captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening, i'm judy woodruff. hi the newshour tonight, after reports that the wte house counsel is cooperating with the mueller investigation, the president's personal legal team pushes back. we explore that and the state of the probe. then we travel to nevada where immigration is top of mind for voters in the midst of a tightly-contested u.s. senate race.>> or you, then, immigration is not just an issue. it's a deeply personal experience. >> yes, it is. extremely personal. i mean, people that i love and care deeply about their lives is on the line. >> woodruff: plus, ad wars and the supreme court. with just two weeks until confirmation hearings, our akpolitics monday team bredown the fight for and against nominee brett kavanaugh.

all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. f >> majording for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> consumer cellular understands that not everyone teeds an unlimiwireless plan. our u.s.-based customer service reps can help you choose a plan based on how much you use your ss.ne, nothing more, nothing learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> 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.

>> the william and flora hewlett foundation. for more than 50 years, advancing ideas and supporting institutions to promote a better world. at www.hewlett.org. >> and with the ongoing support of these institutions: and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributionsur pbs station from viewers like you. thank yo >> woodruff: president trued ragainst special counsel robert mueller and the russia investigation again today, in the wake of a weekend "new york times" report that the white

house counsel has sat extensive interviews with mueller's team. on twitter today, the president accused mueller of, "looking for trouble" and "ruining people's wetl look at the state of t investigation after the news summary. mr. trump also again criticized former c.i.a. director john brennan, whom the prident stripped of his security clearance last week. brennan hinted yesterday that he might take legal action to e president from removing other officials' clearances. mr. trump shot back on twitter: "i hope john brennan, the worst c.i.a. director instur country's y, brings a lawsuit." today, 177 former u.s. state and defense department officials added their names to a letter opposing the president's removal of brennan's clearance, saying former officials should be allowed to speak freely. as presint trump sounded off on twitter, his wife spoke out against cyber-bullying as part

of her so-called "be best" campaign promoting children's well-being. at a government summre on bullyingntion in maryland today, first lady melania trump urged social med and tech companies to promote good online behavior. >> in today's global society, social media is an inevitable part of our children's daily lives. b can be used in many positive ways, but can al destructive and harmful when used incorrectly. >> woodruff: a spokeswoman for mrs. trump said she is, "aware of the criticism" she's received for highlighting online harassment while the president often uses twitter to taunt his political foes, but that criticism, "will not deter" the first lady from "doing what she feels is right." later today, mrs. trump announced plans for a solo trip she'll make to africa in the fall. last january, her husband

referred to african countries by crude term. pope francis today ced the catholic church's role in covering up child sexual abuse by priests.hi it markefirst personal response to a scathing report revealing misconduct in parishes across pennsylvania. in a letter to all cathocs, the pope asked forgiveness from the victims and urged a change in the culture that enabled the abuse. he called on the church to "acknowledge and condemn, with sorrow and shame, the atrocities perpetrated" by clergy. turkey, police have detained two suspects in a shooting attack at the u.s. embassyn ankara. officials say the men confessed to firing at the building from their car this morning. no one was injured. it comes amid an escalating diplomatic dispute between washington and ankara. the countries slapped tariffs on each other after turkey refused

to release a detained american pastor. turkey's president recep tayyip erdogan today condemned what he says is an "economic attack." >> ( translated ): there is no difference between the attack o our economy e attack on our prayer and our flag. the aim is the same. the aim is to bring tund turkish people to their knees and take them hostages. nhose, who failed to bring d turkey through terrorist organizations, treacherousus gangs, tds of tricks and traps, think they can make turkey give up through exchange rate but they will soon see that they are mistaken. >> woodruff: the lira has lost 40% of its value against the dollar this year, a slide that was exacerbated by recent u.s. tariffs on imported turkish metals. in an interview today, president trump vowed he would make "no concessions" to turkey for the release of the american pastor. venezuela's government implemented a major currency overhaul today, as part of an effort to mitigate the country's economic crisis. it de-values venezuela'solivar

by 96%. ans tovernment also hike the minimum wage by 3,000% and raise gas prices to international levels. venezuelans rushed to stock up on food and other items before prices climb even higher.nf economists saytion there could hit one million percent this year. greece emerged from nal bailout today after eight years of harsh austerity measures, leaving the country free to sett own economic policies. the euro zone and international monetary fund nt over $300 billion to greece since its economic crisis began in 2010. european officials touted the program as a success, citing a growing economy and an unemployment rate that's fallen un%, from a peak of 28% in 2013.tr >> ( slated ): the end today of the european support program to greece is a very important moment, i would even say

historic for all of above all for the greek people. these were eight difficult years, often painful, which were marked by three successive programs but now greece can finally draw a line under a crisis which has lngted for too >> woodruff: but many greek households have suauered under therity measures. one third of the country's population is at risk of poverty. in afghanistan, security forces rescued 149 hostages taken by the taliban in the northern kunduz province. taliban fighters fled the battle with 21 captives.ri secu forces remain on alert after the taliban rejected a government ceasefire proposal for the eid al-adha holiday this week. u.s. ecretary of state mike pompeo said in a statement sunday the u.s. is ready to facilitate peace talks between the two sides. a series of powerful earthquakes rock two indonesian islands a overnight, kilt least a dozen people. aftershocks foowed a magnitude 6.9 quake that hit the islandsof

ombok and sumbawa. they caused landlsides ando damagere than 1,800 homes. lombok is still recovering from an earthquake that struck ther two weeks ago, killing 460 back in this country, president trump said he was, "not thrilled" with the chair of thee l reserve's policy of gradually raising interest rates.n interview with reuters, the president said that the u.s. central bank, under jerome poll, should be more accommodating. mr. trump also repeated his charge that china and europe manipulate currency. a strong day on wallwitreet ended th a dip after the president's comments. the dojones industrial average gained 89 points to close at 25,758. the nasdaq rose four points to close at 7,821, and the s&p 500 gained seven points to close at 2,857.l st come on the newshour: the white house counsel

cooperating with robert mueller's investigation. how catholicview the pope's response to the church sex abuse scandal. on the ground in nevada where immigration is playing into a key u.s. senate ra, and much more. woodruff: the string of attacks coming from the president's twitter account continued today with a now familiar target: the mueller investigation. or as mr. trump claims, "the tch hunt." amna nawaz begins our coverage with the latest pushback. >> nawaz: it's not the first time president trump's advisors have made headlinetoattempting efend his version of the trut >> that's why we feel compelled to go out and and clear the air and put alternative facts out

>> so i think it's very important to point out that in a situation like this, you have over time, facaw develop. >>: but the latest comments, this weekend from the president's lawyer, rudy giuliani, continued his team's latest strategy to undermine special counsel robert mueller's s vestigation, by muddying the waters around trumst statements and potential future ones under oath. >> when you tell me you know, he should testify because he's doing to tell the truth and he shouldn'torry, well that's so silly because it's somebody's version of the truth. not the truth. >> truth is truth. >> no, no, it isn't truth. truth isn't truth. >> nawaz: today, giuliani took to twitter to clarify, saying his statement "was not meant as a pontification on moral theology," but instead, he wt on, referred to the "classic 'he said, she said" puzzle.'" the qution of the president's cooperation with the mueller probe remains. but a "nework times" report this weekend revealed another member of trump's team has been working with the special counsel. in at least three interviews, totaling more than 30 hour white house counsel don mcgahn

reportedly shared detailedac unts about events at the heart of the mueller investigation. president trump responded in a series of tweets today, calling mueller "disgraced and discredited," claiming mcgahn met with mueller's team,y only withproval, for purposes of transparency," and dismissinv the entiretigation as a "rigged witch hunt," continuing his persistent public attacks the probe. ge i say it again: that whole situation is a rwitch hunt. >> nawaz: but the special counsel's investigation has already yielded a series of indictments, including 13 russian nationals as conspirators in 2016 election interference, 12 russian intelligence officers for ection-related hacking. it's also led to guilty pleas from former national security advisor michael flynn, forme c depupaign chair rick gates and former campaign aide george ppadopoulos, who could face up to six months inson, according to a new sentencing

recommendation from mueller's team. the special counsel's work a led investigators to examine the finances of michael cohen, mesident trump's former personal lawyer, wultiple reports say could face criminal charges by the end of the month. but it's the bank and tax frd case against former campaign chairman paul manafort, whose fate now rests with a ry, that could set the tone for mueller's derk moving forward, and whether or not the presint will meet with him at all. for the pbs newshour, i'm amna nawaz. >> woodruff: we take a closer look at the white house unsel's cooperation with the mueller probe with solomon wisenberg. he was deputy independent counsel during the whitewater and monica lewinsky investigation.n and kathemmler was white house counsel for president obama. she currently represents a witness in the special counsel investigation. welcome back to the program, to both of you. let me tart by asking you both

to clarify the role of what is the white house counsel's set of responsibilities, katherine ruemmler to you first, in contrast to a president's personal attorneys. >> the white house counsel is there to provide the president with advice, legal advice, metimes policy advice, sometimes communication advic t about realhe limits of his authority as president. and so the whiteouse counsel has no role to play in advising a president on his particular personal lal issues. that really is a role for his personal lawyer and not for the white house counsel. it's important to remember that the white hoe counsel is a government official and they ars paid by the u. government. paid by the taxpayer.an their duties and obligations fundamentally are to the constitution and to the office of the presidency and the american people. >> woodruff: would you add or

subtract anythg from that? >> not at all. i couldn't say it any better. she only area in which a white house counsel ha some kindf executive privilege like any other executive officer l is potential executive privilege when you talk about a white house counsel, there is also an intermediary privilege. if a white house counsel is conving information from th president to the president's personal lawyer and vice ver, that and that alone would be privileged. and the case that decided that bruce lindsey in the n.c. circuit back in '98 wh our shop was up and running. >> woodruff: sol weisenberg, staying with you, how significant is it then that this port that don mcgahn spent upwards of 30 hours with the mueller investigative team answering questions in this russia probe? >> well, i thi it's very significant. i would is loved to have 30 hours to question bruce lnay.

we had to go up to the appellate court to get him to talk to us at al wl and that ishere that case comes from. but what we don't know is what he is saying thast is jut speculation. i think that something that is being not realized or not commented on enough is that thes ent's right, he didn't have to let don mcgahn go in. john dowd and cobb didn't have to, they could have asserted idecutive privilege but so on in. i think the reason they decided to do that is because when they were the lawyers they saw thisic as bly a case about coirusion/criminal cony involving the russians and the people in the trump campaign and they thought trad nothing to worry about. now we see that bob mueller apparently has a very broad view of obstruction of justice and there might be some real second thoughts about whether or not they should have sent mcgahn in. >> woodruff: katherine ruemmler, how do you see this? do you see it as a decision thar was maids unne set of

circumstances, now the circumstances have changed? >> i really don't. this is an issue i disagree with pretty strongly. i think that after the lindseyha casemr. weisenberg referred to, and frankly after the u.s. versunixon se what the courts have widely recognized is that executive privilegis a qualified privilege meaning that it gives way to, and certainly can give way to a criminal dually authorized criminal investigation. and so here as a practical matter, i donnk't thihat mr. mcgahn had much of a a choi all but to go in and answer the queions. he is a fact witness in a criminal investigation. he certainly could have refused to do it voluntarily and forced the mueller team to spp him to the grand jury. but i have no doubt that they would have taken that step. d you know, generally lawyers advising clients would prefer an

informal interview setting as opposed to a grand jury setting. when a witness is questioned in the grand jury defense counsel cannot be present in the room. soou have a lot ls visibility and control over the cs of the questioning an the answering, so i think that the idea that this is a big strategic decision is probably not quite right. and you know, i think mr. mcgahn, along with other ite house officials who presumably have answered questions of mr. mueller did so because practically they didn't have a huge amount ofhoice. >> sol weisenberg what is about, the argument that he did really have much choice. >> well, i would say-- there are two points i would make,t is true you have u.s. versus nixon but there is a case from 1997 in the d.c. circuit that is a controlling w. and it is not a cake walk, necessarily, to overcome executive privilege,

special counsel can't just say i'm running a grand ju investigation. there say real question with bob mueller whether he even has t right under his chart tore even litigate questions of executive privilege. however, if you are the president and the president's team, do you really want to be seen as invoking executive privilege, particularly that early in th investigation when gk man went in. i think it looks terrible. and so i don't copletely agree with katherine, i think the law isn't quite as strong as she suggests but really there hasn't been a lot of litigation on it. >> let's movon just quckly to what we know, katherine ruemmler, of what this investigation amounts to so far. from what you have read, fromw, what you khat do you gleen that robert mueller has at this point? >> well, let me say, just based on what is pubillicly avale, i don't think that we know really mu of anything. i think that the information

that has come out of the special counsel's investigation has not come from theoacters themselves. it's largely come through, yos know, witnes other people sort of on the periphery of the investigation talking b you know, questions that they may have answered or trying to sur mice what areas the spcial counsel focused on. and i just think we really don't .n we have-- we don't have anyway of giving sort of,ounow, credible predictions about where he mile ultimately be headed with this investigation.dr >> wf: sol weisenberg, how do you know about what you have seen so far. >> i think her point is outstanding. can i guarantee that you 50 to 75% of what mueller is working on, we don't know an 50 to 75% w t you see in the press is wrong. howe the smoo issue of whether or not there is a criminal conspiracy between people in the trurch campaign

and the russians, we can make educated guesses based on the plea documents that we have seen so far. and none of those plea ocuments indicate that there is an obstruction case. but to be continued. maybe mueller is keeping that under wraps, but typically if you have somebody who is pleading, in the plea paperle it's c either a statement of facts or a factual basis. i think meurler calls it statement of the offense, the person talks about what he or she did. and if you look at those documents with respect to papadopoulos w respect to flynn, even with respect to gates, you don't see an obstruction narrative there. so i do think we can make intelligent guesses. >> woodruff: 15 seconds, katherine ruemmler, do you see it the same way? >> well, i differ a little bit in saying that i think the obstruction stats, i'm i think they would post date those prior plea aments. so i'm not sure how much we can

gleen from that. >> wdruff: well, forure we are all keepingur eyes on all of it. therine ruemmler, sol wisenberg, we thank yoboth. >> thank you. >> thanks, judy. s woodruff: as we reported earlier, pope franrectly addressed the latest findings of sexual abuse in the chur today. in a letter he released to cathols around the world, the pope wrote of what he called past "atrocities" and said: "we showed no care for the little ones. we abandoned them." he also called for greater accountability. now, as john yang tells us, many are saying mh tougher steps st be taken, ones challenging the church's very hierarchy. >> yang: judy, in his letter to the faithful, pope francis said that changing the church must involve "the active participation of all" catholics. he said: "no effort must be

spared to create a culture able to prevent such situations from happening, b also to prevent the possibility of their being covered up and perpetuated." a letter from theologians, educators and lay leaders calls for a dramatic first step: the resignation of all u.s. bishops. that letter now has more than 2,400 signatures. one of the signers is douglas kmiec, a law professor a pepperdine university and former dean of the law school at catholic university of america. we are also joined by kathleen sprows cummings, a historian of catholicism who teaches at the university of notre dame. mr. kmiec, i would like it to start with you, with that leer, ae very tough words in that letter.o you talked a the catastrophic skill, scale, the historic magtude of the abuse. why ask for all the u.s. bishops to submit their resnations to pope francis. >> well, because we really need to have a clean slate. we need to have act of con

trigs as it were that is felt and actually has an effect upon s direction. if you think about this, john, there are three levels to correcting. one is the parish level where the abuse occurs. e is the episcopal level, the aadership of the church in terms of bishod archbishops and cardinals. and there is the highest level of all, the pope in the vatican. each one of those levels has to be addressed. but there is oyoing to happen if the church owns up to the proem being a systemic, cultural problem within its own traditions. and that requires the resignation of all of the thiscopet giving the holy the opportunity to keep those who have maintained the faith, but to exclude those who have not. >> how likely do you think that is, mr. kmiec?el

>> this is-- there is a precedent for. this the hoe father himself showed with an open mind and powerful figure he was when went to chile an there are enormous abuse in chile and bishops covering up. at first the holy father said these are jut distorted news accounts, they're pick on the church. but then h brought in archbishop secluna a close personal friend a adviser who did an examination and said no, this is really something whereps the bishem selves have been actively hiding and covering up the eviodencer the institutional good of the church, the holfather then changed course all together and he was offered the resignation of all 34 bisps in chile and accepted only three. bupthat was an imortant gesture to give the holy father that opportunity to cleathe slate.

>> over the weekend you had an op ed in "the new york times." u said the time for gradual reform was over. you said it is time to rip offbl the cloth, hurl the china against a wall. what would you like to see happen? >> i agree wholeheartedly tha it's time for a dramatic gestures. petition, find the com not because i didn't agree with it but what i was calling for am that editoriahal and t i wanted to hear from the bishop was the irit of penetance and hum-- humility that pope francis talked about in his letter. and would have loved to have seen the voluntarily resign rather than responding to a call from the lety. more than that, though. i think that if the bishops were esign and several or all of those resignations were accepted, they would be replaced with other bishops. they would be replaced with priests who will be order answered bisho who are k078ing

out of the same culture that i think this most recent report has made clear is the culture that is sponl, not oly forhe abuse but for the many years of coverup. n d i think prepare pras also ak njed that in his letter problemen he blamed the really identified the root of the cries nis a clerical culture. g >> so how do y about that, professor cummings, how do you go about changing that culture? >> to run with the image of the table which i used, we have-- many catholics have grown up with the assption and recognition that st always the bishop that is at the head of. the tab the bishop who always at diocese level, at parish level sts the iniests. and i that what we need to see is that laypeople recognizing that we are thes churchll. and naming that. and as pope francis said in his letter to the people of god,g findys to not just reset the table and move things

around, not just join bishops at thhtable but reallyange the way the table is configured, and so what i would like to see are sions that investigate abuse in other dioceses in the country, of oversight committees run by laople that don't have to have a bishop at the 4ed in order to give it cre i would like to see people think. i wrote in my op ed about growing up in a culture in whi father or monsignor or bishop were automatically assumed to be immune from criticism. and in that sense what moved me to write iwas my own complicit in this culture and my own scens not as an abuser buh someoneo was part of a culture that supported it. and i think that is what is new about pope francis' letter, what i heard about it that was differenfrom other responses. an acknowledgment was that this is the problem with the church. >> douglas, let me return to that letter. he talked to the pope, in his

letter talks about the sort of clericalism, the focus on the church rather than on the lay community. how much confidence do you have in pope francis that n can t things aro>>und? e obviously is a person who has a great deal of good women he has shown himse to be a person who's not judgemental who ded and who is willin to go down new directions. and professor cummis h put a finger on it it's not just addressing the spcific problem of the specific person who's been hurt 6789 obviously that person needs great carand great compensation and great kindness on the part of the church not beebuffed or hidden away or told that maybe heisunderstood something. so on the parish level we have to make sure that the victim, the person who has been abused has been helped. at the episcopal level he had

have to be constantly of the mind that the investigation tham professor mings talked about are being responded to. and then at thege lar level at the vatican level here's where pope francis is the kd of person who is creatively think being the future of the ch.u to what degree is this problem related to againer, to what degree is ts problem related to the fact that there is no real married priesthood in the context of the curch. these are questions, profound questions, they intrelate with this one because 90% of the cases that are here are caes that are aimed at malle males, especially male adolescents, middle years and later.sl and obviif you have a seminary that is built all around a male culture which has all of the associated gender problems with that, you are not actually giving it getting at the ot of the deficit. i think pope francis is the person who is the right pope at

the rightotim address those issues. >> b questions indeed. unfortunately we have run out of time.ec douglas kmi, kathleen sproas cummings, thank you ry much. >> woodruff: we turn now to november's midterm elections, with a closer look at nevada, a state where a razor-thin sene race could spell trouble for republicans trying to maintaint control of thaamber. and with rapidly shifting demographics, immigration is on the minds of many voters as they head to the ballot box. yamiche alcindor traveled to the "silver state" and brings us this report. >> alcindor: as she plays with her two-year-old daughter, ireri bravo feellucky, and worried. she fled mexico as a little girl and lived for years in nevada as a undocumented immigrant. the stay at home mom is now a u.s. citizen, living outside las vegas with her young family. but she is reeling from images

of immigrant children being separated from their parents at the border. >> i think of my daughter, and i think of how lucky i am that i know that i get to stay with her.ks it just bry heart that i fen't do more to help all those people who are sng. voting is something i can do. and getting people to vote, it's something i can do. >> alcindor: that is why she is hoping republican senator dean heller loses his bid for re- electionhis november. bravo is suppoing his opponent in the race: democratic first- term representative jacky rosen. many consider heller the most vulnerable republican in thena : he is the only g.o.p. senator up for re-election in a state hillary clinton won in 2016. >> i will vote for jacky rosen, because senator heller has demonstrated that he's not-- he's not standing with immigrants. yhe's not standing with m family. he's not representing me.

>> alcindor: president looms large in this race. he vised nevada in june and praised heller at the state's g.o.p. convention. >> he's a little bit-- little bit shaky at the beginning, but that was when a lot of people tnning. but once we got re, he's been rock solid and he's been great. >> alcindor: but in this state, public suppo for mr. trump has been sliding. and rosen is hoping to capitalize on that in spanish- language tv ads like this one. >> ( translated ): trump orders and heller obeys. the only question is, what willb you and yodies do to stop them. >> alcindor: polls show this race is neck and neck. nevada, once a republican stro purple.s now deeply it went for the democrat in the last three presidential elections. and, immigration is a factor: nearly one in five people here were born outside thu.s. like bravo, many have families with mixed immigration statuses. she has undocumented family members and others in limbo. for you, then, immigration is

not just an issue. it's a deeply personal experience. >> yes, it is. extremely personal. i mean, people that i love and d careply about their lives is on the line. >> alcindor: but miles away at her upholstery business, maria caminero sees things differently. she, her mother and infant brother fled cuba in 1ex5 as politicaes. >> it took me 25 years to become an american citizen. >> alcindor: just like bravo, immigration is her number-one issue at the ballot box. but she's supporting heller. >> i think that senator heller would-- would definitely support doing something about immigration. jacky rosen is more of an open- borders, "everything's okay," you know, "let'take care of the people," and i don't-- i do >> alcindor: caminero voted for president trump in 2016. she admits his rhetoric can be blunt. >> he just doesn't speak clearly, and he comes acrossan

a lot roughea lot colder than what he truly is. >> these aren't people. these are animals. >> when he said "they're animals," he was talking about ms-13. >> the president used vulgar language in describing immigrants from haiti, el salvador and some african countries. i'm sorry, they are ( bleep ) holes. my country, cuba, is a ( bleep ) hole. and for me to not be able to admit that my country is a ( bleep )hole, i would have a proble >> alcindor: caminero also believes asylum-seekers and children who enter the u.s. b illegally shoudetained separately from their parents. you were five years old when you came to the united states fleeing violence, fleeing communism from cuba. been separated from your mother? >> yes. i would have been fine hanging out with other children. i would have been perfectly fine with that.

>> alcindor: here in nevada, two immigrant women,wo vastly different views. but one election that could t signal presidemp's impact, and republicans' ability to win l over the country. for heller, the president presents an especially challenging obstacle. e two republicans align on some issues. but at this interstate opening near the hoover dam, he again criticized mr. trump's immigration policies. >> i do believe that we ought to keep these families together. but to say i can't support the trump administration because of one policy that has been reversed is a pretty ridiculous question. i will support reasonable s migration reform policieat are good for all nevadans. >> alcindor: jon ralston has covered nevada politics for more than 30 years. he says it's a delicate dance. >> being close to trump is going to turn out the republican base for him. if trump is a real athatross on ballot for republicans, in general, and for dean heller, in particular, it could cost him the race. >> alcindor: that's what rosen

is hoping. at a senior center in henderson ed heller to trump on immigration. >> i want to work on comprehensive bipartisan solutions that move our country forward, that protect our border, that stop criminals from coming in, that prov pathway to citizenship. dean heller is only going to do what the president asked him to. >> alcindor: with fewer than 80 days until the election, both campaigns are working hard to make their cases to voters. despite their political differences, both bravo and caminero are proud of their privilege. >> i can't begin to tell you what i feel every time i go to vote. because that's something that people in my country can't go to do. >> my vote represents all my friends and family members that can't vote. >> alcindor: for the pbs newshour, i'm yamiche alcindor in las vegas, nevada. >> woodruff: let's take a broader look now at the midterms, as the president is the campaign trail to support republicans.

anads in support of his supreme court pick are hitting the airwaves. a perfect time for politics monday. we're joined by amy walter of the "cook political report" and eliana johnson of "politico." welcome to both of y, polics monday. so we just heard that port from nevada. amy, first of all what does nevada look like and how isgr imion playing as an issue this fall. >> in is no doubt that nevada goe is a great place to because it's a very, very competitive race. one of the few opportunities that democrats have to playar offense, the mostly playing defense in the senate, defending 26 seats. immigration is really intereing to see how this plays. we know how republicans will play it. we heard it on the campaign trail in 2017 and 2018, some of the special elections. disem ats are nor open borders. democrats aren't doing enough to keep bad people like ms-13 out. the president himself talked a lot about that today when he had

a ateremonhe white house with ice agents saying that us people who arsaying thngs like abolish ice or making criticisms of ice, for people, me, you, they have no idea what strength is, it isa relly sad, right, these people have loud mouths or something like that. ue.they will make that an iss i don't know what democrats are going to do on immigration. i looked through at the report, we looked through all the ads that have been run from january tl the end of july. democrat nseshis primary talked overwhelmingly about health care, very little about immigration. republicans talked a lot about immigratio very little about health care. so i don't know that they are going to make the separation issue be a iss i don't know if they want to gabbed make that a priority as much as they want to make herith care a pr in their advising. >> eliana how do you see immigration playing out. we have heard so muout it in the past several months. >> you know, when the tax cut bill passed several months ago the idea was the reublican was campaign on this bill from coast

to coast. prisedological been sur surveying republican ads who few republicans have been k578 pains on this tax cutill and ho many have bmen campaigning on the issue of immigration. i think wha republicans saw was done ald-- donald trump seized on this issue so successfully in 2016 an rdpublicans are trying to do the same thing in 2018. the open queion for me is whether republicans@writ lar would be able to take an issue that worked so well for donald trurp and translate it into ant issue thrks for the party. e that's the question on immigration, on x cuts. amy, another point that has been raised isi ths the president spent a lot of time criticizing republicans and democrats in congress his own party. saying they're do nothing. they are not spporting my agenda. now he is going out every week saying to the voters society for thisrerson, vote fo this good republican. >> right only though i told yo washington say disaster, i said

a swamp, terrible things that i'm campaigning for bt do it because it's important to me, not just because you like me peonally, he ask saying t votedders but because if you put democrats in charge, they willme impeac we know what their goal ultimately is, so if you don't want them toim peacyou have to support republicans even though let's face t they are not very good.al >> what wa interesting when i look at what the president has done thus far, we looked at ecial election in ohio. and the president came and campaigned there, the vice president came and campaigned there.ok but when you t what turnout was like in the part its of that district that were he wily trump. thnt heavily trump in 2016, they turned out about ten points letter tthan the parts oe district that voted for hillary clinton in 206. even when you have the president there, right, and he can't go to every single race in this country. but even when he does, the motivating factor of getting those folks out is not as intense as the people whiko dihim who are going to

turn out no matter what. >> woodruff: motivation say big part of ths, isn't it? >> absolutely. and i think republicans are suffering right now from what helped them so much in the mid terms when president obama was president. lopublicans took back the upper ander chamber in 2014. and 2010, the t mrms under obama because their opposition to obama motivated them to gett the 308s. i think are that helped in 2016. the loathing of hillary clinton. now democrats feel the same way about president trump as republicans felt about oba a clinton and you know, there is sort of a clicheed slogan that you have to have more of the no or opposition to a candida as a platform. i actually think that's wrong. i think democrats can run on a pure anti-trump platform and we are seeinghat, that is plenty motivating for base vote ares in -te party. >> that anti-ant turns voters out every time. >> that's right. obama tried to dot same thi in his mid-term elections saying if you came and voted for me and loved me so much, vote in the

mid terms for these candidates. and they didn't.hi >> one other i wanted to ask you about, is all the while they are getting ready for thehe mid termsresident has nominated brett cav gnaw to the supreme court. kavanagh, a relcoiable ervative. both sides are now out with spending aot of money on tv spots, otherwise either trying to support this nmination or knock it down we've got two ick examples. and by the way, the o poants are being outspent 7-t here are two quick examples of what both sides are saying about btt kavanagh within the national is about to consider brett kavanagh to be the next supreme court justice. kavanagh refused to uphold key patient protections in the pasa. if he joins the court he could vote to end these protections for good. s tellator manchin to keep nighting for people are preexisting conditionte no on brett kavanagh. >> why won't joe donnelly upmmit torting kavanagh, is he more interested in siding with

chuck schumer and elizabeth waen than hassiers? has he forgotten who he represents? tell joe donnelly his vote on kavanagh is something you won't forget. >> so eliana, the supporters ofu mr. kavanaghe kavanagh are saying especially to these democrats in red states 've got to do this speaking of arch issue republicans and democrats are not lackadaisical b putting judges on the bench thsm he aree yut nding cav a nan opponents. the timing could not be more favor tobl trump coming right before a mid term where the ndography is throwing treus hurdles up for democrats. several red state democrat on the bald that 7-1 spending is conservatives running ads putting a tremendous amount of pressure for conservative decrats to vote inavanagh's favor rate before the mid-term elections. >> i think that is exactly right. ani think the other challenge for democrats right now is there

is one person who is giving them an outrage a day, something for them to get really excited and thenergy identified aboutt is the president. t vanagh does not excite them in the same way in pacause nobody knows who he is. i think the hearings that start on septembegi4th wilve us some indication about whether there is something in there, whether it is in his record or the way hef answered some oe questions that will give liberals more of an opportunity to derail th. >> two weeks from today. >> right. >> politics monday, amy walter, eliana johnson, thank you both. >> you're welcome. >> we will be backhortly with >> woodruff: and we'll be back shortly with a view on why we should embrace changing culture, but fiake a moment to hear from your local pbs station. it's a chance to offer your support, which helps keepik programs le ours on the air. >> woodruff: for those stations staying with us, we turn to the fabled city of timbuktu in mali.

there, local residents are taking par to preserve priceless records of the past. as special correspondent monica villamizar explains in this encore report, time may be running out for some irreplaceable documents from the city's libraries. >> reporter: these people are a saviorld of knowledge, a world nearly lost forever.it they are diging tens of deousands of ancient manuscripts rescued from near ruction during the al qaeda occupation of timbuktu five years ago. al qaeda destroyed monuments and libraries that were seven centuries old. the mitants implemented sharia law, and banned anything condered "sinful," like the manuscripts, which were seen as pagan writings' many were burnt. despite the deadly conflt, abdel kader haidara managed to save around 200,000 books.

>> ( translated ): we smuggled the manuscripts out very slowlye liy little, little by little, over a period of six months. we took them out of timbuktu in four by fours. we brought them to bamako, we also stockpiled them in small boats, about five miles outside of timbuktu and took them 375 miles away. >> reporter: abdelader haidara, whose family also owns an important collection of manuscripts, has digitized 20% of nearly 200,000 documents the originals are kept ithis room, classified by family name and year. they deal with myriad subjects: subjects such as astronomy and physics, politics and... magic. these gentlemen are reading page by page of each book, and they are making notes olike a summarwhat it says in each page.nn but time is g out. the books survived for centuries thanks to the dry desert of

timbuktu, but now live in the heavy, tropical climate of mali: bamako, mali's capital. tiuktu and northern mali, still plagued by conflict remains a no-go area. is anranslated ): the urgency because we have used 20% of the funds keep in, it's a lot bu mind we have hundreds of thousands of manuscripts. >> reporter: these books are relics, some date back to the 13th century, and have svived for more than 700 years. this one was a bit damaged by water. the fabled city of timbuktu is an oasis of culture in the middle of the desert. for centuries it served as the main transit point of the trans saharan caravans here it can fe like time has stopped. the "nle houses" of timbuktu have been holding book readings for decades, a sort of ancient version of "book clubs."

the men forehead, symbolizing the transfer of knowledge. and an imam or oth spiritual authority explains the meaning m of ttly-religious texts. ben minister of culture, says the books should return to their city of origin. >> ( translated ): it was the base to spread arab culture and islam to bla c africa. peope from south africa to study here, and others came from mareb to bring manuscript and books, especially to print them, because africa didn't have printers, so everything was copied by handere. >> reporter: but timbuktu is not safe to return. the only way to get the is to fly with the united nations, roads are too dangerous. this citat night, looks like any normal, city, but if you look right behind me, there is a avy security presence. these soldiers are blue helmets, the u.n. peacekeeping forces and they have been attacked many times before.

the soldiers are not the only targets. riccardo maia, the head of the u.n. mission in timbuktu, had his office attacked by gunmen eight mohs ago. a bullet went through here? >> yes it was supposed to go through my head, instead it went through the map. well i wasucky enough to survive that attack, actually i >> reporter: the u.n. has a rare mandate to protect the city's cultural heritage, including the s.nuscri >> they are important because they are a testimony of what has been going on here, that we see today as a remote outpost in the sahara, nine centuries ago whenm this wasor cultural center. whe there was a large university with, teachers and scholars coming enom the arab psula. >> reporter: some of the families who owned ancient manuscripts refused to smuggle them out of the city during the al qaeda occupation of timbuktu. we managed to track one of them and we are going to ask why they

wanted to hold on to the books. haoua toure owns a private library. she fled when al qaeda took over timbuktu, but hid her precious books before she left. >> ( translated ): we couldn't take the manuscripts with us, the occupation took us surprise but people had to decide whato do. so people started to find ways of hiding their manuscripts, before leaving.tu when everyone ed then it was time to find them. >> reporter: most of her manuscripts are inside coffers still hidden in an undisclosed locations because she is not convinced that the city is safe yet. but she has unearthed one on the many chests to start organizing her private collection. >> ( translated ): we know the exact coordites of every one of our manuscripts, but we can't unearth many of them because it'still dangerous here, so we can't start ornizing them yet, they will remain in hiding. >> reporter: moustapha cisee, an archivist and family friend, has started to classify the

manuscripts.wr things contain personal records of toure's family, their finances, illness even love affairs, so his job is to keep the secret's safe while making the other portions available to the public. timbuktu, a city on the edge of the sahara, is harder to access today than it was centuries ago. and much of its knowledgea remaincret, buried under the sand dunes. for the pbs newshour, i'm monica villamizar in timbuktu. >> woodruff: "craz rich ians" topped the box office this weekend, and with it a debate about cultural identity. tonight, award-winning children's book author grace lin shares her hume opinion on the importance of lessening the grip on culture as we know it, and

allowing it to change. >> many of my books integrate chinese traditions anded folktales, so asian parents with american-born children often ask me, "how can i make my child be chinese?" and i have to tell them, "your child will never be chinese. by being born here and living here, your child will always be chinese-american." and that is hard for those who are afraid of losingltheir e. and i completely sympathize,i becausel the same way. it's why i write the books that i do-- our culture, our heritage is part of who we are. we use it to claim our identity so we can find true belonging in a group-- it's why i let my child believe that santa might be wearing red because it's a chinese lucky color. but if we treat our cultural heritage as something that can't change. if we feel threatened when time and other cultures rub against

it, we make our lives smler. an italian-american once told me how her relatives ostracized h when she divorced, because they believed "italians don't get divorced," oblivious of the fact ack in italy, divorce wa acceptable. at its most extreme it leads to clashes like the violence inflicked on women who resist arranged marriages or riots over the removal of confederate statues. so so, let's stop tnking of our culture as treasure we need to cling to. instead, let's think of it as a seed, as something to nurtur and cultivate. we should respect and honor it but we should also let it adapt to its time and surroundings.

when we do that, we allow for unique creations like kwanzaa celebrations and fortunes, cookhich, by the way, do not exist in china. it's a completely asian-american invention. because the truth is, time and change will ways win and when we cling to our culture to keep it from it from change, we are, in fact, strangling it tdeath. we can't live forever, but if it is nurtured, our culture can. >> woodruff: and that's the newshour for tonight. i'm judy woodruff. for all of us at the pbsyo newshour, thanand see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: >> babbel. a language app that teaches real-life conversations in a new language, german, italian, and more.

>> and by the alfred p. sloan foundation. supporting science, technology, and improved economic performance and financl literacy in the 21st century. >> supported by the john d. and urtherine t. macar foundation committed to building a more just, verdant and peaceful world. more information at macfound.org and with the ongoing support of these institutions >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by con station from viewers like you. thank you. captioning sponsored by wshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

roanoke island in north carolina is the site of one othe big mysteries in american history. in 1585, 100tooldiers came here oanoke island to establish tny first english co in the new world. now, that colony failed and those soldiers went home, but the next year the english sent another group of people, this time comprised of bth men and women, and that colony mysteriously disappeared. the only thing that was left was thisord "croatoan." it was the name of a local tribe nearby, and that was carved in the gatepost of the fort. so we're here on roanoke island to look for evidence of the very first english colony in america.