captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening. i'm judy woodruff. on the newshour toni senators press the supreme court nominee on abortion, gun rights and presidential powers. what you need to know from day two of the brett kavanaugh confirmation hearing. then, resistance inside-- an anonymous senior trump administration official writes in the "new york times" that the president is detrimental to our republic and the root of the problem is his amorality. and, tech crunch: lawmakers question executives from facebook and twitter over a russian meddli censorship. plus, toxic tide- how an algae bloom is devastatinge life and changing the environment on the florida coast. >> even if you don't care about the wildlife, you should care

about what that ans for your health and your children's health and your pet's health ano your fsupplies health. it's not just wildlife that's going to be afcted by this. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major fundingor the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years. bnsf, the engine that connects .

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station from viewers like you. thank you. >> woodruff: president trump now faces explosive claims, from within his own ranks, that top administration officials are actively resisting his leadership. the claims appeared today in a "new york times" opinion piece, and quickly drew the president's wrath. we'll come back to that in a moment. there was also drama at the other end of pennsylvaniaup avenue, asme court nominee brett kavanaugh sat for a second day of c dianne feinstein, the judiciary committee's top democrat, dug into kavanaugh's record on protecting gun rights, and inveigating a sitting president. >> you spefically argued that it was unconstitutional to defend assault weapons because they are-- to ban assault

weapons-- because they are in common use. and that, i believe, was your dissent in the case. >> yes, i was referring to some kinds of semi-automatic rifles that are banned by d.c. are widely owned in the united states and that seemed to bthe test that the supreme court had set forth in the heller and mcdonale in other words, if a type of firearm is widely owned in the united states. whether i agree with that te or not was not the issue for me; i have to follow the precedent of the supreme court as it's written for me. and that's what i tried to do in that case. it's a very long opinion. i also made clear, senator feinstein, at the end of the opinion, i am a native of this area, i am a native of the urban-suburban area. i grew up by a city plagued with gun violence, so i fully understand as i explained in the

opinion the importance of this issue. anspecifically referenced that police chief cathyr's goals of reducing gangs and gun olence was something i certainly applaud but i had to followhe precedent of the t supreme court hat case and as i read it, that's what it said. >> so you can't give me answer on whether a presint has to respond to a subpoena by a court of law? >> as my-- my understanding is that you're asking me to give my view on a potential pothetical. and that is something that each of the eightustices on the supreme court. sitting my seadeclined to decide potential hypothetical cases. i can tell you about the u.s. v nixon precedent all the justices worked together on that.

chief justice who had been appointed by president nixon writes the opinion in u.s. v nixon. 8 to 0 ordering president nixon to disclose the tapes in response to a criminal trial subpoena. a moment think july 8, 1974 they decided two weeks later. really important opinion. a moment of judicial independence. important precedent of the supreme court. but how that would apply to other hypotheticals,t as a sitting judge and as a nominee foll the precedent of the nominees who've been here before and as a matter of judicial independenceot give you a precise answer on a hypothetical that could come before me >> thank you for being forthcoming. i appreciate it. >> woodruff: the hearing is still underway, and will be for several more hours, but lisa joins us now from capitol hill.

and we get perspective from three people w follow the high court closely: newshour regular marcia coyle ichief washington rrespondent for the "national law journal." jamil jaffer clerked for justice neil gorsuch and worked in the justice department, on the nominations of chief justice john roberts and justice samuel alito. and neal katyal. he served as acting u.s. solicitor general under president obama, and as a clerk for justice stephen breyer. he joins us from new york. welcome to all of you. as we said, marcia coyle, this hearing is stiutll underway, want to quickly, there's so much here to cover because they wen t hours and hours today. on the question of guns, the nominee, judge kavanaugh, says in his statement that using assault weapons -- that banning assault weapons is unconstitutional. he said he was relying on

preceden so are we now clear on where he he stands on guns?nk >> well, i t we're clear in terms of his dissenting opini t gun case that came before his court out of the district of columbia. he dissented in tht opinion, so the majority disagreed with his view of how to apply the court's landmark decision in heller that found an individual right ton possess a gunthe home for slf-defense. d that he was applying heller the way he understood ite senator fei disagreed with his view of whether you can ban semiassault rifles anduns, an the registration requirements as well for the district of columbia. so i think we know where he stands, but whether the senatede crats accept his version of

how to interpret heller, i doubt that he was -- they were persuade bid i >> woodruff: jamil jaffer, i can ask you about that but i also want to ask about the other part we heard that is the comments of senor feinstein attempting to pin judge kavanaugh down on presidential powers. this came up also later in the afternoon. the senators were asking him about whether a sit president can be indicted, subpoenaed, and so forthch do we have a better understanding of his views on those questions? >> well, i think we now undersnd sort of his perspective on how we look at these questions and that judges need to independent and they're not beholden to the president who appointed them or the president more generally, that their role is to stand apart from that and look at the laws applied to that prticular individual and circumstance and decide on the merits. he lauded chief justice berger talking aaut his role as nixon appointee and standing up to executive power there. t he talked abo youngstown

case and how the court stood up to another exertion of power. he named four other similar cases, one which responded to what states were doing with respect to racial discrimination. so you see him describing his viewf the court and the rol of a judge and a justice as being independent from the political system and deciding cases on the law, not on their own personal politics or on the politics or personality of the person who appointed them. >> woodruff: neal katyal,co ent on that and on the section that we just heard with the exchangeh senator feinstein about presidential powers. >> well, judy, you and i talke about how this is the most consequential supreme court nomination and hearing really in our lifetimes bcause it iso replace justice kennedy's seat, the swing seat. yesterday, we didt really get too much a sense of judge kavanaugh because all we had was a prepared statement about him and skirmishing about other things, but today wed star get that, and i think

the first interchange you ayed, which was about guns, i think marcia set it up exactly right. the one thing i would add, though, is that president trump wanted someone who was very pro guns and he got it in this nominee. judge kavanaugh's opinion, the one marcia is referring to, is one which he dissented and said there is a right to-a seomatic rifles. that's something the supreme court never said. indeed, his two republican nominated colleagues on his own court, the d.c. circuit including doug ginsburg who was president reagan's nominee said, oh, noe, th second amendment doesn't require that. so you have a view of the second amendment that's far outside the main stream in judge kavanaugh but that's, of course, what president trump campaon and wanted. and then, with respect to the other questioyou're asking, which is about, you know, pardon bs and all this stuff that came uptoday, it was extordinary to hear in a senate judiciary committee hearintalk about whether the president can pardon himself, can he be indicted, can

he be subpoenaed. th just shows, i thi, where we are in 2018, given the nominee tur here, president trump, who's facing any number of problems incding being fingered by his own personal counsel michael cohen as implicated in some crimes. i think judge kanaugh did wha every nominee does with respect to those questions which is dodge and weave them. he gave, i thought, a vy professional, as expected, a very learned appearance today, but i don't think we learned too much about his stance on tse questions. >> woodruff: i want to go to lisa desjardins, but first i want to play for all of you who are watching, this is a look at another exchange. th is republican senator orrin hatch of utah raising jue kavanaugh's record on hiring women and the broader issue of sexual harassment in the judiciary ri. >> why do you believe >> why do you believe it important to encourage young women lawyers and to ensure that both men and women are well- represented in the legal ofession?

>> i've been very aggressivehi aboung the best and understanding the best include women. and as you said senator, a majority of my clerks have been women. 25. 21 of them have gone on to clerk at the supreme court. they're an awesome group.an if confirmed to the supreme court, i will continue to do this.po thostions are very important launching pads for tht next genn of leaders, the people who'll be sitting in these seats, the peotie who'll be s in my seat. >> late last year allegations against former 9th circuit judge alex kozinski surfaced when the "washington poblished an article detailing disturbing allegations of misconduct by the judge. you clerked for judge kozinski g r one year in 1991 to 1992. did you know anythout these allegations? >> nothing.

no woman should be subjected to sexual harassment in the workplace ever, including in the judiciary. this is part of a much larger national problem of abuse and harassment. ree of the things we've learned is we need betterting mechanisms. women particularly in the workplace need to know if they're the victim of harassment, where to report it immediately, who to report it to. they need to know they'll beep safe if theyt it. they need to have a safe working environment. it'll be safe if they report it. they won't be retaliated against and they'll be protected if they port it.oo >>uff: and again, back to the hearing, where democratic senator patrick leahy of vermont grilled kavanaugh on the president's right to pardon. >> you said everyone agrees that

the pardon power gives the president an absolute unfettered unchecked power to pardon to every violator of every federal law. could the president issue a pardon in exchange for a bribe? yes or no?, >> senatthink that question has been ligated before and i don't want to comment about anything-- >> i want to ask you a couple things to this-- >> pardon. there are a couple a couple things involved in that question. first, what's the scope of tha what's the effect of the pardon. and the other question is can you be separately charged with the bribery crime or the briber and the bribee those are key distinctions questions you'd want to keep those twouestions separate in thinking how the hypothetical-- >> preside

an absolute right to pardon himself, does he? >> the question of self pardons is something i've never analyzed. it's a question i have not written about it's a question therefore that's a hypotheticals on that i can't begin to answer in this context as aju sittine and as a nominee to the supreme court.al >> the otherof that is the obvious one. does the president have the ability to pardon somebody in exchange for a promise from that pers that they wouldn't testify against him? >> senator i'm not going to answer hypothetical questions of that sort. >> woodruff: one importa question after another. our lisa desjardins at the capitolisa, we know a number of democratic senators said at the outset they were not going to vote for juvadge ugh's confirmation. what are you hearing from them and about their reaction to what he saying?

>> well, that's right. i think democrats feel like he is holding up the notion that this is a judge who wl potentially overturn some of the settled law, wt they see assetled law, and -- as settled law. i hear a lot from democts about the affordable care act in particular. there is a case in texas now as marcia and guests know about that could be before the sueme court with justice kavanaugh on it. so the democrats for sure.the but as you say, most to have the democrats have decided they are no votesor mr. kavanaugh. what's interesting who wasn't in the room, the undecided key votes, senators collins and murkowski on the republican side, senors heitkamp, manhcin on the other side. senator collins had the television on all day, getting reeslar updgoing over transcripts, so their opinion is

the one that mae, not as much as what we're hearing in the room. it was not as much as a sharp day as we expected it to be. i didn't get the sparks democrats said would fly today. in the room, it felt very serious and very intellectual. >> woodruff: lisa, i want to come back to marcia because, again, there are so many topi raised in these hearings because there is so much to examine in the judge's rord. one we are not going to have a chance to hear ght now, that has to do with questioning about his position on abortion. there was a yng immigrant woman, a minor, 17 years old do, we come away from thah t wita better understanding of the judge's position? >> well, again, if a wayit' very much like the gun case. ultimately, judge kavanaugh was in dissent from his full d.c. circuit panel in this parcular case. he felt he was applying supreme court precedents having to do

with minors who with want to obtain abortions. buthis young woman had done everything that the supreme court and the state of texas required of her in order to have an abortion, and the majority felt that he was in the wrong in his prntation of precedent. judy, this was a very substante day and, even though no sparks flew, i think the democrats were able to raise the issues tt they want people to hear about and think about in terms of this nination, and the republicans also were able to allow judge kavanaugh to talk more about who he is and how he approaches judging. so, in a way, it was sort of a successful day for everyone. ze woodruff: jamil jaffer, how did -- i mean, p how you think judge kavanaugh did with the democrats trying to pin him down on these issues where, you know, they point to something he said in a speech or they point to something he wrote an

opinion, but he would come back and say, weln'l, that the end all be all of where i'd stand on this as a supreme court justice. >> well, judy, i think neal is right which is to say judge kavanaugh showed himself to be a goad judge, a smrt judge, and i think what he was explaining was, look, in each of these cases, i was applying a certain set of facts to certain law and applying the precedent of the supme court at that same so that's why the case came out that way and why i said this. this has happened to every nominee to come before the senate is the question how do ticularl about this par scenario or issue. judge kavanaugh, like every prior nominee, he reached back on nominee precedent. it's a great term, first time i've heard the tierm. i think it's accurate. he went back to thurgood marshall and said, even thurgood marshall, backhat long ago, didn't answer these type of hypothetical questions or tell f you how t on a given

issue. and the ginsburg rule of no forecast, no hints, and the kagan position no thumbs up or down, so this is a consistent trend of nominees. it's not unusual to see this happen. ere's the genal frustration you won't answer a hypothetical, but you saw evn dianne feinstein say, look, i thank you for being as forthcoming in this context so even she understands what's going on here. >> woodruff: neal katyal, how do you size up his ability to beat them down or not depending on the questions he was asked? >> think he did welin general, but if you think about the key senators in particular collins and murkowski, i think the abortion stuff today reallyq raisstions for them because, initially, senator feinstein started byg,ay will you overturn roe, andgoe wa like all nominees in precedent and so on. but as marcia said, the questioning turned from senator durbin to the garza case about

the undocumented immigrant, anda there yow something very different. you saw what really happens i sn hareme court cases which is the reason to clear precedent one way tore the otow are you going to read a case like roe or heller, the gun control case, broadly or narrowly, and what judge kavanaugh's answers revealed is this is effectively the judge donald trump prmised which was a pro-life judge, he said that's what he complained on and he was aays consistent on pro-life, pro-life, pro-life, pro-life then there vacancy and all of a suditden 's quiet for a while. the judge's record speaks for itself and he should be proud of it and proud of it. that's wd t he campaigr and looks like what he got, according to the answers today. >> woodruff: 30 seconds. lisa desjardins, gie us a sense of the dissidence in the room, if you will, the people who came and sat as viewers but who made noise d were ased to leave.

there were dozens today. >> that's riguht. i nted some 55 protesters. it was interesting initially today, jum, the comittee cut the public seating in half. later in the dayy, the resumed the full complement of the public, but there wee many protests throughout the day and many issues raced by the protesters. i. give us a couple of them.in >> everyfrom healthcare to abortion to the disabled. there was also a wei founding fathers strain, things uttered by the protesters like the american people have no faith in you, sir, or one shout, senators, in the name of democracy, i ask you to halt the hearings. they were serious and angry but there was a level of intellectualness about the protesters as well. >> woodruff: lisa desjardins joining us from the capitol, thanks to all our guests. marcia coyle, jamil jaffer, neal katyal, we thank you.

does it give you comfort that mour critics are coming fro both sides? >> no, because i could still be wrong. >> this may be her best chance to get past these guards right w. >> mr. trump won the congressional district overwhelmingly by about 20 points. now the question is whether the enthusiasm for trump wl convert into enthusiasm for a different republican. >> does the presidency that interfered in the 2016 election and possibly midterms s an attack on democracy -- >> woodruff: and we return to our second ad >> woodruff: we return now to our second lead story. the "new york times" today took the extraordinary step ofng publisn opinion essay by someone they identify as a male anonymous senior official in the

trump administration. he claims that: "many senior officials in his own admistration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. i would know.f i am oneem."to and goes oay: "the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental t the health of our republic." president trump has denounced thopinion piece. the president called it a disgrace, as he met with a group of sheriffs at the white house. >> when you tell me about some anonymous source, within the administration, probably who's failing, probably here for all thwrong reasons, and the n york times is failing.fa so if thing new york times has an anonymous editorial, can you believe it, anonymous, meaning gutless, a gutless editorial, uh, we're doing a great job. >> woodruff: we breakdown this

explosive declaration now with our white house correspondent, yamiche alcindor. and jeff mason, white house correspondent for reuters. we welcome you. hello to both of you. i'm going to start ou, yamiche. i just read a couple of quotes from this extornary statement. what more should we know from this? >> well, judy, this llas rea an extraordinary, extraordinary statement. i've talked to republican sources who say this is unprecedented. i want to walk you through just two more things in the op-ed i'm going to read them because they're so stunning. the first is, there is a quiet resistance within the administration of eople choosing to put country first. waat's the first part of this. the second thing t to point out is the op-ed says the bigger concern is not what mr. trump has done to thsie prency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to to us, we have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to ed strif civility. this is someone who feels as though they need to speak out d almost is a call to the

nation saying we as a people need to hook what esident trump is doing. >> woodruff: jeff mason, you have been covering the white housfor a number of yea. have you seen anything like this before? >> no, absolutely not. it's unprecedented to see something like this, and another piece of that op-ed that i thine is unpreed, as the writer says, staff members were, at one pot, considering engaging in the 25th amendment of the constitution, which would allow cabinet members to work towards getting the president out of fice, and then decided not to do that because they didn't want to spur a constitutional crisis, but admitting that that was even a discussion, apparently at the highest levelth according to anonymous writer, is extraordinary, as well. >> woouff: so, yiche, we heard the president's reaction dismissing it all. seat else is the white hou saying? >> well, the president said that it was a gutless move, that whoever wre this piece was really a coward. he just tweeted i'mold recently in the last couple of minutes the word "treason." swant to walk you through what

the white house ying officially after sarah sanders released a statement. it says in pt, the individual behind this piece has chosen toa deceive rathersupport the duly elected president of the united states. he is not putting country fir but putting himself and his ego ahead of the will of the americpeople. this coward should do the right thing and resnn. i shoule this is not a man or woman. the "new york times" said there was a tweelt that referred to this person as a he but that was a mistake. so we don't know the identity of the person but it had to be high level because the "new york times" would not have presented than pieconymously unless i was someone they trusted to havn this will and what was going on with the administration. but the white house apparently is saying this is wrong, whoever this person is, they need to go, and saying this is a betrayal of this white house. >> woodruff: jeff mason, this comes on the day after te bob woodward book has come out, a book he sent months and months

talking to people inside the white house. it paints a damning portrait of a white house int chaos wih people working, in essence, to do some of what you see in this anonymous op-ed to save the administration, to save the country from some of the president's decisions. what reactions are you picking up? >> well, that's exactly right, judy, and the timing seems like it's not coincidental, at a time when the president and others in the white hese ar trying to discredit bob woodward and comprehend issues that are critical for t nation's security and for the world. >> yamiche, you've also been

talking to some folks who used to work in the trump administration, in t trump white house. what are they saying about this? >> i just want to remind viewers about your interview with omarosa manigault-newman who was, at the time, one to have the most senior african-american women at the white house, or the sest seep your african-american in the white hou let's first listen to what she told you. >> woodruff: you close out the book by writing rest assured there's an army of people who oppo president trump and h policies, they are working silently and tirelessly to make sure he does not cause harm to the republic. many are in his party, his administration and even in his own famayy. can you who they are? >> i prefer not. i think it's important that, they continue to do their work, to make sure that further damage to this country is not done, that they do that without being exposed, and i'm very proud of the ople who are working behind the scenes to make sure donald trump is not allowed to continue to lead this country in an unfit manner. >> woodruff: you can't identify -- >> i wouldr. not e >> woodruff: the first lady?

i would never compromise them in this way because they are working tirelessly to make sures ountry isn't damaged further. >> i spoke to omerosa today and she said th-ed is very important and said she wanted t make sue put in her book therthere was a resistance of pe working because she wanted to wink at the people and say they were strong a brave fr working in the administration. i talked to a senior trump o administratificial and they said there were times when congress members were going to meet with the president tt other senior officials would tell the law-maker whatever the president tells you in the oval office, the white house is justo nog to commit do whatever president trump says. that's because they said when he would t in the room he would make all those promises and his staff would have to say, wno,e can't do that, mr. president. >> woodruff: jeff maon, is this another undecember dented thing in an administration with

a string of unprecedented developments. d you picked up a drift of this before now with people? because y and other reporters, because we've talked to a lot of you, have quoted people working in the administration quietly critical of the president and the people around him, but at thisel lev- >> well, i think you can look at that without even needing to use anonymous sources. taking the example of russia. before the pre'ssiderip to helsinki and europe in july, i guess it was, his advisors came out and said, on the record, that he would raise the issue of russia's malign activity. and we saw the helsinki press conference where he didn't do that and then tried to pull some of that back when he was back at the white house and then sort of is going back andforth and, again, raises that disconnect between what the president will sac whether it's in pub whether it's to someone like vladimir putin or to lawmakers meeting at the white house and what his staff arsaying or doing.

so there is a clear dis aconnect thects all levels of what is going on in the west wing. >> woodruff: finally, very quickly, yamiche, there are republicans on capitol hill, most of whom who ve stuck wih this president, supported this president and defended him.ar you picking up any sense that that support is shifting in some way? >> i've talked to some officials including high-ranking rnc people who are looking at this, and they say, so far, they don't see a shift in this, that, real, if republicans can continue to hold on to the house and the senate and do the business ands pas policies that conservatives are proud of and then put people co the supreme t that they are proud of, that they will continue to support this president. on woodruff: finally, jeff mason, life goeat the white house. >> life does indeed go on at thu white . i think you can expect to see president trump getting agitated atout. this you will see e've seen that already with his tweets and his response in eathe room. but i suspect that this,

combined with the fallout from the bob woodward book, will t contindrive a narrative for white house staff and for this president for some tim >> woodruff: jeff mason with reuters, our own yamiche alcindor, thank you both. >> thanks. you. >> woodruff: in the day's other news, in afghanistan, twin bombings in kabul left at least 20 people dead and 70 wounded. it happened at a training center r wrestlers. a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the building, and a car bomb exploded minutes later, as emergency workers arrived. iran's currency is again in free fall, hitting new record lows against the dollar today. people waited in long lines atha currency ee shops in tehran, hoping to buy dollars. state media made no mention of the problem. the rial has lost a quarter of

y.s value just since satur it's down 140% since the united stat quit the 2015 nuclear deal, back in may. british prosutors today charged two russians in the nerve agent attackn a former russian spy, sergei skripal, and his daughter yulia. they've both recovered, but another woman died, after finding the container that held the poison. ouhit kachroo of independent television news hareport. >> reporter: finally, the faces of the suspects. six months aft slisbury, these are the two men who are accused of carrying out the attack. they used alies. alexander petrov and russ lambosherof.th 're dressed for the english winter but just arrived from moscow and two days int their trip, they're captured smiling as they walked through

salisbury. it's alleged thautt, mi earlier, they contaminated the scrskripals' front dr with the never agent, brought from moscow, the suspected weapon in a terrorist attack. this has been a colossal police investigation. 11,000 hours of cctv footage has been studied reach these conclusions, but this case is now about politics as much as police work. >> i can tell thehaouset based on a body of intelligence the government has concluded that the two individuals named by the police and cps are officers from the russian military intelligence service also known as theu gr. >> reporter: former russia ree sergei skripal and daughter yulia were poisoned in march. dawn sturgis was killed, her partner charley rowley injured

urwhen they were poisoned months later. it took two months for the police to identify this as the hotel where the salisbu suspects had been staying, and when they got here in may, they made aimportant discovery -- they found minute traces of novichok inside their hot room. t.v. understands some of what was known in the invonestiga was kept secret in hope the suspectsight be captured traveling abroad again. almost certainly they're in russia. extradition seems difficult, perhaps impossible. >> woodruff: that report from >> woodruff: that report from rohit kachroo of independent television news. back in this country, the remnants of tropical storm "gordon" dumped heavy rain as they headed inland fm the central gulf coast. the storm came ashore last night, near pascagoula, mississippi. thsands lost power, and on child was killed in pensacola, florida.

officials warned of flooding as the system moves into the midwest. massachusetts is primed to elect a black woman to the.s. house of representatives for the first time. boston city councilor ayanna pressley won tuesday's democratic primary in a stunning upset. she beat 10-term congressional incumbent mike capuano, and will run unopposed in november's general electi. last night, pressley cast her victory as a wakup call for both parties. >> it is time to show washington, d.c., both my fellow democrats who i hope will stand with us and the republicans who stand in our way and send everyone in the seventh congressional district that change isn't waiting any longer. we have arrived. change is coming. and the future belongs to all of us! >> woodruff: the boston-area house seat was once held by john f. kennedy and later, tipo' ill.

it is now a majority-minorityct distse in the u.ste today, heizona republican jon kyl was sworn in to filleat of the late john mccain. he took the oath of of on e senate floor today, wi fellow arizona senator jeff flake looking on. kyl previously served in the senate for 18 years, before retiring in 2012. and, on walltreet the dow jones industrial average gained 22 points to closeelow 25,975. the nasdaq fell 96 point and the s-and-p 500 slipped eight. still to come on the newshour: social media giants called to account on capitol hill. how a toxic algae bloom is devastating thflorida coast.

>> woodruff: now, back to capitol hill. top leaders of social media gits facebook and twitter appeared before senate and house mmittees today. as nick schifrin reports, they appeared amid ongoing concerns over their ability to police their platforms, and questions of whether they should be regulated. >> schifrin: in front of the senate committee investigating russia's offensive tactics during u.s. elections, the world's largest social media companies said they'improved their defenses. >> when bad content violates our policies, we will take it down. and when opponents use new techniques, we will share them, so we can strengthen our collective efforts. >> we're ideleifying and ching 8 to 10 million g spicious accounts every week. and we're thwarter a half million accounts from logging in to twittervery single day. >> schifrin: twitter c.e.o. jack dorsey and facebook c.o.o. sheryl sandberg ad internet giants trying to act proactively to remove fake contentoo recently facremoved 652

pages, groups, and accounts posing as news organizations, but really fronts for iran. they peddled fake photos of michelle obama, fake tweets about bernie sanders, d fake movie posters, discovered thanks to collaboration with law enforcement and private security companies. >> in our mind that's the system working. our opponents are very well funded, they are very organized, and we are going to get those tips from law enforcement, from each other, from private firms, and the faster we can collaborate, the faster we can share those tips with each other, the stronger our collective defenses can be. >> schifrin: but twitter was criticized for not sharing more information with v russian campaigns aimed at lawmakers critical of russia, including maine republican senator susan collins. >> i learned not from twitter, but from clemson university, that i was one of those targeted leaders, and there were 279 russian generated tweets that

targeted me. it seems once you notit, you should notify the people who are e targets.gn >> we ree we won't be able to catch everything alone so we need to develop bert partnerships in order to do that. >> schifrin: independent analysts say the companies are working better together. but some lawmakers believe that's not enough, and the companies need to be regulated. virginia democrat mark warne >> the size and reach of your platforms demand that we, as policy-makers, do our job, to ensure proper ovsight, transparency and protections for american users and for our democratic institutions. the era of the wild west in social media is coming to an end. >> schifrin: on the issue of regulation, sandberg hged. >> we don't think it's a question of whether regulation, we tnk it's a question of or right regulation that supports

users, is transparent, and doesn't squash innovation. and we're happy to work with you on the proposal. >> schifrin: lawmars asked about fake accounts, known as bots, that russia and other online actors use to amplify fake ideas. dorsey said twitter was open to labeling those bots, but told many senators cused on who wasn't there, in the empty chair left for google after it declined to send either its president or c.e.o. >> perhaps google didn't send a senior executive today because they've recently taken actions such as terminating ation with the american military. >> i would have thought that leadership at google wanted tons deate how seriously it takes these challenges. >> schifrin: but the senate hearing was practically sedate compared to what hpened outsid >> i'm here to discuss the reality that there is an tempted purge of the fir amendment taking place in this country! >> schifrin: alex jones is a widely watched media personality and provocateur who specializes in conspiracy theories.

>> sandy hook is synthetic, completely fake, with actors, in my view manufactured. >> schifrin: he once claimed the sandy hook school shooting was a government hoax to increase gun control laws. in july, facebook, apple, and google's youtube banned jos. >> and it's happening to everybody who's a libertarian or conservative. the dominoes are falling. the first amendment is being mstroyed! >> schifrin: a futes later, jones interrupted an interview by florida repubilcan senator marco rubio. >> marco rubio is a snake. little frat boy here. >> alright man. who are you? who is this guy? i swear to god, i don't know who you are, man. >> tens of millions of views. bigger than rush limbaugh. he knows who infowars is. playing this joke over here. that's why the deplatofmring didn't work.ou >> don't me again, man. i'm asking you not to touch me. >> i just patted you nicely. >> you're going to getakrrested. i'llcare of it myself. >> schifrin: the quen whether social media censors consvatives dominated the

house hearing, and questions by texas publican joe barton. >> do you discriminate more on philosophylike anti- conservative and pro-liberal. >> no. our policies and algorithms don't take into considation any affiliation, philosophy or viewpoint. >> that's hard to stomach. >> i believe we've found impartl outcomes and those are what we intend to fix, and continue to measure. >> schifrin: dorsey admitted twitter fairly filtered 600,000 accounts, includingat democr and republican lawmakers. but louisiana representative steve scalise pointed out a >> our colleague, marcia blackburn, when she announced her campaign f the senate, twitter quickly banned her announcement ausertisement beit had a pro-life message. >> schifrin: dorsey admitted raat decision was a mistake. but new jersey demfrank pallone dismissed the entire line of questioning.nt >> presirump and many republicans have peddled conspiracy theories about

twitter and other social media platform and fundraise.ir base i fear republicans are using this hearing for those purposes. >> sifrin: but today attorne general jeff sessions doubled down and said he will gatherge state attorneyral to discuss whether social media companies stifle conservative opinions. mpe debate isn't over, at a time when social media ies are on the front lines of protecting democracy. as one senator put it today,at hese companies decide has the capacity to win wars,ou wifiring a shot. for the pbs newshour, i'm nick schifrin. >> woodruff: the routine growth of algae known as red tide has exploded in florida this year, growing bigger and lasting longer than years before. it's killed huge numbers of marine life and dealt a hard t blthe gulf coast's economy. as william brangham reports from

nynibel island, there are causes driving this red tide, including warmer waters tied to climate change. and there are other questions over what role humans are playing. it's part of our weekly series on the "leading edge" ofog science, tecy and medicine. >> brangham: this is now a typical morning on florida's gulf coast-- not a tourist in sight, just work crews cleaning up the daily toll of dead fish. they were killed by red tide, an almost annual bloom of algae in the gulf of mexico.ig at hlevels, the algae release a neurotoxin that's deadly to marine life. it poisons them, or makes b so they canathe but this year's bloom, whicht d.tually beganfall, has been particularl >> it now spreads across 130 miles of coast. >> thousds of dead fish floating along ledo beach. >> this red tide is being called the worst in more than a decade. >> brangham: in the last fewhs mored tide has killed dolphins, sea turtles, manatees,

even a 26-foot whale shark. >> there's definitely somede rmities here. >> brangham: veterinarn dr. heather barron runs the clinic for the rehabilitation ofsa wildlife obel island. these baby loggerhead sea turtles just came in. barron suspects that they, or their mom, was poisoned by the red tide. >> there's probably not a lot we can do for them. >> brangham: she says they've seen four times the number of sea turtles poisoned by red tide this year. >> it is overwhelming and catastrophic, the number of patients we've had coming in. we've had as many as00 patients coming in two days, all affected with red tide. way out of the ordinary. and so when that happens one of the things that you sometimes have to do is be able to triage those animals and decide who are you likely to be able to save, who needs help the most, and who are you not going to be able to save, regardless.

>> brangham: this pelican came in near death several weeks ago, but after intensive treatment, the's seems to be turning corner. so too, are these seles. >> i think even if you're not a bunny-hugger like i am, you know, even if you don't care about the wildlife, you should care about what that means for your health and your children's health and your pet's health and your food supplies health. n it just wildlife that's going to be affected by this. >> brangham: while t tide is obviously devastating to wildlife, it's also difficult for humans as well. the toxins emit a terrible smell, they burn your eyes, they burn your throat, and as you can see, nobody is on these beaches. this year's red tide has been brutal to tourism, blanketing more than 100 miles of southwest florida. here on sanibel island, the chamber of commerce estimates $11 million in lost income in just the first half of august. >> we're probably off about

another 45 to 50% of what we usually do this time of year. >> brangham: trasi sharp own and runs the over easy cafe. it's small breakfast and lun spot in sanibel just a few blocks off the beach. >> somehow we'll get through this. we're hoping it doesn't last at this pace for too long. e t it's scary. >> you couldn't dr0 yards without passing 1,000 or 10,000 dead fish. >> brangham: ben biery is a charter boat captain on sanibels he makes living taking tourists out to fish and picnic and swim-- things that many people just don't want to dori t now. >> i know as a captain, my business for the month of august was down somewhere around 80%. >> 80%? >> yeah.do t think there's anyone that's in the tourism business in our area right now, or in any business that's on the water that isn't really suffering right now. >> this is an optical oxygen sensor. >> brangham: in fact, things have been so slow for biery that he's volunteered his boat to scientists studying the red tide, like his frirtd dr. rick baleson.

bartelson's an ecologist with the sanibecaptiva conservation fo cdation. he'scking the water at various spots, measuring the concentration of red tide cells. he says with a usual red tide, one that will kill some fish, you'd see 100 to 200,000 red tide cells per liter of water. but this year, the red tide has been ten times worse. >> instead of 200,000, we'reng wo million or 20 million cells per liter. >> brangham: i mean, that's a huge jump up. >> right. the other day we saw 40 million cells per liter a kilometer off the coast. >> brangham: while the red tide astrous for the gulf, this summer it's been compounded by a bloom of blue- f green algae rida's fresh waters. it's created a perfect storm for fish, wildlife and humans, and it's leading some to wonder if one is exacerbating the other. >> you can see the green algae here on the cape coral side. >> brangham: the everglades foundation's steve davis took us

along the caloosahatchee river about 70 mil east to show us one source of the problem. for thounds of years in florida, water flowed down into lake okeechobee, where it flooded out and south through florida's evglades marshes. but as farming expanded around the lake, lake okehobee was dammed up, forcing that water to the east and to the westas >> theve volumes of freshwater that are released from the le to the caloosahatchee, they result in real harm.is >> brangham: days this causes two problems: one, that fresh water kills crucial habitat that needs saltier water, a two, that water is so polluted with runoff from farms and towns that it could be delivering a huge nutrient bst to the red tide. >> when you think about red tide e.'s really another blooof algae, but offsh and these blooms of algae, they

require large loads of nutrients in order to sustain themselves. it's kind of like thinking of a wildfire that requires fuel in order for it to continue burning. >> brangham: davis and others argue wate south, like it once did, to address both the blue-green blooms and any potential impidt on red but the powerful agriculturaor industry in a has successfully stymied these efforts before. >> its killing sea l battering our economy, and making people sick. and it's fair to blame rick scott. >> brangham: and ne ahead of a dterm elections, water quality is a central issue. >> slashed $700 million from water prottion. >> we need the state and federal help. there's industry and farming that dumps into the waeers of okeechut also it's on everyone-- fertilizers in people's yar, the dumping of ste of various companies along the river. we just need to do som or this is going to last generations. >> that's all i care about this

election. i wanteople that are going to get out for something and make things better get them make it possible to continue to do what i love for a living. >> brangham: a strong storm or cold front could break up this current red tide, and tropical storm gordon, which just passed over florida, may have done just that. but it's just a few months until the next potential bloom re- emerges from the gulf. for pbs newshour, i'm william brangham in sanibel, florida. and that's the newshour for tonight.co we will inue our special live coverage of the kavanaugh confirmation hearing tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. eastern. check your local listings or join our livestream online. i'm judy woodruff.s for all of the pbs newshour, thank you and see you soon. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been prov by:

>> consumer cellularirelieves thatess plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. we offer a variety of no- contract wireless plans for people who use their phone a little, a lot, or anything in between. to learn more, go to consumercellular.tv >> and with the ongoing support of these institution and individuals. >> this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewe like you. thank you.

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