chess. he says the connections are longstanding, dating back to 1970s heroes bruce lee on film and bobby fisher on the chessboard. >> chess is a game of life for hip-hop people.e weoking at risk assessment, we're looking at sacrifice.wi what am ing to give up to

get what i want? and al going to dictate how i live on the actual block. >> brown: this is a nithin a community, the hip-hop community? odu're not telling me ever in hip-hop is... >> i'll say, the best. not everybody. i'll say, the best. so, will smith is a chess player. rizza from wu tang clan is a chess player. jay-z is a chess player. his picture is right behind you sitting with kids at marcy projects. but this iwhy hip-hop continues to be successful irrespective of whether the mainstream is into them or not. like, hip-hop finds a way to be successful because, at the top level, these chess players are making dls, becoming ntrepreneurs, creating businesses and thinking strategically. >> brown: big money is certainly a big part of global hip-hop culture today, but music journalist eric arnold says there's plenty more. >> on one hand, it has become a multibillion-dollar industry very commercially commodified,

and hollywd is in it, and the major record labels are in it, and the fashion industry is in it. but on the other hand, it's still underground and it's still grassroots. brown: are you worried about sort of codifying hip-hop byin puit in a museum and sort of, you know, killing it? >> no, not at all. i mean, you can't killhing that can't die, you know? and it can't die by being placed in a museum when it's still vibrant, when it's still active. you know, hip-hop started as an alternative to the museum experience, so it really shows that's it's really come a veryay long >> brown: the exhibition" respect: hip-hop style and wisdom" runs through august 12. for the pbs newshour, i'm jeffrey brown in oakland, california.

>> woodruff: and on the newshour line right now: many americans are not getting screened for cancer, putting them at risk of missing out on earlier medical intervention, th's according to a recent federal report. you can read more about those findings on our website, www.pbs.org/newshour. tonight on "washington week," on pbs, robert costa reports on today's robust economic report, and why some critics say the growth is not sustainable. plus, the latest on mr. trump's former attorney and confidante, michael cohen. that's later tonight, on "washington week." and on a special pbs newshour weekend saturday, puerto rico in crisis. after suffering economic turmoil and a weather disaster, what'sxt or puerto ricans on the island and here on the mainland? and that's the newshou tonight. we will be back, right here, on monday, with our "now read this" book club pick for wugust. i'm judruff.

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