captioning sponsored by newshour productions, llc >> woodruff: good evening.dy i'm oodruff. on the newshour tonight, 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 nfirmation hearing., thsistance inside-- an anonymous senior trump administration official writesw in the "rk times" that the president is detrimental ao our republ the root of the problem is his amora and, tech crunch: lawmakers question executives from facebook andwitter over russian meddling and censorship. plus, toxic tide- how an algae bloom is devastating marine life and changing the envnt on the florida coast. >> 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 hea it's not just wildlife that's going to be affected by this. >> woodruff: all that and more on tonight's pbs newshour. >> major funding for the pbs newshour has been provided by: ♪ ♪ moving our economy for 160 years.ne bnsf, the en that connects us.

>> supporting social entrepreurs and their lutions to the world's most pressing problems-- skollfoundation.org. >> the lemelson foundation. escommitted to improving l through invention, in the u.s. and developing countries. on the web at lemelson.org. >> supported by the john d. and catherine t. macarthur 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 contributions to your pbs

station from viewersyou. 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,n quickly drew the president's wrath. we'll come back to that in a moment. there was also drama at the her end of pennsylvania avenue, as supreme court nominee brett kavanaugh sat for a second day of confirmation hearings. dianne feinstein, the judiciary committee's top democrat, dug into kavanaugh's record on protecting gun rights, and investigating a sittg president. >> you specifically arguedhat 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.re >> yes, i warring to some kinds of semi-automatic rifles that are banned by d.c. are widely owned in the united states. and that seemed to be the test that the supreme court had set forth in the heller and mcdonald cases. in other words, if a type of firearm is widely owned in the united states. whether i agree with that test 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 tratd to do in ase. 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.if i spally referenced that police chief cathy lanier's goals of reducing gangs and gun violence was something i certainly applaud but i had to follow the precedent othe supreme court in that case and as i read it, that's what it said. >> so you can't give me answer on whether a president 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 potentl hypothetical. and that is something that each of the eight justices on the supreme court. sitting my seat declined to decide potential hypothetical cases. i can tell you about the u.s. v nixon precedentth aljustices worked together on that.

chief justice who had been appointed by president nixonit the opinion in u.s. v nixon. 8 to 0 ordering president nixona to disclose ths in response to a criminal trial subpoena. a moment of crisis argument i think july 8, 1974 they decided two weeks later. really important opinion. a momede of judicial ndence. important precedent of the supre court. but how that would apply to other hypotheticals, i best as a sitting judge and as a nominee follow the precedent of the nominees who've anen here before as a matter of judicial independence not give you a precise answer on a hypothetical that could combefore me >> thank y 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 who follow the hi court closely: newshour regular marcia coyle is chief washingtfo correspondenthe "national law journal." jamil jaffer crked 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 underpr ident obama, and as a clerk for justice stephen breyer.oi hens us from new york.to welcomll of you. as we said, marcia coyle, this hearing is still uerway, but i want to quickly, there's so much hore to cover because they went on for hours anurs today. on the question of guns, the nominee, judge kavanaugh, says inhis statement that using assault weapons -- that banning assault weapons is unconstitutional. he said he was relying on

precedent. so are we now clear on where he he stands on guns? >>ell, i think were clear in terms of his dissenting opinion in the gun case that came before his court out of the district of columbia. he dissented in that opinion, so the majority disagreed with his view of how to apply the court's landmark decision in heller that found an individual right to posss a gun in the home for aelf-defense. he said that he applying heller the way he understd it. senator feinstein disagreed with his view of whether you can ban semiassault rifles and guns, and the registration requirements as well for thetr dt of columbia. so i think we know where he stands, but whether the senate h democrats acce version of y w to interpret heller, i doubt

that he was -- tere persuade bid it. >> woodruff: jamil jaffer, i can asyou about that but i also want to ask about the other part we heard that is the comments of senator feinstein attempting to pin judge kavanaugh down on presidentia powers. thise up also later in the afternoon. the senators were asking him about whetr a sitting president can be indicted, subpoenaed, and so forthch do we have a better understanding ofn his views hose questions? >> well, i think we now understand sort of his perspective on how we look at these questions and that judges need to be independent a 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 particular individual and circumstance an decide on the merits. he lauded chief justice berger talking about his role s a nixon appointee and standing up to executive power there. he tald about the youngstown

case and how the court stooup 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 view of the court and the role of a judge and a jus 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. d> woodruff: neal katyal, comment on that n the section that we just heard with the exchange with senator feinstein about presidential wpowers. l, judy, you and i talked about how this is the most consequential supreme court nomination and hearing really in our lifetimes because it is to replace justice kennedy's seat, the swing seat. yesterday, we gedn't reall too much a sense of judge kavanaugh because all we had was a prepared statement about him and skirmishing about other things, but today we started to get that, and i think

the first ingeterchou played, which was about guns, i think marcia set it up actly right. the one thing i would add, though, is tha tpresidemp 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 in which hdissented and said there is a right to semi-automatic rif 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, nome, the second ndment doesn't require that. so you have a view of the second heendment that's far outside main stream in judge kavanaugh but that's, of course, what president trumcampaigned on and wanted. and then, with respect to the other question you're asking, which is about, you know, pardon bs a all this sff that came up today, it was extraordinary to hear in a senate judiciary committee hearing talk about whether the president can pardon himself, can he iendicted, can

he be subpoenaed. that just shows, i ink, where we are in 2018, given the nonee tour here, president trump, who's facing any number of probms including being fingered by his own personal counsel michael cohen asmplicated in some crimes. i think judge kavanaugh did what every nominee does with respect to those questions which is dodge and weave them. he gave, i thought, a very professional, as expected, a veryearned appearance today, but i don't think we learned too much about his stance on those 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. this is republican senator orrin hatch utaaising judge kavanaugh's record on hiring women and the broisader e of sexual harassment in the judiciary ri. >> why do you believe >> why do you believe itt import encourage young women lawyers and to ensure that both men and women are well- represented in the legal profession?

>> i've been very aggressive about hiring the best and understanding the best include women.ai and as yousenator, a majority of my clerks have been women. 25.f 21em have gone on to clerk at the supreme court. o ey're an awesome group. and if confirmede supreme court, i will continue to do this. those positions are ve important launching pads for the next generation of leaders, the people who'll be sitting in these seats, the people who'll be sitting in my seat. >> late last year allegations against former 9th circuit judgk alex kozsurfaced when the "washiton post" published an article detailing disturbing allegations of misconduct by the judge. you clerked for judge kozinski for one year in 1991 to 1992. did you know anything about these allegations? >> notng.

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. one of the things we've learned is we ne better reporting 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. ey need to know they'll be safef they report it. they need to have a safe working environment. it'll be safe if they report itb they wonretaliated against and they'll be protected if they inport it. >> woodruff: and aback to the hearing, where democratic senator patrick leahy of vermont grilled kavanaugh on the president's >>ght to pardon. ou said everyone agrees that

the pardon power gives thet presid absolute unfettered unchecked power to pardon to every violator of every federal law. could the president issue ard in exchange for a bribe? yes or no? >> senator, i think that question has been litigatedfo and i don't want to comment about anything-- >> i want to ask you a couple things to this-- >> pardon.a there aruple a couple things involved in that question. first, what's the scope of that- 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 two questions separate in thinking how the hypothetical-- >> president trump claims e has

an absolght to pardon himself, does he? >>she question of self pard is something i've never analyzed. it's a question i have not written about it's a question n'erefore that's a hypothetical question that i begin to answer in this context as a sitting judge and as aee to the supreme court. >>he other half of that is the obvious e. does the president have the ability to pardon somebody in exchange for aromise from that person that they wouldn't testify against him? >> senator i'm not going to answer hypothetical questions of that sort. >> woodruff: oti important qu after another. our lisa desjardins at the capitol lisa, we knoa number of democratic senators said at the outset they were not foing to vo judge kavanaugh's confirmation. what are you hearing from them and about n heir reacto what he's saying?

>> well, that's right. i think democrats feel like h is holding up the notion that this is a judge who will potentially overturn some of the settled law, what hey see assetled law, and -- as settled law.r i helot from democrats about the affordable care act in particular. e is a case in texas now as marcia and guests know about that could be before the supreme court with justice kavanaugh on it. so these are questionss or the democrr sure. but as you say, most to have the democrats have decided they are no tes for mr. kavanaugh. what's interesting who wasn't in the room, the undecided key votes, senators collins and murkowski on the republican side, senators heitkamp, manhcin on the other side. senator collins had the television on all day, getting regular updates, going over transcripts, so their opinion is

the one that matters more, not as much as what we're hearing in the room. it was not ashauch as a rp day as we expected it to be. i didn't get the sparks democrats said would fly today. in the room, it felt ver y serious and very intellectual. >> woodruff: lisa, i want to come back to marcia because, again, there are so many topics ised in these hearings because there is so much to examine in the judge's record. one we are not going to have a chance to hear right nowthat has to do with questioning about his position on artion. there was a young immigrant woman, a minor17 years old do, we come away from that with a better understanding of the judge's position? >> well, again, if a way, it's very much like the gun case., ultimatedge kavanaugh was in dissent from his full d.c. circuit panel in this particular case. he felt he was applying supreme courtprecedents having to do

with minors who with want to obtain abortions. but this young woman had done everything that the supret court an state of texas required of her in order to have an abortion, and the majority felt that he was in the wrong in his interpretation of precedent. judy, this was a very substantive day and, en tugh no sparks flew, i think the democratwere able to raise the issues that they want people to hear about and think about in terms of is nomination, 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. >> woodruff: jamil jaffer, how did -- mean, size up ho you think judge kavanaugh did with the democrats trying t 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, well, that isn't the end all be all of where i'd stand on this as a supreme court justice. >> well, judy, i think neal isgh which is to say judge kavanaugh showed himself to be a good judge, a smart judge, and i think what he was explaining was, look, in each os cases, i was applying a certain set of facts to certain law and applying the precedent of the supreme court at that same so that's why the case came out that way and why i aid this. this has happened to every nominee to come befe the senate is the question how do you feel about this pararticular sc or issue. judge kavanaugh, like every prior no binee, he reachedac 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, back that long ago, didn't answer these type of hypothetical questions or tell you how he felt on a given

issue. and the ginsburg rule ofo 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. there's the general frustration you won't answer a hypothetical, but you sawdi evene feinstein say, look, i thank you for being as fthcoming in this context so even she understands what's going on here. >> woodruff: neal katyal, how do you size up his abili to beat them down or not depending on the w questions heas asked? >> i think he did well in general, but iyou think about the key senators in particular collins and murkowski, i think the abortion stuff today really raises questions form because, initially, senator feinstein started by saying, will you overturn roe, and he was good like allominees in precedent and so on. but as marcia sad, the questioning turned from senator durbin to the garza case about

the undocumented immigrant, and there you saw something very different. asu saw what really happens in hard supreme court which is the reason to clear precedent one way to the other, how are you going to read a case like roe or hell, the gun control case, broadly or narrowlyand what judge kavanaugh's answers revealed is this is effective the judge donald trump promised which was a pro-life judge, he said chat's what heomplained on and he was always consistent on pro-life, pro-life, pro-life, pro-life. th there's a vacancy and all of a sudden it's iet for a while. the judge's record speaks forhe itself anhould be proud of it and proud of it. that's what he campaigned for and looks like what he got, according to the answers today. >> woodruff: 30 seconds. lisa desjardins, give us a sense of the dissidence in the room, you will, the people who came and sat as viewers but who made noise and werask to leave.

there were dozens today. >> that's right. i counted some 55 protesters. it was interesting initially today, judy, the committee c the public seating in half. later in the day, they resumed the full complof the public, but there were many protests throughout the day and many issues raced by the protesters. i. give us a couple of them. ar>> everything from healtto abortion to the disabled. there was also a weird founding fathers strain, things utered by the protesters like the american people have no faith in u, sir, ore shouted, senators, in the name of democracy, i ask you to halt the hearings. so they were serious and angry but there was a lvel fte ectualness 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 comhafort tt your critics are coming from both sides? >> no, because i could still be wrong. >> this may be her best chance to get past these guards ght now. >> mr. trump won the congressional district overwhelmingly by about 20 points. now the question is whether the enthusiasm for trump will convert into enthusiasm for a different republican. >> does the presidency thate interfered in 016 election and possibly midterms as an attack ondemocracy -- >> woodruff: and we return to our second lead >> woodruff: we return now to our second lead story.or the "newtimes" today took the extraordinary step of publishing an opinion by someone they identify as a male anonymous senior official in the

trump administration. he claims that: "many of theic senior ols in his own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda and his worst inclinations. i would know. am one of them." angoes on to say: "the president continues to act in a manner that is detrimental to the health of our republic." president trump has denounced the opinion 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 the wrong reasons, and the new york times is failing. so if the failing 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 withwh oue house correspondent, yamiche alcindor.as red jeff, white house correspondent foers. we welcome you. hello to both of you. i'm going to start with you, yamiche. i just read a couple of quotes from this extraordinary statement. what more should we know from this? >> well, judy, this was really 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 people choosing to put country first. that's the first part of this. the second thing i want to point out is the op-ed says the bigger concern is not what mr. trump has done to the presidency but rather what we as a nation have allowed him to do to us, we have sunk low with him and allowed our discourse to be stripped of civility. this is someone who feels as though they need to speak outca and almost is to the nation saying we as a people

need to hook what president trump is doing. woodruff: jeff mason, you have been covering the white house for a number of years. 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 think unprecedented, as the wter says, staff members were, at one point, congsidering eaging in the 25th amendment of the constitution, which would allow cabinet members to work towards getting the president out of office, and then decided not to do that because they dn't want to spur a constitutional crisis, but admitting thathat was even a discussion, apparently at the highest levels, according to this anonymous writer, is extraordinary, as well. >> woodruff: so,he yamwe heard the president's reaction dismissing it all. what else is the white house saying >> well, the president said that it was a gutless move, that whoever wrote this piece was really a coward. he just tweeted i'm told recently in the st couple of minutes the word "treason." i want to walk you through what

the whithouse is saying officially after sarah sanders released a statement. it says in part, the individual behind this piece has chosen to deceivrather than support the duly elected president of the united states. he is not putting country first but putng himself and his ego ahead of the will of the american people. this coward should do the right thing and resign. i should note this is not a man or woman. the "new york times" said there was a toeelt that referre this person as a he but that was a mistake. so we don't know the identy of the person but it had to be high level because the "new york times" would not have presented this piece anonymously unless i was someone they trusted to have thissill and know what wa going on with the administration. but the white house apparently isaying this is wrong, whoever this person is, they need to go, and saying thiis a betrayal of this white house. >> woodruff: jeff mason, thicos s on the day after the bob woodward book has me out, a book he spent months and months talking to people inside the

white house. it paints aamning portrait of a white house in chaos wit people working, in essence, to do some of what youe se in this anonymous op-ed to se the administration, to save the country from some of theen press decisions. what reactions are you picking up? >> well, that's exactly right, judy, and the timing seems lik's ot coincidental, at a time when the president and others in the white house are trying to discredit bob woodward and comprehend issues that are critical for the natiocus ty and for the world. >> yamiche, you've also been

lking to some folks who used to work in the trump adminiration, in the trump white house. what are they saying about this? >> i just want to remind viewers about your interview with omarosa manigault-newman who one to havetim the most senior african-american women at the white house, or the most seep your african-american in the let's first listen to what she told you. >> woodruff: you close out the book byting rest assured there's an army of people who oppose president trump and his policies, they are woking silentlyand tirelessly to make sure he does not cause harm to the republic. many are in his party, his administration and even in his own family. o n you say wey are? >> i prefer not. asthink it's important that, they continue to do their work, to make sure that further damage to this country is not don that they do that without being exposed, and i'm very proud of the people who are working behind the scenes to make sur donald trump is not allowed to continue to lead this country in an unfit manner. >> woodruff: you can't identify -- >> i would not >> woodruff: the first lady?

i would never compromise themy in this wa because they are working tirelessly to make sure this country isn't damaged further. >> i spoke to omerosa today and she id this op-edis very important and said she wanted to make sure, she put in her book therthere was a resistance of pe working because she wanted to wink at the people and say they were strong and brave for working in the administration. i talked to a senior trump administration official and they said there were time when congrembers were going to meet with the president that other senior officials would tell the law-maker whatever the president tells u in the oval office, the white house is just not going to commit do whatever president trump sayats. because they said when he would get in the room he would make all those promises and his staff would have to say, no, we can't do that, president. >> woodruff: jeff mason, is this another undecember dented thing in an administration with

a string of unprecedented developments. had you picked up a drift of this before now h people? because you 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 peopl,around h but at this level -- >> well, i think you can look at that without even needing to use ononymous sources. taking the examplrussia. before the president's trip to helsinki and europe in july, i guess it was, his advisors came out and said, on the rcor that he would raise the issue of russia's malign activity. and we saw the helsinki press conference where he dn't do that and then tried to pull some of that back when he was back as the white and then sort of is going back and forth and, again, raises that codisect between what the president will say, whether it's in public or whether it's to someone like vladimir putin or to kew meeting at the white house and what his staff are saying or doing. sohere is a clear disconnect

that affects all levels of what is going on in the west wing. >> woodruff: finally, very quickly, yamiche, there are republicans on capitol hill, mostf whom who have stuck with this president, supported this president and defended him. are you picking up any sense hithat that support is sfting in some way? >> i've talked to some officials including high-ranking rnc people who are looking at this, and they sa, so f, they don't see a shift in this, that, really, if republicans can continue to hold on to the house and e senate and dothe business and pass policies that conservaves are proud of and then put people in the supreme court that they are proud of, that they will contie to support this president. >> woodruff: finally, jeff mason, late goes on the white house. >> life does indeed go on at the i white house. ink you can expect to see president trump getting agitated about. this you will see that we've seen that already with hists twnd his response in the east room. but i suspect that this,

combined with the fallout from the bob woodward book, will continue to drive a nrative for white house staff and fornt this presideor some time. >> 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. nt happened at a training for wrestlers. a suicide bomber blew himself up inside the building, and a car bomb exploded minutes later, as emergency workers arrived.an currency is again in free fall, hitting new record lows against the dollar today. people waited in long lines at currency exchange shops in tehran, hoping to buy dollars. state media made no mention of the problem. the rial h lost a quarter of

its value just sin saturday. it's down 140% since the united states quit the 2015 nlear deal, back in may. british prosecutors today charged two russians in the nerve agent attack on 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. rohit kachroo of independent televisionews has our report.in >> reporter:ly, the faces of the suspects. six months aft,er salisbu these are the two men who are accused of carrying out attack. they used aliases. alexander petrov and russ lambosherof.fo they're dressethe english winter but just arrived from moscow and two dayinto their trip, they're captured smiling as they walked through

salisbury. it's alleged that, minutes earlier, they contaminated the scrskripals' front door with th never agent, broug from moscow, the suspected weorpon in a terrist attack. this has been a colossa police investigation. 11,000 hours of cctv footage has been studied to reach these conclusions, but this case is now about politics as much asor police wk. >> i can tell the house that based on a body of intelligence the government has concluded that the two indedividuals n by the police and cps are officers from the russian military intelligence serce also known as the gru. >> reporter: former russia spree sergei skral and daughter yulia were poisoned in march. dawn sturgis was killed, her partner charley rowley injured

when they were poisoned four months later. it took two months for the police to identify this as the hotel where the salisbury spects had been staying, and when they got here in may, they made an impisortantvery -- they found minute traces of novichok inside their hotel omom. t.v. understandsof what was known in the investigation was kept secret in hope the suspects might be captured traveling abroad again. almost certainly they're in russia. extradition seems difficult, perhaps impossible. >> woodruff: that report from >> woodruff: that report from rot kachroo of independent television news. back in this country, the y mnants of tropical storm "gordon" dumped in as they headed inland from the central gulf coast. the storm came ashore last night, near pascagoula, mississipp thousands lost power, and one child was killed in pensola, florida.

officials warned of flooding as the system moves into the midwest. massachusetts is primed to elect a black woman to the u.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 incumbt mike capuano, and will run unopposed in november's general election. last night, pressley cast her victory as a wake-up 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 longere have arrived. change is coming. and the future belongs to all of us! >> woodruff: the boston-areaas house seatnce held by john f. kennedy and later, tip o'neill.

it is now a majority-minority district. in the u.s. senate today, arizona republican jon kyl was sworn in to fill the seat of the late john mccain. he took the oath of office on the senate floor today, with fellow arizona senator jeff flake looking on. kyl previously served in the senate for 18 years, before retiring in 2012. and, on wall street the dow jones industrial average gained 22 points to close below 25,975. the nasdaq fell 96 points, 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 the florida coast.

>> woodruff: now, back to capitol hill. top leaders of social media giants facebook antwitter appeared before senate and housy committees t as nick schifrin reports, they appear over their ability to police their platforms, and questions of whether they shou 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'd 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 strethen our collective effort >> we're identifying and challenging 8 to 10 million suspicious accounts every week. and we're thwarting over a half miinion accounts from loggin to twitter every single day. >> schifrin: twitter c.e.o. jack dorsey and facebook c. sheryl sandberg lead internet giants trying to act proactively to remove fake content. recently facebook removed 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, and fakeis movie posters,vered thanks to collaboration with law enforcement and private security companies.mi >> in ou 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, froma 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. >> schifri but twitter was criticized for not sharing more information with victims of russian campaigns aimed at lawmakers critical of russia,in inclmaine republican senator susan collins. >> i learned not from twitter, u but from clemsversity, that i was one of those targeted ers, and there were 279 russian generated tweets that

targetede. it seems once u notice that, you should notify the people who are the targets. >> we recognize we won't be able to catch everything alone so we ne to develop bert partnersps in order to do that. >> schifrin: independent analysts say the companies are working better together. but some lawmakers believe that'sot enough, and the companies need to be regulated. virginia democrat mark warner. the size and reach of your platforms demand that we, as policy-makers, do our job, to ensure proper oversight, 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 hedged. >> we don't think it's a question of whether regulation, we think it's a ques right regulation that supports

users, is transparent, anddo n't squash innovation. and we're happy to work with yop on tposal. >> schifrin: lawmakers 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 focused 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 becauseey e recently taken actions such as terminating cooperation with the american military. >> i would have thought that leadership at google wted to demonstrate how seriously it takes these challenges. >> schifrin: but the senate hearing was practically sedate compared to what happened outside. >> i'm here to discuss the reality that there is an attempted purge of 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 jones. >> and it's happening to everybody who's a libertarian or conservative. a the domino falling. the first amendment is being destroyed! >> schifrin: a few minutes 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. >> don't touch me again, man. i'm asking you not to touch me. y.>> i just patted you nic >> you're going to get arrested. i'll take care of it myself. >> schifri the question whether social media censors conservatives dominated the

house hearing, and questions by texas republican joe bton. >> do you discriminate more on philosophy, like anti- conservative and pro-liberal. >>o. our policies and algorithms don't take into consideration any affiliation, philosophy or viewpoint. >> that's hard to stomach. >> i believe we've found impartial outcomes and those are what we intend to fix, and continue to measure. >> schifrin: dorsey admitted twitter unfairly filtered 600,000 accounts, including democrat and republican lawmakers. but louisiana representative steve scalise pointed out a >> our colleague, marcia blackburn, when she announced her campaign for the senate, twitter quickly banned her announcement advertisement because it had a pro-life message. >> schifrin: dorsey admitted that decision was a mistake. but new jersey democrat frank pallone dismissed the entire line of questioning. >> president trump and many republicans have peddled conspiracy theories about

twitter and other social media platforms to whip up their base and fundraise. i fear republicans are using this hearing for those purposes. >> schifrin: but tod attorney general jeff sessions doubled down and said he will gather statattorneys general to discuss whether social media companies stifle conservative opinions.th e debate isn't over, at a time when social media companies are on the front lines of protecting democracy. as one senator put it today, what these companies decide has the capacity to win rs, without firing 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 ge numbers of marine life and dealt a hard blow to the gulf coast's onomy. as william brangham reports from

sanibel island, the are many causes driving this red tide, including warmer waters tied to climate chan. and there are other questions over what role humans are playing. it's part of our weekly series on the "leading edge" of scienc technology and medicine.>> rangham: this is now a typical morning on florida's c gust-- not a tourist in sight, just work crews cleaningt up the dail of dead fish. they were killed by red tide, an almost annual bloom of algae ino the gulff mexico. at high levels, the algae release a neurotoxin that's deadly to marine life. it poisons them, or makes it so they can't breathe but this year's bloom, which actual began last fall, has been particularly bad. >> it now spreads across 130 miles of cst. >> thousands of dead fish floating along ledo beach. >> this red tide is being calles the woin more than a decade. >> brangham: in the last few months, red tide has killed dolphins, sea turtles, manatees,

even a 26-foot whale shark. >> there's definitely some deformities here. >> brangham: veterinarian dr. heather barron runs e clinic for the rehabilitation of wildlife on sanibel 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. >> brangm: 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 as 100 patients coming in two days, all affected with red tide. way out of the ordary. 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 inagear death several weeks o, but after intensive treatment, he's seems to be turning the corner. so too, are these sea turtles. >> i think even if you're not a bunny-hugger like i am, youow 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 feur food supplies health. it's not just wildhat's going to be affected by this. >> brangha while the red tide is obviously devastating to wildlife, it's also difficult for humans as well. the toxins emit a terrible smell, the 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 sibel island, the chamber of commerce estimates $11 million in lost income in just the first half of august. >> we're probably off aboutot

anr 45 to 50% of what we usually do this time of year. >> brangham: trasi sharp owns and runs the over easy cafe. it's a small breakfaot and lunch n sanibel just a few blocks off the beach. >> somehow we'll get through pithis. we're it doesn't last at this pace for too long.. but it's sca >> you couldn't drive 100 yards without passing 1,000 or 10,000 deng fish. >> bram: ben biery is a charter boat captain on sanibel. he makes his living taking tourists out to fish and picnic answim-- things that many people just don't want to do right now. >> i know business for the month of august was down somewhere around 80%. >> 80%? e' yeah. i don't think thanyone that's in the tourism business in our area right now, or in any business that's on the water r that isn'tlly suffering right now. >> this is an optical oxygen sensor. rangham: in fact, things have been so slow for biery that he's volunteered his boat to scientists studying the red tide, like his friend dr. rick bartleson.

bartelson's an ecologist with the sanibel captiva conservaon foundation. he's checking 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 r.de cells per liter of wa but this year, the red tide has been ten times worse. r instead of 200,000, we're seeing two million million cells per liter. >> brangham: i mean, that's a huge jump up. >> right. the other day we saw 40 million colls per liter a kilometer off tht. >> brangham: while the red tide has been disastrous for the gulf, this summer it's been compounded by a bloom of blue- green algae in florida'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 miles east to show e source of the problem. for thousands of years i florida, water flowed down into lake okeechobee, where itfl ded out and south through florida's everglades marshes.xp but as farmingded around the lake, lake okeechobee was dammed up, forcing that water to the east and to the west. >> the massive volumes freshwater that are released from the lake to the caloosahatchee, they result in real harm. >> braham: davis says this causes two problems: one, that fresh water kills crucial habitat that needs saltier water, and two, that wat is so polluted with runoff from farms and towns that it could be delivering a huge nutrient boose toed tide. >> when you think about red tide it's really another bloom of algae, ban offshore. d these blooms of algae, theyrg

require loads of nutrients in order to sustain themselves. it's kind of like thinking of aa wildfirerequires fuel in order for it to continue burning. >> brangham: davis and others argue water needs to again flow south, like it once did, to address both the blue-green blooms and any potential impact on red tide. but the powerful agricultural instry in florida has successfully stymied these efforts before. >> its kilng sea life, battering our economy, and making people sick. and it's fair to blame rick scott. >> brangham: and now ahead of a the midterm elections, water ality is a central issue >> slashed $700 million from water protection. >> we need the state and federal help. there's industry and farming that dumps into the waters of okeechobee but also it's on everyone-- fertilizers in people's yards, the dumping of waste of various companies along the river. we just need to do something or this is going to last generations. >> that's ali care about this

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

>> consumer cellular believes that wireless plans should reflect the amount of talk, text and data that you use. 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 instutions and individuals. this program was made possible by the corporation for public broadcasting. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. po

captioningored by newshour productions, llc captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org

♪ >> for the past decade, the npulation of chengdu grew average of 2.5% per year, making it one of the fastest-growing cities in china. newcomers infused their adopted city with a wide variety of tastes and food preferences. and one of them is down-home farmers's cooking. can you take the country out of the boy? next on "yan can cook." ♪ ♪ ♪